Unable to finish and tea breaks

[malawihap]

We have just had a new DOM start in our office and he has really laid the law down.
In our office all postman take there break at the end of the duty ,rightly or wrongly it has always been this way in our office since i have been there some 19 years ago. Anyway he had us all in the tea room for our WTL session and told us that if we take our break at the end of the duty and we can not finish our round he will send us back out to finish it even though we have not had a break. What are the rules regarding tea breaks.

[fishtank]

What are the rules regarding tea breaks.

You can't take it all at the end whether you've been doing it for years or not.
Do yourselves a favour...just take it when you are supposed to....problem solved.

[Pat Ostman]

I believe the CWU state it should be taken before you leave. The DOM is full of it though as an employer can not tell you WHERE to have your break.

[baldrick]

Breaks at the beginning or end of attendance

Where an attendance is provided with more than one break, the second break may be scheduled at the
beginning or end, in which case attendance is not required solely for booking on or off. A single break
should not be scheduled at the beginning or end of the attendance.

Way Forward Agreement 2000.
Section 5. Meal Breaks

[POSTMAN]

Everybodys favourite -'Local agreement'- we have this at our place and no DOM laying down the law or not is going to change it!

Ours maybe slightly different though as we split ours,part while we're in the office,the rest at the end.
This was due to USO times though.

The fact that you have been doing it for 19 years,custom and practice must come into play surely.

[coxie]

People been doing it at my office for years, the fact is though that the law states a meal break needs to be near the middle of your shift. At the very least you might get away with slitting it 20/20 and having 20 off the end but apart from that if you don't have your meal break then you still work to 2:15 regardless. Your new DOM is banking on you guys not having it in order to reduce cut offs, you should all take your breaks and watch him look in shock.

[fishtank]

The fact that you have been doing it for 19 years,custom and practice must come into play surely.

Not if it's in breach of that.

 Appropriately scheduled meal breaks ( consistent with relevant working time legislation)

Let's put our cards on the table here...taking it at the end is just encouraging the time chasers.
You can't do it in a factory FFS why the desperation to do it here?
What's the problem with working from your start time to your finish time in this job?
I don't get it.

[feduppostie]

I'm at a loss here for why in todays climate with later and later finishes people would NOT take their breaks before they go out!

It's a fudging long day now why wouldn't you want a break

in the old days yeah I understand it but now?

we start at 6 and finish at 2:45

9:00 on the dot I am upstairs for a break

c'mon guys you need it

stop trying to rush round and make time

those days are over

work your time, take your breaks

trust me you will feel better for it :-)

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I believe the CWU state it should be taken before you leave. The DOM is full of it though as an employer can not tell you WHERE to have your break.

But he can tell you when - the regulations are quite clear on that.

1. Minimum break if you work 6 hours continuously in a day is 20 minutes.
2. Employers can tell you when to take the statutory break but not where, as long as the break is not at either end of the working day but somewhere in the middle.


The complication with RM is that we get more than the statutory minimum so the extra 10 or 20 minutes we get is a grey area and could be played by both sides.

CWU do advise taking your full entitlement before going on delivery.

[Pat Ostman]

I believe the CWU state it should be taken before you leave. The DOM is full of it though as an employer can not tell you WHERE to have your break.

But he can tell you when - the regulations are quite clear on that.

1. Minimum break if you work 6 hours continuously in a day is 20 minutes.
2. Employers can tell you when to take the statutory break but not where, as long as the break is not at either end of the working day but somewhere in the middle.


The complication with RM is that we get more than the statutory minimum so the extra 10 or 20 minutes we get is a grey area and could be played by both sides.

CWU do advise taking your full entitlement before going on delivery.

Yes but if he wants you to take the break at the end of your duty is he not telling you where to take it?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I believe the CWU state it should be taken before you leave. The DOM is full of it though as an employer can not tell you WHERE to have your break.

But he can tell you when - the regulations are quite clear on that.

1. Minimum break if you work 6 hours continuously in a day is 20 minutes.
2. Employers can tell you when to take the statutory break but not where, as long as the break is not at either end of the working day but somewhere in the middle.


The complication with RM is that we get more than the statutory minimum so the extra 10 or 20 minutes we get is a grey area and could be played by both sides.

CWU do advise taking your full entitlement before going on delivery.

Yes but if he wants you to take the break at the end of your duty is he not telling you where to take it?

No he is telling you WHEN to take it and if he is telling you to take your break at the end of the working day then he is breaking H&S guidance http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/ ... G_10029451" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The requirements are:
the break must be in one block
it cannot be taken off one end of the working day - it must be somewhere in the middle
you are allowed to spend it away from the place on your employer's premises where you work
your employer can say when the break must be taken, as long as it meets these conditions

[johnnyp]

The main Meal break at our place is between 09.20-10.00,some take it,some dont and just work through to finish.
Not many if any take it at the end.Our Dom wants everyone to take there full meal break before they go out.If some people are gonna fail then he tells them to take there breaks before they go out so he knows they are on untill 14.00.

[Pat Ostman]

The main Meal break at our place is between 09.20-10.00,some take it,some dont and just work through to finish.
Not many if any take it at the end.Our Dom wants everyone to take there full meal break before they go out.If some people are gonna fail then he tells them to take there breaks before they go out so he knows they are on untill 14.00.

But the actual WORKING section of the day will be exactly the same will it not?

[johnnyp]

The main Meal break at our place is between 09.20-10.00,some take it,some dont and just work through to finish.
Not many if any take it at the end.Our Dom wants everyone to take there full meal break before they go out.If some people are gonna fail then he tells them to take there breaks before they go out so he knows they are on untill 14.00.

But the actual WORKING section of the day will be exactly the same will it not?

Yes it will.

[POSTMAN]

The fact that you have been doing it for 19 years,custom and practice must come into play surely.

Not if it's in breach of that.

 Appropriately scheduled meal breaks ( consistent with relevant working time legislation)

Let's put our cards on the table here...taking it at the end is just encouraging the time chasers.
You can't do it in a factory FFS why the desperation to do it here?
What's the problem with working from your start time to your finish time in this job?
I don't get it.

Apologies for my rant,we had a cover manager the other day who was questioning our breaks and we we're argueing about our local agreement as mentioned in my errrr rant.
Was a knee jerk reaction as it was still fresh in my mind.

We obviously don't know the office in question here but you can bet your life the guys there do kind of get a break as tbf there are always lulls in the working day inside.
Managers are seeing this no doubt and to then finish 40mins early and possibly cut off wont make sense to RM.

I sit corrected.