What time should lunch breaks be allocated?

jackhernandez

I work a 9-5 job on phones for an advice line with my local council.
      The policy is that we have to book our lunch slots in so that no two people are on lunch at the same time.
        The problem is that we are not allowed to go on our lunch until the person before us has returned from theirs. So If I book a lunch slot at 14:30, I might not get my lunch until 3pm or even later. Now the law states that lunches need to be allocated during the middle of the day, not the beginning and not the end. So is 3pm legally too late. What about 4pm? When is the middle of the day? Surely the time at which you eat needs to be legally enforced. I haven't eaten all day and I'm starving by 2:30pm and I'm not being allowed to eat. 

I am a member of unison, I was considering raising it with them but they are pretty useless when it comes to these things as our current branch secretary is a bootlicker to the council managers. 

swingaloo

If you are 'starving' by 2.30 why not just do the obvious thing and book an earlier slot?

The 'law' does not state that lunches need to be allocated in the middle of the day. You just cant choose to take a break at the start or the end of your shift as in starting later or finishing earlier.

As for the time you eat needing to be legally enforced! Its a bit snowflake.

MattMattMattUK

jackhernandez said:

I work a 9-5 job on phones for an advice line with my local council.
      The policy is that we have to book our lunch slots in so that no two people are on lunch at the same time.
        The problem is that we are not allowed to go on our lunch until the person before us has returned from theirs. So If I book a lunch slot at 14:30, I might not get my lunch until 3pm or even later. Now the law states that lunches need to be allocated during the middle of the day, not the beginning and not the end. So is 3pm legally too late. What about 4pm? When is the middle of the day? Surely the time at which you eat needs to be legally enforced. I haven't eaten all day and I'm starving by 2:30pm and I'm not being allowed to eat. 

I am a member of unison, I was considering raising it with them but they are pretty useless when it comes to these things as our current branch secretary is a bootlicker to the council managers. 

Eat breakfast. 

oldernonethewiser

There is no law on when meals have to be taken, however you must have a break if you work more than 6 hours so 15:00 would be the latest you can have your break if you start at 09:00.

jackhernandez

oldernonethewiser said:

There is no law on when meals have to be taken, however you must have a break if you work more than 6 hours so 15:00 would be the latest you can have your break if you start at 09:00.

It specifically says middle of the day on the gov website. 

Employers can say when employees take rest breaks during work time as long as:

• the break is taken in one go somewhere in the middle of the day (not at the beginning or end)
• workers are allowed to spend it away from their desk or workstation (ie away from where they actually work)

It doesn’t count as a rest break if an employer says an employee should go back to work before their break is finished.

Unless a worker’s employment contract says so, they don’t have the right to:

• take smoking breaks
• get paid for rest breaks

Cant post links but it comes up on gov website

la531983

Middle of the day in your instance could easily be 4pm. Back to work at 4.30pm for half an hour.

oldernonethewiser

It means not at the beginning or the end of a shift, anywhere else is "the middle of the day".

The important bit is you must have a break if you work over 6 hours.

Marcon

jackhernandez said:

I work a 9-5 job on phones for an advice line with my local council.
      The policy is that we have to book our lunch slots in so that no two people are on lunch at the same time.
        The problem is that we are not allowed to go on our lunch until the person before us has returned from theirs. So If I book a lunch slot at 14:30, I might not get my lunch until 3pm or even later. Now the law states that lunches need to be allocated during the middle of the day, not the beginning and not the end. So is 3pm legally too late. What about 4pm? When is the middle of the day? Surely the time at which you eat needs to be legally enforced. I haven't eaten all day and I'm starving by 2:30pm and I'm not being allowed to eat. 

I am a member of unison, I was considering raising it with them but they are pretty useless when it comes to these things as our current branch secretary is a bootlicker to the council managers. 

Book an earlier time slot. Eat a piece of fruit or a biscuit with a mid-morning coffee or tea. Problem solved.

General_Grant

The gov website does indeed say "somewhere in the middle of the day (not at the beginning or end)".
That is guidance, not the law itself.
Take "middle of the day" to mean "middle of the shift" and that covers workers who work nights or start really early or late.

Undervalued

General_Grant said:

The gov website does indeed say "somewhere in the middle of the day (not at the beginning or end)".
That is guidance, not the law itself.
Take "middle of the day" to mean "middle of the shift" and that covers workers who work nights or start really early or late.

It is generally taken to mean that it can't just shorten the day by being taken right at the beginning or end.

It certainly doesn't mean it has to be exactly in the middle.

Like so many things is law, it comes down to what is reasonable. Having your break almost at the end of the day then returning for a quarter of an hour's work almost certainly wouldn't be reasonable. Somewhere in the middle three hours out of six almost certainly would be reasonable. 

Beyond that is where lawyers make their money!

DullGreyGuy

Let's say you do a 10 hour shift, 10am to 8pm. What it's saying is your statutory 20 minute break (which doesn't have to be paid) cannot be at 10am effectively making your working day 10:30am to 8pm without any breaks. 

They are just being a bit white collar worker there assuming everyone has a 9-5 day when what it really means is middle of your shift not middle of the day. What the guys on the night shift would do were the strictly that your lunch has to be at midday I've no idea. 

The most obvious answer is to have breakfast and secondary point of booking the midday slot for yourself