Breaks and Working Time Directives

pizzarelli7348

Hello,

was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this situation.

I work from 8:00-16:00. On three occasions in the next couple of months I have requested annual leave for two hours from 14:00-16:00. This request has been accepted.
I normally take my lunch break from 13:30 until 14:00 so on those three occasions I had planned to leave work at 13:30 by using my lunch break and then the two hours of annual leave.

My manager has informed me that this it is not possible to use my lunch to shorten my working day because this would be against working time directives that states that breaks cannot be taken to shorten the length of the working day. My problem is that I normally take my lunch at 13:30 so I feel I would not be doing anything out of the ordinary other than having my lunch at home and not in the workplace.

Can the employer force me to have my lunch at 12:00 or 12:30 because I have requested two hours of annual leave?

Many thanks

General_Grant

pizzarelli7348 wrote: »

Hello,

was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this situation.

I work from 8:00-16:00. On three occasions in the next couple of months I have requested annual leave for two hours from 14:00-16:00. This request has been accepted.
I normally take my lunch break from 13:30 until 14:00 so on those three occasions I had planned to leave work at 13:30 by using my lunch break and then the two hours of annual leave.

My manager has informed me that this it is not possible to use my lunch to shorten my working day because this would be against working time directives that states that breaks cannot be taken to shorten the length of the working day. My problem is that I normally take my lunch at 13:30 so I feel I would not be doing anything out of the ordinary other than having my lunch at home and not in the workplace.

Can the employer force me to have my lunch at 12:00 or 12:30 because I have requested two hours of annual leave?

Many thanks

So:
08:00-16:00 is 8 hours
deducting 2 hours from that gives 6 hours which means the WTD doesn't require any break to be permitted

However you actually normally work for 7.5 hours.
Two hours paid leave from that means working for 5.5 hours.
08:00 plus 5.5 hours takes you to 13:30. So you leave at 13:30 and don't take a lunch break.

Or do you get paid for your lunch break? If you do, you would need to work until 14:00 and take the break whenever they were willing to pay you for it.

pizzarelli7348

The lunch break is deducted from my wages

daytona0

Would be funny if the employer were to require you to punch out at the end of the day

getmore4less

As has been pointed out you no longer need a WTR break as you work less than 6hrs.

Might be better to phrase it as a 1/2 day.

I think a discussion with the manager is in order to resolve this, looks like it would make sense to have a written policy for taking part days of that cover how and when breaks will be needed.

Might be a good opportunity to work through the cases, afternoons off, mornings off etc.