Contracted Hours and Breaks

[sammyb123]

I’m contracted to work 48 hours a week. I work these hours over 4 x 12hr shifts.

My employer deducts our breaks out of our contracted hours so that even though we’re contracted to 48 hours a week, we only get paid 44. I only ask as my last place of work put us all on 44 hour contracts because of the breaks. Is this legal? When we take annual leave for a week we also get paid the full 48 hours…

[ULA]

Under law you are entitled to certain rest breaks in your working day, however there is no right to be paid for these. Does your contract of employment state that breaks are unpaid?

Unlike your other place of work your current employer is saying in your contract that 48 hours of work a week but this includes unpaid rest breaks. This is a perfectly fine way to set out the contractual position on your hours of work.

Are you hourly paid or annual salary paid?

[sammyb123]

ULA Thanks for this…

Our breaks are unpaid but I thought that they couldn’t be factored into your contracted hours…I thought the contracted hours were the hours you had to be paid for.

I’m paid hourly!

[ULA]

It would be best for you to post up the clause relating to hours of work and rest breaks to be able to interpret this correctly for you.