Can an employer attach conditions to unpaid lunch break?

pimbo

My daughter works as a technician in a theatre. She’s worked there for just over 2 years. She’s been told that she can’t leave the site during her lunch break in case of technical emergencies. She said fine but asked for the lunch hour to be paid as overtime as her contract says it’s unpaid.

They’ve said no because apparently the working time regulations allow for no less than a 20 minute rest break for a shift that lasts longer than 6 hours and doesn’t require the employer to allow the worker to leave site.

We are asking what about the other 40 minutes of her lunch break and if she needs to remain on site but they’re being really uncommunicative. They’ve basically attached conditions to a period of her shift that is unpaid. Can they do that?

pramsay13

Is she the only person that can deal with these technical emergencies? What happens when she is off sick?

Do they provide food or does she need to go and get something?

What has happened for the past 2 years?

I imagine she is probably correct that if it's unpaid she should be able to do what she wants, and that should include going out to get food, go for a walk, etc, but being an employee is all about compromise so there's maybe a bit of work to do. 

prowla

If it's unpaid, it's not the employers' time.

pimbo

pramsay13 said:

What has happened for the past 2 years?

She used to stay at work anyway. But she's recently moved much closer to the job and thought it would be nice to go home for lunch given that her lunchbreak is unpaid. Her employer has said no but refuses to pay the extra hour.

marcia_

pimbo said:

pramsay13 said:

What has happened for the past 2 years?

She used to stay at work anyway. But she's recently moved much closer to the job and thought it would be nice to go home for lunch given that her lunchbreak is unpaid. Her employer has said no but refuses to pay the extra hour.

 Is she a member of a union? 

pimbo

marcia_ said:

Is she a member of a union?

She is but the workplace rep is terrified of upsetting the employer and nobody answers the helpline and they don't reply to emails either. She's on her own with this one.

Grumpy_chap

pimbo said:

My daughter works as a technician in a theatre. She’s worked there for just over 2 years. She’s been told that she can’t leave the site during her lunch break in case of technical emergencies. She said fine but asked for the lunch hour to be paid as overtime as her contract says it’s unpaid.

They’ve said no because apparently the working time regulations allow for no less than a 20 minute rest break for a shift that lasts longer than 6 hours and doesn’t require the employer to allow the worker to leave site.

We are asking what about the other 40 minutes of her lunch break and if she needs to remain on site but they’re being really uncommunicative. They’ve basically attached conditions to a period of her shift that is unpaid. Can they do that?

This is an odd scenario - did she ask to leave site or did she just do so and then get told she cannot?

Do other staff leave site during lunch, or is that a normal practice for everyone to remain on site?  In some workplaces, if there is a canteen etc, remaining on site might be seen as positive for team cohesion.

The part referencing the working time regulations as stated is oddly phrased by the employer "working time regulations allow for no less than a 20 minute rest break for a shift that lasts longer than 6 hours and doesn’t require the employer to allow the worker to leave site"
I imagine the working time regulations are silent on where the employee has to be for lunch, so the comment "doesn't require the employer to allow to leave site" could be turned around to "doesn't require the employee to remain on site".
The employer's phrasing sounds more like a school than a workplace.

In the wider remit, I can see scenarios where an employer could impose restrictions on what can be done in a lunchbreak - the obvious examples would be where the work requires wearing branded workwear and not doing something that the business would consider brings them into disrepute.

As for the technical emergencies, what is the impact to the theatre if these are not resolved swiftly during the lunchbreak?

pimbo

Grumpy_chap said:

pimbo said:

My daughter works as a technician in a theatre. She’s worked there for just over 2 years. She’s been told that she can’t leave the site during her lunch break in case of technical emergencies. She said fine but asked for the lunch hour to be paid as overtime as her contract says it’s unpaid.

They’ve said no because apparently the working time regulations allow for no less than a 20 minute rest break for a shift that lasts longer than 6 hours and doesn’t require the employer to allow the worker to leave site.

We are asking what about the other 40 minutes of her lunch break and if she needs to remain on site but they’re being really uncommunicative. They’ve basically attached conditions to a period of her shift that is unpaid. Can they do that?

This is an odd scenario - did she ask to leave site or did she just do so and then get told she cannot?

Do other staff leave site during lunch, or is that a normal practice for everyone to remain on site?  In some workplaces, if there is a canteen etc, remaining on site might be seen as positive for team cohesion.

