Lunch break rights

ivorhead

Hi folks wonder if anyone could tell me or point in the right direction of how to find out what my rights are regarding my lunch breaks in my current job.
I work in a centre that supports people with disabilities and we have the one canteen/kitchen in the centre which everyone shares Approx 25 clients and 9 staff

There is no set time for lunch as everyones programme is different hence the canteen is always busy from approx 12:30 up untill 2:30 dpending on the day.

A lot of the clients require support during there lunch and the kitchen can be quite loud and also while your having your lunch you can be regulary asked to help other staff/clients midway through.
We are not allowed leave the buiding during lunch time even though we have to clock out for it and have been also told if we want somewhere quiet during our half hour we can always sit in our cars.

Is management allowed to do this. I thought i read somewhere that staff are suppose to be provided with a place to have lunch away from their workplace but unfortunately I can't find where I read it

Love2love

ivorhead wrote: »

Hi folks wonder if anyone could tell me or point in the right direction of how to find out what my rights are regarding my lunch breaks in my current job.
I work in a centre that supports people with disabilities and we have the one canteen/kitchen in the centre which everyone shares Approx 25 clients and 9 staff

There is no set time for lunch as everyones programme is different hence the canteen is always busy from approx 12:30 up untill 2:30 dpending on the day.

A lot of the clients require support during there lunch and the kitchen can be quite loud and also while your having your lunch you can be regulary asked to help other staff/clients midway through.
We are not allowed leave the buiding during lunch time even though we have to clock out for it and have been also told if we want somewhere quiet during our half hour we can always sit in our cars.

Is management allowed to do this. I thought i read somewhere that staff are suppose to be provided with a place to have lunch away from their workplace but unfortunately I can't find where I read it

Are you paid for your lunch break? In my last place of work, staff were required to be on call in case of incidents arising with service users and were not allowed to leave the premises. The staff took the organisation to the LC and it was settled that staff would be paid for their breaks and policy updated to ensure that staff still received their full breaktime if there was an issue.

BabySlam

Here you go:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/hours_of_work/rest_periods_and_breaks.html

Dial Hard

Love2love wrote:

Are you paid for your lunch break?

They've to clock out, so I doubt it.

ivorhead

Thanks for the replys folks.

No we do not get paid for our lunches and management insist that we clock out even when the canteen is really busy/noisy and we are not getting a proper break away from our work as our work really is the clients and their will nearly always be some client that will want to talk to you during your break or request supprt frm you for something.

Thanks for posting the link, I had a good read of it. The info I am looking for though was soomething I read that staff are entitled to be provided with a place to have their breaks away from their place of work for example not having to eat in an office if that is their work station. or on the factory floor etc. Unfortunately I can't find this web page anymore.
Our work however is with people and as we all share the same canteen/kitchen, so we are not really getting away from our work during our breaks as the people we work with cannot just turn off whatever needs they might need just beacause we have clocked out

If we are out with the clients during the day and we support them to have lunch outside the centre we do not have to clock out and this is called a working lunch and we are paid for that time. I would have thought that the same should really exist for in centre also.

Would we be entitled to this or is it a case of just having to put up with it. Would anyone know

Stheno

It's not covered in legislation as to where you take your lunch.

You could just decide to take the 30 minutes eating in your car with a lunch you have brought in.

beauf

ivorhead wrote: »

....
We are not allowed leave the building during lunch time even though we have to clock out for it and have been also told if we want somewhere quiet during our half hour we can always sit in our cars....

I'm curious how you manage not to leave the building AND sit in your car.


I can see why you would want just to switch off for 30 mins. But I'm not sure if that's possible in a care center with a shared canteen. Its a bit like a nurse on a ward, who eats with the patients and there's no staff canteen and no cover rota for breaks.

Tough one. Perhaps the break times should be different, a rota system put in place. Maybe that would be better organised some where else. Or perhaps you need to change job to somewhere that is organised differently. Or a job that natural has breaks, like has scheduled appointments or such. Probably there's always a resource issue no matter where you move to.

ivorhead

Should really have said not allowed leave the vicinity of the building/carpark, so we can be called for assistance/work at any moment.

Rota systems have been attempted but the nature of the work is that things can change daily/hourly and therefore rotas often go out the window no matter how proactive you try to be.

Don't think I need to change job thanks. I and my colleagues love our jobs and the work with do, we often go above and beyond to provide our clients with the best service/support we can give.
It is quite regular for us to work outside of or normal 9 to 5 hrs to support the clients in the evenings and weekends to attend activities etc for which we receive time off in lieu (hour for hour, no time and a half premium rates etc) and we have no problem with doing this

But what I would like to change is our employers expecting us to clock out for 30 unpaid minutes and then expect us to work for this 30 minutes.

Thanks for you reply

_Brian

Maybe talk to the employer so a rota could be introduced to allow members who are clocked out their 30minutes uninterrupted. A rota covering half hours from 12:00 to 2pm with two off each half hour would work fine. The other staff would need to cover during that time.

When your clocked off you really should have that time to yourself.

Shelflife

For me the employers are trying to have their cake and eat it.

If you are not being paid for the 30 mins you can do as you wish, they cant restrict your movements or expect you to work during this 30mins.

So you are either on an unpaid break or you are on call, if you are on call then you should have some form of compensation for an interrupted break.

Nickla

Is it the guide to health and safety in the workplace act 2007 you're looking for? I can't post the link but if you look on the hsa website you should find it.