Break entitlements

stee.mc79

Can anyone tell me what breaks your are entitled to working on a 10 hour shift, we have a 15min break in the morning and a 30min break in the afternoon. Are we entitled to another break?

Nody

2x 15 min paid and 1x 30 min unpaid would be the normal minimum requirement

dan1895

Should there not be an unpaid one hour break in there somewhere?

Eoin

Doesn't look like it (link)

stee.mc79

what we where told in work today was that we where not entitled to an extra break cause we don't work more than 10 hours which i thought was wrong, cause normally we work 8 hours, and get the 15min paid and 30mins unpaid but is there anything in legislation for the 10 hours?

wmpdd3

The rest periods seem to be decided when everyone worked 9 to 5.

Here's is what is laid out by the Working Time Directive:

From 1st March 1998 every employee has a general
entitlement to:
• 11 hours daily rest per 24 hour period
• one period of 24 hours rest per week preceded by a daily
rest period (11 hours)

• Rest breaks - 15 minutes where up to 4½ hours have been
worked; 30 minutes where up to 6 hours have been worked
which may include the first break.

• Shop Employees whose hours of work include the hours
11.30am - 2.30pm must after 6 hours work be allowed a
break of one hour which must commence between the
hours 11.30am - 2.30pm.
These rest breaks and intervals may be varied if there is a
collective agreement in place approved by the Labour Court
or if a regulation has been made for your sector. If there are
variations in rest times and rest intervals under agreement or
in the permitted sectors, equivalent compensatory rest must
be available to the employee.

From here:
http://www.employmentrights.ie/en/media/Workingtimeact.pdf

That is the bear minimum, but it doesn't give a sliding scale of breaks depending on how many hours you worked.

You could say it says there must be a break of 15min after every 4.5 hrs worked so if your working more than 4.5hrs without a break I would say you have a case, but they may just move your break. Is your shift always 10hrs or is that an over time shift, if it is overtime the co may say it is a one off and ask you to work with only the breaks for a 8 hr day.


I always a minimum 10 hr day in retail and I get 1 hr unpaid and a 1/2 hr paid break.
I take it you don't have a union?

stee.mc79

Nope no union and its pretty hard to get anyone to stick together, and yes it's overtime on a 4 week on, 4 week off basis i think i'll just have grin and bear it. as legislation dosen't seem to back me up there's nothing i can do!:(

wmpdd3

I remember a disagreement starting between the union and the management a while ago about an extra break when doing overtime.

They used the act to get a break after 4.5 hrs working, but then they docked them 1/2 hr at the overtime rate so it ended up not working the overtime.

Is it the kind of place where you could bring a drink or pack of sweets to where you are working?

stee.mc79

Ya bring down tea to my check stand. Bit poop though all those extra hours not even 10 min extra break. Legislation needs to be updated!
Also if I push it they don't have to pay me for our 15min break either I'll have to work that up as well

wmpdd3

It's true, there is no prevision for a working day beyond 8 hrs. In recent years, 10 and 12 hrs shifts are much more common and it's a bit much to ask someone to work 12 hrs with a 15 min and 1/2 hr break.