The part referencing the working time regulations as stated is oddly phrased by the employer "working time regulations allow for no less than a 20 minute rest break for a shift that lasts longer than 6 hours and doesn’t require the employer to allow the worker to leave site"
I imagine the working time regulations are silent on where the employee has to be for lunch, so the comment "doesn't require the employer to allow to leave site" could be turned around to "doesn't require the employee to remain on site".
The employer's phrasing sounds more like a school than a workplace.

In the wider remit, I can see scenarios where an employer could impose restrictions on what can be done in a lunchbreak - the obvious examples would be where the work requires wearing branded workwear and not doing something that the business would consider brings them into disrepute.

As for the technical emergencies, what is the impact to the theatre if these are not resolved swiftly during the lunchbreak?

Most staff stay on site or quickly pop to the shops to grab a sandwich and then return. It's rare that someone asks to leave for the entire lunch hour. But she lives a 4 minute walk away so casually said that she's popping home for lunch and was told by the duty manager she couldn't. She remained at work but followed it up with HR the next day who gave her the spiel about the working time regs not saying the employee could leave the site and that she'd need to be on hand in case of technical emergencies.

They also gave the reason that as she's one of the theatres fire marshalls she had to spend her lunch hour at work to help evacuate the building if there was a fire alarm. She said that's fine but asked to be paid for the hour that she needs to remain in her workplace. They've refused. 

SiliconChip

pimbo said:

Grumpy_chap said:

pimbo said:

My daughter works as a technician in a theatre. She’s worked there for just over 2 years. She’s been told that she can’t leave the site during her lunch break in case of technical emergencies. She said fine but asked for the lunch hour to be paid as overtime as her contract says it’s unpaid.

They’ve said no because apparently the working time regulations allow for no less than a 20 minute rest break for a shift that lasts longer than 6 hours and doesn’t require the employer to allow the worker to leave site.

We are asking what about the other 40 minutes of her lunch break and if she needs to remain on site but they’re being really uncommunicative. They’ve basically attached conditions to a period of her shift that is unpaid. Can they do that?

This is an odd scenario - did she ask to leave site or did she just do so and then get told she cannot?

Do other staff leave site during lunch, or is that a normal practice for everyone to remain on site?  In some workplaces, if there is a canteen etc, remaining on site might be seen as positive for team cohesion.

The part referencing the working time regulations as stated is oddly phrased by the employer "working time regulations allow for no less than a 20 minute rest break for a shift that lasts longer than 6 hours and doesn’t require the employer to allow the worker to leave site"
I imagine the working time regulations are silent on where the employee has to be for lunch, so the comment "doesn't require the employer to allow to leave site" could be turned around to "doesn't require the employee to remain on site".
The employer's phrasing sounds more like a school than a workplace.

In the wider remit, I can see scenarios where an employer could impose restrictions on what can be done in a lunchbreak - the obvious examples would be where the work requires wearing branded workwear and not doing something that the business would consider brings them into disrepute.

As for the technical emergencies, what is the impact to the theatre if these are not resolved swiftly during the lunchbreak?

She said that's fine but asked to be paid for the hour that she needs to remain in her workplace. They've refused. 

I can see their point: she's generally not working while she's on her lunch break so as her contract says it's unpaid then unpaid it is. What I might suggest is that she proposes a compromise to them, that if she does get asked to do anything then that time worked is paid as overtime (she could also ask for a small standby payment for staying on site, but that might be pushing it).

Undervalued

prowla said:

If it's unpaid, it's not the employers' time.

That is a bit of a simplification to say the least.

Does this "unpaid hour" take her below the national minimum wage for the total time she is at the theatre? If not then it could be argued that this is part of her duties and that the fact that she can generally put her feet up for an hour is a bonus.

It could also be argued that she is, in effect, on call during that lunch hour. If she had to actually work to deal with an emergency then she should be paid additional money.

pimbo

Undervalued said:

Does this "unpaid hour" take her below the national minimum wage for the total time she is at the theatre?

No it doesn't. But wouldn't it still be a breach of her terms and conditions if her employer refused to allow her to have this time off? And the "no less than 20 minutes" she's entitled to under the working time regs needs to be uninterrupted. If the employer insists that she continues to monitor her work radio in case of an emergency whilst she's on this break then surely this is still classed as working time so she isn't being given the break she's legally entitled to?