If you work 9-5 and book half a days leave, what time do you finish?

[EmmyToo]

Gosh this is such a non issue but my brain can’t compute it.

I work 9-5, 7.5 hour days with a half hour break.

I want to book half a days leave, so assumed I’d be working 3.75 hours (= 3 hours 45 minutes) and taking 3.75 hours leave. So finishing at 12.45.

But because I don’t get my half an hour break, I have to work 4 hours 15 minutes. So can’t finish until 1.15.

I get it, it makes sense, but my brain doesn’t like taking half a days leave and the result being that I’m working more than half a day.

Also… this is the first time this has ever come up in 10 years at the same company. Just a new line manager.

What do you do? Is this standard?

I'd leave around 1 usually but my work are fairly flexible.

Somewheee between 12-1, again work are flexiable

No, that’s not right. Your lunch break is unpaid and you’re not taking it today, so you work 50% of a day.
Straight to HR with this.

Maybe that’s why it’s not come up before. Very flexible company. I don’t actually work 9-5, but that’s what it officially is. But very inflexible manager. She needs to know the ins and outs of a ducks arse.

It depends on how long you get for lunch.

If you get an hour (which is unpaid) it means your contractual day is therefore seven hours.

Therefore you would leave halfway through at 12.30pm.

Well either your lunch break is unpaid, in which case you should leave before it starts. Or it is paid, in which case you should get half of it. You definitely shouldn’t have to work the full half hour!

Yeah my work would apply common sense that somewhere between 12 and 1 would be reasonable. I'd usually expect to get back from a half morning by 1 at the latest and take no break, and on a half afternoon, I'd expect to leave at 1 and take no break.
Instead of calculating on 7.5 hours, if you're doing a half day on 9-5, would you not work 4 hours solidly and do 9-1 then leave?

Wound just leave before lunch break starts at my place.

Contracted 7.5 hours a day. Want to take 3.75 hours leave. So I get that maths… if I finish at 5 then taking 3.75 hours brings us to 1.15. (5pm minus 3 hours and 45 minutes is 1.15.)

The “argument” is that I don’t get half an hour unpaid break for half a days work.

Glad you’re all as confused and pissed about this as I am.

You should leave 12.45

I am not sure how to refute the lunch break argument as it's arguing with stupid!

You work half the day you get paid for, so 3.75 hours. I agree with burnoutbabe

I’d count it as 3.75 hours from when you start, so finish at 12.45.

Sounds like your manager is either incompetent or trying it on.

I work the same hours as you and half an hours unpaid lunch. I would finish at 12:45.

Your manager is a twat. If you take a half day annual leave then you only work half your usual hours. Your lunch break is unpaid so doesn’t come into the equation.

I do an 8 hour day with an unpaid 1hr break so only work 4 hours if I take a half day.

Ok, well according to that logic you start at 9 and work 3.75 hours which is 12.45.

Working back goes over unpaid lunchtime.

Your lunch break is unpaid, so it's your free time, not working time.

If a working day is 7hrs 30mins, then a half day is 3hrs 45 mins, and you should be free to leave 3hrs and 45 mins after your start time. You shouldn't take a break in the 3hrs 45 mins that you are working.

Why on earth are they working backwards from a usual finish time instead of just calculating what half your working hours are and timing them from whenever you start? Lunch break is a legal requirement when working over so many hours, but a half day means it doesn’t apply.

For goodness sake, don’t just work your half day PLUS whatever your lunch break is. Madness.

The lunch break is a red herring. It is not something you earn, merely some time in the work day you aren't working

You are contracted to work 7.5 hours a day: or, if your manager likes, 10 sessions of 3.75 hours. You are simply dropping one of those.

You would finish at 12.45. If you were starting a half day in the afternoon you would begin work at 1.15.

Love that other people have asked this question…

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/work/3838629-annual-leave-and-lunch-break

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5214875/how-long-is-half-a-days-holiday

If they pay me for 7.5 hours and I want to take 3.75 hours off then I get the methodology that I take 3.75 off my finish time. So 1.15.

However, on the flip side, if I take 3.75 off then they’re only getting me for 3.75 hours! The subtraction should come from my total hours (i.e. the 7.5 a day) not the actual hours (i.e. 9-5).

Fucking hell this is as clear as mud isn’t it.

Yes! Exactly this. That’s my thinking.

This seems like a good way of explaining it.

Baffling that they think you should work til 1:15 though!

I think you are also confused.

If they pay me for 7.5 hours and I want to take 3.75 hours off then I get the methodology that I take 3.75 off my finish time. So 1.15.

This is incorrect. 1.15 would be the end of an unpaid lunch break. Please stop working backwards. What time did you start?

I think I'm being stupid. It's surely simple. You are all in agreement that on that particular day you are being paid for 3.75 hours? So you work 3.75 hours? End of discussion.

They're confusing you OP!

Even on a normal day they only "get" you for 3.75 hours in the afternoon, the 30 mins prior you are not working anyway as its lunch