Hi Guys :)
I am very (doesn't take much ;) )
I have just been on to an employment law website, but its not exactly laymans terms :(
Got a question for you.
What are your rights in regards to payed breaks?

If you worked from 9-6pm what paid/unpaid breaks are you entitled to?
The job is in a call centre, so you are on the phone all day and staring at a computer screen. There is also no staff room, so unless you want to go outside in all weathers or sit in your car, you have to take lunch at your desk :(
At the moment during that 9 hrs you are only entitled to 1 half hour unpaid break I am sure that cannot be right :( You are not allowed a tea break in the morning or afternoon.
Does anyone know if they are breaking any employment laws?
Thanks
Ali :)

As far as I know you are not 'entitled' to any paid breaks but you are entitled to unpaid breaks. If it's any help my husband works a 10 - 12 hour shift and gets 1 x 30 minute, unpaid break during that time. I think your employment 'enviroment' does come into the equation though and if you are sitting at a computer, you may be allowed *tech breaks*? Have you got a union?

Hi Ali c,
Sounds like a call centre I worked in :( To me Call centres deserve every bit of bad press that they get. Most of them have earned it. I'm not totally sure but what you describe is the same as I worked and our union said they weren't breaking the law :(

With constantly using a computer, we were entitled to 10 minutes off every 2 hours but that wasn't a 10 minute break. It was 10 minutes doing something else like training/meetings etc. It was "frowned upon severely" if you dared to go to the toilet outwith official breaks.

After 4 hours we were supposed to have a 30 minute unpaid lunch break but sometimes it was 5 hours before we got this and the union said that was all right. To be honest the union didn't seem to want to "rock the boat". Anyone who did was soon "bullied" into submission or "left" and the management attitude was that if you didn't want to do it, you could take a hike and someone else would.

I worked in a few call centres and they weren't all as bad. One of them was actually a great place to work but I feel that it's not the place for an individual with a mind. At least definitely not at the shop floor level.

Sorry that's my rant on call centres over. You can tell it's hit a nerve :)
Good luck
Dot

Hi Ali,

The dreaded call centre....

The current rule:

A worker has the right to a break of 20 minutes if required to work continuously for more than six hours. The break should be taken during the six hour period and not at the beginning or the end of it.

Unfortunalty the company does not have to pay this break neither.

There is health and safety guidelines about PC usage but these are not covered by the working time regulations or written into them as yet.

It awful. The have the highest employee turn around record.

There are some exclusions to the above ie long distance drivers, bus drivers.

Get back on those horses, Ali, and you can tell them what to do with their computers!;)
Lynn x

Well I work for Transco and I LOVE it...really! Excellant pay and perks. We get a ten minute break after two hours, then a 40 minute lunch (in house restaurant or staffroom/kitchen),two hours later another ten minute break and then home, unless you do overtime where again you would get another break. Because you're in front of a monitor you are entitled/encouraged to do other duties every 20 mins or so ie faxing,checking your ducket. If it's quiet you can go for a fag and you can go to the loo as often as you like as long as you don't abuse the system. Plus they really look after their staff.
Yes it's callcentre work but there are no outbound calls, you take the emergency gas calls among other enquiries, so apart from the odd idiot who mistakes you for their gas company you get a buzz from helping people.
You should ask support for their health and safety booklet, if you're in front of a monitor you are definitely entitled to breaks.We get paid lunch but not the ten minute breaks. I understand you're entitled to a paid ten minute break every four hours, but I could be wrong.
Your happy call centre agent Julie :)