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stuart cruickshank
Member - 6 posts
I'm a line manager and at present my staff have two paid fifteen minute tea breaks and an unpaid hour for lunch which is not included in their working day. my question is , is the two paid tea breaks counted as working time? because really the staff are only working 7.5 hours per day . this could save me money because overtime is paid after 8 hours and i could argue that they are not working 8 hours.
the only snag is that their contract suggests that they do work 8 hours presumably because the the tea breaks are paid. anyone have any ideas ? i really don't want any hassle from unions.
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Richard Johns
Member - 15 posts
Stuart - I discussed this issue with other EHOs (we enforce Working Time Regs) and your question is somewhat challenging.
Duting a tea break, unpaid or paid, we believe the employee is not actually working; at that particular time they are not undertaking a duty or task. Therefore they are technically working 7.5 hours. However, their contract of employment may stop you from making changes without breaching their contracts. You may wish to seek legal advice. You may however, wish to consider amending the contract for new starters to make all breaks unpaid, taking into account minimum requirements of Working Time Regs - again you may need legal advice on employment law.
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Martin Brewer - Mills & Reeve
Online advisor - 80 posts
Stuart- the Working Time Regulations (WTR) require that any worker who is scheduled to work for more than 6 consecutive hours is entitled to an uninterrupted break of 20 minutes away from their workstation. Case law suggests that this break must not just be uninterrupted but uninterruptable to count as a rest break within the meaning of the WTR. So the first point is that neither tea break qualifies as a break from work under the WTR. The hour for lunch may do provided you have no right to require staff to work during more than 40 minutes of it.
There is a definition of working time is contained in the WTR. Working time is any period when a worker is:
working
at his employer's disposal, and
carrying out his activity or duties
Unless the time during the tea breaks fulfills this definition it isn't working time for WTR purposes. However, Stuart, I think that you are missing the point when asking whether the time is 'working time'. The definition I have quoted is, as I say, for WTR purposes only. It tells you nothing about what you have agreed with your staff. Incidentally whether or not you pay them is irrelevant. Many prople work unpaid overtime, the fact that it is unpaid doesn't mean staff are not 'working'. It means they are doing unpaid work.
Richard is correct, you must look at what in fact you have agreed in your contract (either expressly or impliedly) and take advice before making any changes that could adversely impact pay or hours.
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richard campbell
Member - 5 posts
i run a taxi firm where my employees at the minute work a 10 hour shift with three paid 30 min breaks. what is the legal requirement for breaks and do they have to be paid?
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Anne McAllister
Member - 115 posts
Richard,
Can I get a job at yours? LOL
I think you are being very generous but you do not state whether these are drivers ? If so surely health and safety coms first?
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richard campbell
Member - 5 posts
yes they are drivers, what do you mean by health and safety comes first?
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Anne McAllister
Member - 115 posts
If they are drivers (professional) are they not entitled to more braks due the possible dangers of being involved in an accident?
I dont know but I thought there were different rules for this type of employee?
Myabe Ive just been blindsighted at the thopught of 3 half hour breaks LOL
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richard campbell
Member - 5 posts
its different for taxi drivers because they are not driving steady for hours at a time i think that applys to long distance drivers only as our drivers get a chance to leave the taxi when helping people with luggage etc.
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richard campbell
Member - 5 posts
i have looked into this and by law we only have to give one twenty min break every six hours without pay, but i dont want to cause bad feeling so i just cut forty mins off and i still pay the rest of the breaks.
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Anne McAllister
Member - 115 posts
\it is difficult when working with peoples feelings and their percieved rights.
You sound like a very respionsible boss and Im sure you will do it with regard to their needs.
Have you looked into where you stand with custom amd practice?
If you do the changes gradually and sympathetically you will have less problems.
Good luck !
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richard campbell
Member - 5 posts
thank you ann, yes i dont want to cause bad feeling with anyone so i wiil make the changes with care. thanks.
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James Fairchild
Member - 217 posts
Anne, I suspect what you were thinking of is this:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/freight/road/workingtime/rdtransportworkingtimeguidance
only affects vehicles with 9 or more seats or more that 3.5 tonnes gross weight (though in the case of a taxi business, a large MPV with 8 seats, towing a large trailer full of their luggage to the airport would be about that).
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