Custom And Practice

[missykat]

I have worked for the same company for 23yrs and irrellevant to what hour's I have worked have alway's enjoyed the benefit of paid tea break's (not lunch) I appreciate that it is not alway's common practice for employer's to pay for break's but as we have alway's been paid does this form part of an unwritten contract ie Custom and Practice and if so can my employer suddenly stop doing so without my agreement ?

[buildersmate]

We are experts in employment law on this site.

[woofgang]

I am out of it now but was heavily involved in managing change on the NHS....I can run an employment law compliant consultation in my sleep, and may even have done so lol.

[missykat]

Thankyou Woofgang I appreciate your response and congratulations on your achievements. Been on the ACAS site and according to them it is a case of Custom and Practice and we do need to agree to the change in our contracts. Thanks again, off now to brush up on my grammer and punctuation. lol

[woofgang]

you are welcome missykat :-)

[dotty.]

The employment legislation changed in 2009 or thereabouts as i recall.
https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work/types-of-break

[dotty.]

as an anecdote only:
in my previous job i had 2 20 minute paid breaks over an 8 hour day and an unoaid 1hour lunch, when i changed jobs in 2009 i discovered a recent change in the law and apparently all breaks were unpaid and only 2 half hours a day with an 8 hours paid day. It apparently applied to new starters but the company had negotiated the contract change with existing staff and 'bought' the breaks off them. i don't know what that involved however

[AlwaysConfused]

the reason that many companies don't pay the extra 'minutes' is because many employees get changed, go to the loo, have a cuppa etc before swiping out. Add it up, it's a lot of money to an employer

[diddlydo]

Missycat - please stop putting an apostrophe in every word that ends with an "s".

[woofgang]

diddlydo i already mentioned it...to no effect