must take atleast 20 minutes

[Militantdave]

i work in a small office where the canteen , if you can call it that was taken over by the manager for an office long ago.

office history ..We never bother taking breaks until we have finished so we book plus our meal relief . very simple.
we have not had a rp&l revision or anything postive from the last lie down and get shafted deal.

last week one of our men tried to book overtime on a saturday (lapsing obviously)of about 15 minutes , he was told not to , as the phg has been told to assume we have taken 20 minutes of our break during our shift so he isnt actually over his time.

i brought this up on his behalf to the stand in manager that week who then confirmed it was right.

i then brought it up with the actual manager on his return who fed me some s**t about , accidents , european law ect..saying royal mail has to give us a 20 minute break every 6 hours . actually the european minimum is 15 minutes every six hours but that is , to be Made available NOT COMPLUSORY .

i believe custom and practise is for us not to bother with our breaks --personal choice
i think as the most anybody ever books is about 15 minutes , it is just a convieniant thing dreamt up to stop paying overtime and cut budget .
it is law that all work time be payed.

WHAT DO YOU THINK

[pinstripe]

last week one of our men tried to book overtime on a saturday (lapsing obviously)of about 15 minutes , he was told not to , as the phg has been told to assume we have taken 20 minutes of our break during our shift so he isnt actually over his time.

Simple answer is that the whole office TAKES their FULL BREAK before going out.

Try it for a week and see them back down.

[Militantdave]

Good idea we have all thought about but where would we have this break..sat in our own cars ?

[P13]

Your manager is right , it is a legal requirement to take at least a 20 minute break as near the middle of your working day as possible

[mandelsons_toenail]

Your manager is right , it is a legal requirement to take at least a 20 minute break as near the middle of your working day as possible

Correct

Selfish few will eventually ruin it for everyone

[Militantdave]

Rest breaks

12.—(1) Where an adult worker’s daily working time is more than six hours, he is entitled to a rest break.

(2) The details of the rest break to which an adult worker is entitled under paragraph (1), including its duration and the terms on which it is granted, shall be in accordance with any provisions for the purposes of this regulation which are contained in a collective agreement or a workforce agreement.

(3) Subject to the provisions of any applicable collective agreement or workforce agreement, the rest break provided for in paragraph (1) is an uninterrupted period of not less than 20 minutes, and the worker is entitled to spend it away from his workstation if he has one.

(4) Where a young worker’s daily working time is more than four and a half hours, he is entitled to a rest break of at least 30 minutes, which shall be consecutive if possible, and he is entitled to spend it away from his workstation if he has one.

(5) If, on any day, a young worker is employed by more than one employer, his daily working time shall be determined for the purpose of paragraph (4) by aggregating the number of hours worked by him for each employer.

[Militantdave]

where is this legal requirment you two speak of written please ?

[Militantdave]

6. After regulation 24, insert—

“Mobile workers

24A.—(1) Regulations 6(1), (2) and (7), 10(1), 11(1) and (2) and 12(1) do not apply to a mobile worker in relation to whom the application of those regulations is not excluded by any provision of regulation 18.

(2) A mobile worker, to whom paragraph (1) applies, is entitled to adequate rest, except where the worker’s activities are affected by any of the matters referred to in regulation 21(e).

(3) For the purposes of this regulation, “adequate rest” means that a worker has regular rest periods, the duration of which are expressed in units of time and which are sufficiently long and continuous to ensure that, as a result of fatigue or other irregular working patterns, he does not cause injury to himself, to fellow workers or to others and that he does not damage his health, either in the short term or in the longer term.”.
.

[Danelectro]

where is this legal requirment you two speak of written please ?

Pay and Mod Agreement 2007 states that you cant claim 40 mins Meal Relief at the end of your duty-you can only keep 20 mins Meal Relief to claim as overtime.

[Militantdave]

The Working Time Regulations entitle all (* see Exceptions below) Workers and Employees to:
•A minimum Daily Rest period of 11 hours uninterrupted rest between finishing your job and starting the next day. (Workers aged between 15-18 are entitled to a minimum daily rest break of 12 hours).
•A Weekly Rest period of 24 hours uninterrupted rest within each seven day period (Young Workers aged 15-18 are entitled to 48 hours); or, at the Employers choice, a Fortnightly Rest Period of 48 consecutive hours within each 14 day period.
•The weekly rest period should not include any part of the daily rest period.
•A break of 20 minutes if your daily working day is more than 6 hours long (or 30 minutes if you are aged 15-18 years and you work more than 4.5 hours at a stretch).
•If you are an Agency Temp then the Employer you are working for (not the Agency who employs you) is responsible for you receiving these minimum rest breaks.
•The first 2 type of rest periods are generally unpaid. The 20 minute break may be paid or unpaid, depending on what it says in your contract of employment. For more information on rest breaks please see the Direct Gov website here

[banddy]

Good idea we have all thought about but where would we have this break..sat in our own cars ?

if you have no "welfare" facilities (which you should have), you should raise the issue under 'health & safety'.

[Militantdave]

* Certain ‘special case’ workers are exempt from these rest break provisions and can be legitimately asked to work through their rest-breaks if:
•you are a shift worker who may not be able to take their daily or weekly rest periods between shifts. Shift Workers are defined as those engaged in activities involving periods of work that are split up over the day and those who work according to a certain shift pattern where workers ‘succeed’ each other at the same work station. The shift pattern may be continuous or not, but will involve the need for workers to work at different times over a given period of days or weeks.
•there is a genuine need for continuity of production/service around the clock, eg. hospitals, residential institutions, care workers, press/tv/film/radio, public utilities, industries where machinery must be kept working 24 hours a day, research and development activities, agriculture,
•the work is affected by unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond anyone’s control, or exceptional events, or where work is affected by an accident or risk of an accident,
•the work involves security or surveillance which requires a permanent presence,
•the work has a forseeable surge in activity, i.e. in agriculture, tourism and postal services,
•there is a Collective or Workforce Agreement in place that excludes these rest-break obligations – but the workers must have been fully consulted with to ensure these are valid.

[fishtank]

We have a collective agreement..The Way Forward that makes it clear that only part of a split break can be taken at the end of your attendance.

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

In the case of a 40 min break it's a 20/20 split.
...and we're not classed as mobile workers under the working time directive.

[BernardBresslaw]

I can't believe people want to work like mad on delivery for 6 hours straight (in our cases) all for the sake of saving 20 minutes. Madness. Just park up, have a sandwich, read the paper, play with your phone, then carry on and you can still get back to the office 20 minutes before your scheduled finish. Job and Done is finished. The sooner people realise it, the better.

In your case, they have obviously made this fuss, to try and force you to work through your break and then claim 20 minutes less. Just have a break, enjoy the sunshine and chill out for a bit half way through your delivery. It's worth the few quid you would get on OT.

[mandelsons_toenail]