Only taking half a break and going home early ?

SC1991

I work night shifts 23:00 - 7:30. In this time I get a 1 hour unpaid break. I would much rather only take a 30 minute break and leave 30 minutes early as the traffic in the morning is a nightmare and leaving half an hour earlier I miss the worse of it.

Is there any employment laws that allow me to do this or is it simply down to the employer ? I wouldn't be too bothered if I was getting paid for the break but it's kind of forcing me to stay longer than I want/need ?

tizerbelle

SC1991 wrote: »

I work night shifts 23:00 - 7:30. In this time I get a 1 hour unpaid break. I would much rather only take a 30 minute break and leave 30 minutes early as the traffic in the morning is a nightmare and leaving half an hour earlier I miss the worse of it.

Is there any employment laws that allow me to do this or is it simply down to the employer ? I wouldn't be too bothered if I was getting paid for the break but it's kind of forcing me to stay longer than I want/need ?

Nope, no employment law on maximum break times. As for forcing you to stay longer than you want/need - well that's work.

You could put a flexible work request in and ask for a shorter lunch break and earlier finish assuming you have worked there for at least 26 weeks. You must provide certain types of detail in your application (https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working/applying-for-flexible-working - check if there is a company policy on flexible working - they may have a specific form to use. But ensure you provide all the information or it could be rejected as you haven't supplied all the information (and depending on their policy you could be stuck for 12 months before you can make another request). They then have to consider your request. This may or may not result in a change.

agrinnall

The HSE guidance is that breaks should be taken during the working day and not at the end, but I'm not sure there is any legislation to give that any force. However, the employer can say when breaks may be taken, and if they didn't want you to take it at the end of the day that's all there is to it.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/workingtime.htm

Rest breaks at work

A worker is entitled to an uninterrupted break of 20 minutes when daily working time is more than six hours. It should be a break in working time and should not be taken either at the start, or at the end, of a working day.

Browntoa

In our company there's a deliberate overlap in day and night shifts for handover purposes. They would never allow an early finish

TELLIT01

SC1991 wrote: »

I work night shifts 23:00 - 7:30. In this time I get a 1 hour unpaid break. I would much rather only take a 30 minute break and leave 30 minutes early as the traffic in the morning is a nightmare and leaving half an hour earlier I miss the worse of it.

I'm sure most people working day shift would love to do similar, but employers generally want cover for the entire working period. Unreasonable I know, but if they allowed one person to do it they would need to so the same for everybody.

tealady

How about asking your employer if both day and night shifts start 30 minutes earlier. Speaking as a morning person I would jump at the chance of that.

General_Grant

agrinnall wrote: »

The HSE guidance is that breaks should be taken during the working day and not at the end, but I'm not sure there is any legislation to give that any force. However, the employer can say when breaks may be taken, and if they didn't want you to take it at the end of the day that's all there is to it.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/workingtime.htm

Rest breaks at work

A worker is entitled to an uninterrupted break of 20 minutes when daily working time is more than six hours. It should be a break in working time and should not be taken either at the start, or at the end, of a working day.

The OP is not suggesting taking the "statutory" break at the end of the shift but is happy to take half-an-hour (ie 10 mins more than statutory minimum) during the shift. The suggestion is really to do away with the second half-hour of the break.

However the employer can simply enforce the one hour break.

System

Could you start at 10:45pm? Then take 45 mins break?

One of my colleagues who lives in a village with an hourly bus service is the only colleague in our team to finish work at quarter past the hour as her bus is at 25 mins to. You leave the shop floor at time stated on your contract and her bus stop is 7 mins walk from work.

ViolaLass

tealady wrote: »

How about asking your employer if both day and night shifts start 30 minutes earlier. Speaking as a morning person I would jump at the chance of that.

Second this. I used to have a second job that was 5:30-11 but I didn't like finishing so late so I offered to start half an hour early, which happened to suit the employer.

TELLIT01

The OP doesn't say how many people are employed on the night shift, or in total by the company. I think it highly unlikely that an entire shift pattern would be changed to accommodate one person. On the other hand, if the OP is the only person wanting / needing an earlier start and finish time, the employer may consider it on an individual basis.

System

A friend that works nights at a 24/7 call centre, she and her team had their hours as the buses changed their time table. They have scrapped the final bus which was 11:15pm. They did 11:30-7:30. Their employer has allowed them to start at 11pm. There are two more buses which operate about 100 yards away.

No issues with the covering 11-11:30pm as there are a couple of teams that finish at 1am. Most of these teams live walking distance or drive in.