Do you have a lunch break

[WillsBabe]

There's some law over here in the UK that if you work for more than so many hours you are entitled to a break of so long. In my place of work, we are entitled to take a 30 minute break in a 7.5 hour day. It's not a structured or a time tabled thing. You make your own time to take lunch. Thing is, I, and a lot of my colleagues just don't. We get bogged down with work, the phone keeps ringing, there isn't really anywhere other than our desks to eat lunch. As a result I often don't take a lunch break. It's stupid really, for loads of reasons. I'm just wondering if other folks often work straight through; if you must take a break and if you don't what happens - can you claim the time back and finish work earlier, etc?

 

[Cali]

I get a 30 min break on shifts of 6hrs+. Which means that an 11-4 shift ends with me feeling Seriously Cranky because I haven't eaten in too long.

 

[JoeZhang]

I own the business so I have lunch when I like. My favourite types are the two hour ones with booze. Before that I was an academic and most days I wasn't up until it was time for lunch anyway.

 

[Sephiroth]

I supposedly get a 45 minute break, but Noon is when my boss drops shit in my lap that are marked "urgent", she does it every day, and it's just enough that i won't be able to make my lunch break because of it

 

[auntiehill]

When I'm working, I get a 30 min. lunch break when I work 8 hrs or more in a day.

 

[Hermiod]

I have an hour's break but I only take 30 minutes and leave 30 minutes earlier instead by arrangement with my manager.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

There's some law over here in the UK that if you work for more than so many hours you are entitled to a break of so long. In my place of work, we are entitled to take a 30 minute break in a 7.5 hour day. It's not a structured or a time tabled thing. You make your own time to take lunch. Thing is, I, and a lot of my colleagues just don't. We get bogged down with work, the phone keeps ringing, there isn't really anywhere other than our desks to eat lunch. As a result I often don't take a lunch break. It's stupid really, for loads of reasons. I'm just wondering if other folks often work straight through; if you must take a break and if you don't what happens - can you claim the time back and finish work earlier, etc?

Ah, the good old strict hours monitoring.
We have to have a 30 minute break of some form at the very least, every four and a half hours of work. To be honest, if I don't have some form of rest or food at that time, I end up very cranky and my work does tend to suffer.

 

[Plecostomus]

Boss doesn't care when/how I take my break and doesn't care if I wander off for a snack or bottle of soda... As long as everything gets done that needs to get done.

One of the major perks of working here I feel.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There's some law over here in the UK that if you work for more than so many hours you are entitled to a break of so long.

We have that too. I think it's 7 hours minimum shift length to get a 1/2 hour lunch, and 9 hours for a 1 hour lunch.

 

[Sledder]

I get an hour for lunch, often times I'll go on a walk or something.

Really only 30 minutes of it is a typical break, the other 30 minutes is made up by being at the office for 8.5 hours.

 

[Sephiroth]

I like China's model, noon-1 Lunch 1-2 Nap time

 

[John Clark]

For me (in the UK) I technically get 53 minutes. If we don't take it all, it goes to flexitime.

Actual work hours are 7 hours 12 minutes a day

 

[Alidar Jarok]

When I work, I get 30 minutes if I work 8 hours (which usually means I work an 8 1/2 hour day with 30 mins of that for lunch, unpaid). I also get a guaranteed 15 minute paid break as well. That being said, I don't usually take my 15 minute because I'm too busy and I forget. I always take my 30 minute because I don't get paid for that, even if I keep working (and they'll usually bug me if I forget). But I don't have a professional job, just an hourly job, so I don't fit the type of person who skips lunch breaks.

 

[WillsBabe]

We have that too. I think it's 7 hours minimum shift length to get a 1/2 hour lunch, and 9 hours for a 1 hour lunch.

In the UK it's a 20 minute break if you work more than 6 hours. Personally, I think that's quite heavy going.

 

[The Great Meech]

In Ontario, under the Employment Standards Act, workers get one half hour break once every five hours worked. At my work, you actually have to take it, and it must be not one minute less than half an hour, nor taken one minute past five hours. Probably because we have a lot of young workers, and the Labour Minsitry will shines flashlights in uncomfortable parts of our bodies if we don't comply with the law.

 

[Garrovick]

Retired people never get a lunch break.

 

[Trippy]

^

I get 40 minutes just like our students.

 

[jamestyler]

I own the business so I have lunch when I like.

Thats one of the reasons I'm not thrilled with the prospects of going back to a regular job. Right now I get my lunch break, gym break and pub breaks whenever I feel like it.

Of course... I don't get a lot of work done...

 

[JoeZhang]

I own the business so I have lunch when I like.

Thats one of the reasons I'm not thrilled with the prospects of going back to a regular job. Right now I get my lunch break, gym break and pub breaks whenever I feel like it.

Of course... I don't get a lot of work done...

Yeah you have to be fairly motivated - I make sure that I get up at a regular hour and I tend to work between 6am-10am quite solidly, so if I want to goof around all day most of the heavy lifting is done.

Academia was the worst thing in the world for my self-control - I could stay in bed for four weeks and play video games all day. If you didn't go in for weeks at a time, absolutely nothing was said - nobody cared.

Thinking about it - I haven't had a regular job in over ten years, it would be a complete cultural shock if I ever had to get up every day to go to an office.

 

[Star Wolf]

In most of the US unless you have a union contract which gives more protection it is 30 minutes after 6 hours. In many cases time is automatically deducted whether you take your break or not. So an 8 hour basic work day is 8 hours 30 minutes minimum.