Question about lunchtimes during the holidays

[Dexter]

I work an 8-4 day during the holidays - 7.5 contractual hours plus half hour lunchtime. I cannot leave the site for my lunch as cleaner/contractors may be in and the site is open for staff to come in and I am the sole caretaker.

Unless there is an exception for caretakers, workers are allowed to leave there place of work at lunchtime. I cannot and am effectively on call for my lunch. I don't want paying but believe that if school wants a throughout the day access for the above site users, I should be allowed to leave the half hour earlier at 3.30.

Part of me thinks this is petty but everything else is one-sided.

I would welcome the experience/thoughts of others.

[UnderPaid]

Have you actually been told you can't leave at lunch time? If so then you should be paid or as you said finish 30mins early. I won't even answer my phone during my lunch break! ( unless its my boss, but he wouldn't call unless it was urgent)
It's your own time and you should be able to do what you want with it or be paid for being on call.

[Taz]

7.5 hours like you, come in usually at 7, leave at 230. Usually grab a sandwich as I go depending on what I'm doing.

I've always been allowed to set my own hours, so long as I do what I'm supposed to do. Sometimes in the summer, I'll do 7-4 or 5 and then use the extra hours either as an extra day(s) holiday or just Bank the overtime, but then I also control who comes in and out.

With regards to not leaving the premises, it will usually be for insurance purposes, so that nobody (externally) is left alone on the premises. If someone else employed by the school is on site, if I want to leave to go to the shop etc, I'll just let them know and ask them to stay until I'm back so that people can carry on working, or I don't have to lock up for the sake of 10 minutes down the road.

[ash70]

if no ones in then i can do my hours whenever i like as long as they get done. if contractors are in i just work round them normally everyone is happy.

[AndyCornwall]

What you are entitled to and what you are allowed to do by your work may be different things.

Of relevance are your entitlement to a 20 minute break if your working day exceeds 6 hrs, that the break must be taken away from your place of work (away from a work station, classroom etc. and that somewhere suitable is provided for you to take that break.

If there is a staffroom or canteen then that is suitable.

Your contract or other agreements can increase the length of your break and if it is unpaid I can't see anything to stop you leaving site for the duration of your break.

You can elect to remove yourself from the requirements of the Working Time Directive if you choose to. As I recall there is documentation to sign for that.

[EBJ]

Never bothered me that i did not go out for lunch, why would i when i have the food i bring from home, the tea provided from the school and i have a nice quite out door space to sit in the sunshine and hear nothing but mother nature around me.

[Schoolbutler]

I get to choose to some extent of what time I open during holls . I usually do 8 - 3.30 that my 7 h 30 mins .I have never done a 8 hour shift and sat for 30 mins lunch and if I was told I had too I would leave the site and go home

S B

[Sgtspite1968]

I'd check the wording of your contract to see if it states you must be on-site and on call during lunch breaks.
I get an hour for lunch, but never normally get longer than 15-20 minutes before a call comes in over the radio, and despite it not stating "On-Call" during breaks, generally i respond as i know it will just be worse if i don't, so they rely on our willingness to help just a bit.

[Skoolkeeper]

I was lucky as I was residential, So I used to post on the staff notice board what time and days I would be opening and closing, I also used to work my hours around contractors, but when It came to taking breaks off I would go, everyone is entitled to a break, especially a lunch break, My old H.T was brilliant and used to hold the fort or even open and close if I was not around, But when new management took over, I had to watch my times and back, but always worked to my contract, so no comebacks.

[Drone]

During the holidays I would take my breaks in the staff room or sitting on a bench on the playground if the weather was good. The problem was always that I had to be accessible to contractors. I never bothered that much but would sneak an early finish sometimes on a Friday when it was a safe bet that the contractors would leave at lunchtime. There seems to be some sort of unwritten rule that you have to be in the pub by 2.00.p.m. on a Friday if you are in the building trade. The teaching staff were OK as they rarely bothered me.

[eggy]

If you are insistent on going off site for your lunch break, then lock the site down.
So for me to do that here takes an hour. Then everyone will need to vacate the building.
But remember, do you have a tea break?
As they are unpaid ,so you should be working extra to cover tea breaks.
Just remember how petty SLT can be. Then that is where you start to play the game.

[Handyman]

I used to do 8:00-16:00 and go home for half hour lunch (on site) and this worked fine, now we have holiday clubs in every holiday and the BM and HT are desperate for it to happen but want nothing to do with it except spending the money raised, now I effectively need to be on site or at least on call 7:00-19:00 because the people running it have difficulty doing anything and call multiple times a day - have been disturbed at 7:00 in the past because they didn't know how to open a padlock.

[wjt28]

I'm not too sure that staff coming in is a valid reason for you to not be able to leave site, to be honest. There will be days when you're not in (holidays etc.) but staff will still come in. On my days off, either nobody comes in or the head opens up, so for the sake of a 30 minute lunch break there can't possibly be reason for you to be obliged to stay on site.

I would question this if it isn't in your contract.

[Cliff_Promise]

Currently working around the contractors on site. They wanted to work 7:30 - 4:30. Fine no problem, I just keep a track of the hours I work and put the overtime in. If I'm on site with no contractors I just work my hours, usually do 6am - 1pm. Get my hours done and home time

I also pop out for my lunch if I need to. Just yesterday I popped off site for some supplies. All the contractors I use are DBS checked and they know the school site better than me! I just let them know I'm popping out for 10/15mins and away I go.