Quick question

[MHS]

I know someone who works as a waitress at a restaurant.

How many hours can she work before she is legally entitled to a break?

 

[muzzysgal]

I know someone who works as a waitress at a restaurant.

How many hours can she work before she is legally entitled to a break?

I was always told it was four hours and then you were entitled to a 15 minute break.

 

[MHS]

I was always told it was four hours and then you were entitled to a 15 minute break.

Exactly what I thought.

She has been told by her employers that it's six hours.

 

[Melton Fox]

Is she English?

 

[MHS]

Is she English?

Yep.

 

[Melton Fox]

Yep.

Then she possibly isn't entitled to a break.

edit - And she should consider herself lucky to have a job on the first place. Bloody English, always trying to take the jobs off of the foreigners.

 

[muzzysgal]

What are her start and finishing times?

 

[muzzysgal]

Seems her employer may be correct after reading this:

If a worker is required to work for more than six hours at a stretch, he or she is entitled to a rest break of 20 minutes.
The break should be taken during the six-hour period and not at the beginning or end of it. The exact time the breaks are taken is up to the employer to decide.

Taken from here

http://www.berr.gov.uk/employment/employment-legislation/employment-guidance/page28979.html

 

[TornadoShaunUK]

it's 6 hours, and you are entitled to 20 minutes.

EDIT - didn't see the above post! - 6 hours is the legal requirement but if you ask me that's too long to go without a break and the law needs changing, even if only to say you get 10 minutes for 3 hours...

 

[Boy Genius]

it's 6 hours, and you are entitled to 20 minutes.

EDIT - didn't see the above post! - 6 hours is the legal requirement but if you ask me that's too long to go without a break and the law needs changing, even if only to say you get 10 minutes for 3 hours...

Employers should also be allowed to let them have the 20 mins without pay. Why pay someone for not getting anything back in return.

 

[Macky]

Employers should also be allowed to let them have the 20 mins without pay. Why pay someone for not getting anything back in return.

If you really don't know the answer to that question, then you'll never profitably employ people who will make you successful.

 

[bocadillo]

it's 6 hours, and you are entitled to 20 minutes.

EDIT - didn't see the above post! - 6 hours is the legal requirement but if you ask me that's too long to go without a break and the law needs changing, even if only to say you get 10 minutes for 3 hours...

If your work period is of more than 6 hours, you don't have to wait 6 hours for the break; it's a requirement that you have a break during those six hours and not at the start or end of it. Only if your shift is of exactly 6 hours can you be required to work for that long without a break.

If MHS's friend happens to be under 18 (does MHS have young friends?), different rules apply and if she works for more 4½ hours, she must have a break of 30 minutes at some time during the shift.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10029451

 

[MHS]

She is 18 Boc.

Thanks for your help on this everyone.

 

[bocadillo]

Employers should also be allowed to let them have the 20 mins without pay. Why pay someone for not getting anything back in return.

Employers are allowed to let them have a break without pay; there is nothing in the regulations that requires the break to be paid.

Many employers choose to pay their workers for their rest breaks, having presumably decided that it is worthwhile for them to do so.

 

[Boy Genius]

If you really don't know the answer to that question, then you'll never profitably employ people who will make you successful.

They are not the shopfloor workers who do that, it's the people who can bring in the big business from big clients. These people usually work long hours anyway getting paid a salary rather than an hourly rate. They don't quibble about a 10 minute break, they just get on with it. These are the people you look after, not the ten a penny shop floor workers.

 

[Melton Fox]

not the ten a penny shop floor workers.

Perhaps we should just kill these people?

 

[Durham Fox]

Perhaps we should just kill these people?

:icon_lol:

 

[spionfox]

These are the people you look after, not the ten a penny shop floor workers.

Be careful how you treat those at a lower level than you, you never know when the situation may be reversed :icon_wink

 

[MHS]

Another quick question, same person again.

She told her employers that she will be available to work some weekends. They have now rota'd her in to work a Saturday night and she has other plans, and she can't get out of work. What can she do? Does she have to work, even though it isn't part of her contract?

 

[bocadillo]

Another quick question, same person again.

She told her employers that she will be available to work some weekends. They have now rota'd her in to work a Saturday night and she has other plans, and she can't get out of work. What can she do? Does she have to work, even though it isn't part of her contract?

It's impossible to know without knowing what is written on the contract and exactly what was agreed between the parties. Did she get any verbal agreement written into the contact? It may be impossible to prove what was said and agreed otherwise.

I seem to recall that your friend works in a restaurant. Clearly a restaurant is going to be open on a Saturday night and clearly it will need to be staffed. In the absence of verifiable evidence of an agreement which states otherwise, I doubt if it would be considered unreasonable to rota her for work on a Saturday evening.