Breaks not taken.

Charliecat · Post by **Charliecat** » 31 Jan 2018, 06:24

I am supposed to take 40 mins but don't have time. So my question is if I come back 1 hour after finish time do I write it as 1.40 or just 1 hour and put +
40 in brackets ?

South_London_Postie · Post by **South_London_Postie** » 01 Feb 2018, 03:46

The official line is... take your break.

If you cannot finish you have two options.

1. Bring the mail back
2. Agree to work over and claim overtime.

There are so many reasons why you should take your break every day without fail.

Charliecat · Post by **Charliecat** » 01 Feb 2018, 05:52

I suppose I should be asking do management hate it if you ask for break money or prefer you come back later after having a break?

South_London_Postie · Post by **South_London_Postie** » 01 Feb 2018, 12:02

No, you should be taking your break somewhere during the middle of the shift, if you have an accident on duty and you haven’t taken your break, you will get the blame and face disciplinary.

Also the breaks are paid breaks so even more reason to.

South_London_Postie · Post by **South_London_Postie** » 01 Feb 2018, 12:07

Sorry I misread the last part of your message.

Yeah, if taking your break pushes you back later, which of course it will. You have two options, 1.finish at your finish time or 2.agree to do the overtime and get paid for it.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 01 Feb 2018, 13:01

Charliecat wrote:I am supposed to take 40 mins but don't have time. So my question is if I come back 1 hour after finish time do I write it as 1.40 or just 1 hour and put +
40 in brackets ?

No.

A break of 20 minutes somewhere in the middle of the working day must be given by management as this is a statutory requirement. Therefore they can quite rightly assume that you have taken at least 20 minutes. By allowing you to claim 40 minutes at the end of the shift they have basically admitted that they have not fulfilled their statutory and legal requirements, which could end up biting them on the arse if something happens and fatigue was a contributing factor.

However, current agreements do state that a 40-minute break entitlement can be split and 20 minutes can be taken at the end of the duty.

So by law, you can only claim 20 minutes at the end of your shift, with the agreement of your manager.

I suppose you could ask them if you can claim the full 40 minutes at the end, and if they are unaware of the rules surrounding breaks you might get away with it, but I DO NOT recommend it as you both could end up in serious trouble.

Post by **Navalron** » 02 Feb 2018, 02:48

Sorry, I'm now out of the job but I cannot believe how different the D/Os are now run. You're breaks are paid. F"""g take them. Also a lot of the new Postie's don't seem to know the basic overtime, or S/A or finishing between 20.00hrs and 05.00am allowances. Where the f**k is the REPS. Cmon now people. I do think the deal is a good one, considering what other workers are getting. I'm so sad for a once great employer and hate the fact that this downstream access s**t is a cover for self employed, bullshit money and within about 3 to 4 years to get rid of the universal service. Tories bastards.

Charliecat · Post by **Charliecat** » 11 Feb 2018, 09:12

I am now going to start having a break , sick of walking non stop for approx 5 hours. My feet still hurt. So I now don't care if I get back later!