work breaks what are you entitled to?

kurjam

hi i have been in a job since march and we dont have any breaks and the company has been paying us for the full 6 hours we work.
they have now decided we must have our half hour break and not get paid for it, so only getting paid for 5 1/2 hours a day, is this right ??

i have looked on a few webpages which say if you work 6 hours you must have a break.
do you think its worth me asking for 5 1/2 hours a day then i would not need a break ??

any help welcomed

vyvyan_2

I work 8 hours a day and entitled to 1/2 an hour for lunch which isn't paid (so my shift reads 8 1/2 hours). Most of the time I work straight through and go half an hour early! I do snatch a couple of coffees along the way or in this weather drink water by the gallon. It's a manual not a desk job and I'm fortunate enough that I can please myself so long as I don't short-time them and the job gets done.

Don't know if that answers your question though.

LittleVoice

kurjam wrote: »

hi i have been in a job since march and we dont have any breaks and the company has been paying us for the full 6 hours we work.
they have now decided we must have our half hour break and not get paid for it, so only getting paid for 5 1/2 hours a day, is this right ??

i have looked on a few webpages which say if you work 6 hours you must have a break.
do you think its worth me asking for 5 1/2 hours a day then i would not need a break ??

any help welcomed

Are you a "young worker" (that is not yet 18)? If so, then you are entitled to an half-hour break within the 6 hours - or within 6.5 hours if you were to work the same number of hours.

If you are older, then your minimum entitlement is only 20 minutes and that would be if you were working more than 6 hours. As six hours is not more than six hours, you would not automatically be entitled to a break.

Are some of the people working younger than 18 and therefore the employer is taking the easy route of saying everyone needs to take the 30 minute break but that the work does not need to be done beyond the original shift clock times?

red_bertie

Check out HMG pages on employer regs for p/t and f/t workers - your entitlement is on there.

Personally I give my p/t's a paid 1/2 hr break for a 6 hour shift and they can choose 30 mins or 2 x 15mins [this is favourite], but I also supply their drinks and choice of bikkies, so they tend to stay on-site.:p

LittleVoice

BTW it is not the case that you must take a break, only that you are entitled to one.

kurjam

LittleVoice wrote: »

Are you a "young worker" (that is not yet 18)? If so, then you are entitled to an half-hour break within the 6 hours - or within 6.5 hours if you were to work the same number of hours.

If you are older, then your minimum entitlement is only 20 minutes and that would be if you were working more than 6 hours. As six hours is not more than six hours, you would not automatically be entitled to a break.

Are some of the people working younger than 18 and therefore the employer is taking the easy route of saying everyone needs to take the 30 minute break but that the work does not need to be done beyond the original shift clock times?

i am in my 30`s, they are saying we must all have 1/2 hour break and wether we take it or not they will not pay us for it.....i do 6 hours a day so 30 a week, which my contract states, if i take a break i will go below my contracted hours....so what do i do.....??

kurjam

should i challenge my employer about it saying i do not have to have a break as i do 6 hours and it only applies to workers who do more thank 6....another lady does 18hours a week, 3 x 6hrs and she has been told they are taking 1/2 hour off her cause she is to have a break, i think its there way of getting out of paying us, as they wanted to reduce hours so we heard !!

C_Ronaldo

kurjam wrote: »

i am in my 30`s, they are saying we must all have 1/2 hour break and wether we take it or not they will not pay us for it.....i do 6 hours a day so 30 a week, which my contract states, if i take a break i will go below my contracted hours....so what do i do.....??

i dont think you would go below your contracted hours if you took a break, i work 12 hours a week, and on saturdays im in my employers building for 9 hours but because i have an hour lunch unpaid i get paid for 8, correct me if im wrong but isnt the contracted hours worked out with any breaks taken off

LittleVoice

kurjam wrote: »

should i challenge my employer about it saying i do not have to have a break as i do 6 hours and it only applies to workers who do more thank 6....another lady does 18hours a week, 3 x 6hrs and she has been told they are taking 1/2 hour off her cause she is to have a break, i think its there way of getting out of paying us, as they wanted to reduce hours so we heard !!

It does sound like a money-saving exercise on the employer's part.

They are reducing your contracted hours as the break time cannot be counted in it if it is not paid. They need your agreement to do this - but if they really need to cut back on hours in order to save costs for the sake of the business, then they could make a case to dismiss people and then offer them new contracts on the revised terms.

If they are actually in financial difficulty, then if everyone insisted on being paid for their contracted hours, it could mean no work for anyone. (I know that sounds a bit over the top and alarming but it could get as far as that.)

You could try to sound out whether they have misunderstood the law.

If they insist on cutting back to 5.5 hours a shift then do ask whether you can just work through and leave early or maybe take 15 minutes break and leave 15 minutes early. Depends on what sort of work you do, I suppose. Certainly let them know you would not be working for the 30 minutes you are not being paid!

MoaningMyrtle

We have to take unpaid breaks, we work nine hour days and get paid for 7.5 hours, two 15 min breaks and 1 60 min break. I'd rather have shorter breaks and finish early/start later.

surreysaver

MoaningMyrtle wrote: »

We have to take unpaid breaks, we work nine hour days and get paid for 7.5 hours, two 15 min breaks and 1 60 min break. I'd rather have shorter breaks and finish early/start later.

As an earlier poster said, you are entitled to a break - this is not the same as having to take it. So there is no reason why you could not ask your employer if you can do this.