Missed 3 hours of lunch break

[ThereIsNoLeftFalangie]

AIBU to feel quite pissed off that I've missed out on 3 hours of my lunch break.
Work in a school, have been on quite a few trips for the last term. On trips the children get 30 mins lunch with staff eating alongside and supervising. Normally at school staff will get an hour lunch which is not paid. I don't mind missing out 30mins on the odd trip but it's taking the micky when im owed 2 hours. We're all expected to do things out of goodwill but thoses favours are never reciprocated by management. If they had to pay me for all the times I've worked passed my finish time they'd be in for a shock. Should I mention the 3 hours im owed?

@Biggibyboo people weren't far off saying that back in the day when teachers were striking for better pay. The whole vocation thing was trotted out by government and parents alike. And those were the days when paperwork and planning weren't so onerous and we were able to have dinner hours

I'm a teacher in KS2. I have a 45 minute lunch break and always take 20 minutes to sit down and eat. I must be in the minority though as many teachers on MN don't even have time to wee during the day.

I'm a HV and can't honestly remember the last time I had my lunch break. I always eat it whilst I'm documenting in notes or driving to my next visit. I have such a big caseload it's unreal. I've even had some lovely families offer me lunch which I've obviously declined.

We have our Christmas lunch soon and we are pencilling out one whole hour to enjoy it - fingers crossed!

I haven't had a lunch break in 20 years:

I work shifts in my job, I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve not had a single thing to eat all day. Just the way of it.

Why on earth should TAs (on about £9 an hour) be expected to do unpaid overtime?!

Expecting low paid workers to do unpaid overtime is actually illegal if it then takes them under minimum page. Some big companies like Argos got fined for this recently.

If I was the OP I would definitely be asking for an afternoon off as TOIL.

It would be a better idea to just say no or that it's someone else's turn to do the trips.
Unless you have a medical reason why you need the breaks. (?diabetes etc)
You are legally entitled to 20 minutes uninterrupted break for a 6 hour day. This is something I wouldn't give up for love nor money... but that's cus I can't eat where I work and I am always hungry.

Wow. Sorry OP but it’s just the way it is I’m afraid. If I were to add up the working lunches and overtime from when I worked full time, I’d be owed a fair few thousand.
I wouldn’t say anything about a few hours, you’re expected to go the mile and all that.

"It's just the way it is"? Why should it be? Unpaid overtime should not be accepted, and is illegal if it means your pay goes below minimum wage.

@GleamInYourEyes because you can guarantee that OP’s colleagues are also doing this and as a team player, if you go and have a moan about a couple of hours, which in the grand scheme of things, is naff all, they’ll be ostracised.

See how things go and if it’s a continuous problem then seek advice from the head/head of department with a possible solution.

TAs aren't paid a salary though.

They are paid per hour.

You get a salary because you are paid over 12 months and only work 45 ish weeks a year dependent on holiday entitlement.
But when they dock pay for days off etc it's docked on an hourly rate.

Most are employed for 6 hours a day or 30 hours a week and contracts state 30 mins or 60 minutes unpaid lunch break.

We left early one day because we'd been on a trip (early as in teacher didn't hold class meeting which makes up the 30 hours we owe as school is open 39 weeks). Slt stopped us as we were leaving and pulled teacher up. She stood up and said "well my staff worked through their unpaid lunch to provide a trip for the pupils today. So this is their lunch break". Slt weren't happy. But this teacher bets a,axing results because people want to work for her.

I often eat at my desk, to be honest I don’t mind, I take pride in my work and am happy to give up my time if I need to. I get good reports on my work, good performance rises because of the work I do

It is give and take normally, I get to go early if I really need to on occasions. If you say your employers don’t give time back, or pay you then you either accept that fact, or leave and find a job that does.

You don’t seem to say how long you worked your lunch hours over. Is it a week? Your op implied much longer

Wow. Sorry OP but it’s just the way it is I’m afraid.

What a shitty attitude. Who cares if everyone else does it? Doesn't make it acceptable. If OP is a TA on minimum wage, working an extra hour per day could easily take her under the minimum wage which is illegal.

Don’t think you would be invited on anymore trips if you do . . .

Not sure I’ve had a lunch break at school for 5 years... I’m sure mine isn’t classed as paid either.

I do wonder how much this "work whatever hours are needed for 6 hours pay a day" affects the economy.

The employees only pay tax on their take home pay. So what they contribute to government is less than they would if the were paid for the hours worked. And many probably also get WTC.

I would wonder if the offset the government get in taxes from these companies employing these people makes up the shortfall.

It certainly doesn't in education, care and emergency services because they are services.

Also we are modelling poor acceptance of working conditions to the future workforce by what pupils see teachers doing in schools.

If employers need 10 people each working 8 hours a day because they need 80 hours of workforce time then that's what they should employ and pay tax and NI on.
It's not right they employ 8 people who work 10 days a day (2 hours unpaid OT). But they'll do it all the time people sacrifice themselves as martyrs and do it. That's 2 employees and 16 hours of pay of tax and NI they aren't paying everyday.

Surely that must be having some effect on the economy?

Don’t think you would be invited on anymore trips if you do . . .

That sounds great to be honest. That alone would persuade me to tell them. Oh, and the fact that I'm legally entitled to it, and no, that doesn't demonstrate how dedicated you are to the job.

@ThereIsNoLeftFalangie

If you are on minimum wage or near then if you work extra hours "unpaid" the school may be breaking the minimum wage laws which is quite a serious offence. I do hope you are a union member if so consult the union and if not ACAS

as a team player

Ah yes, the insinuation that because OP would like to get what she’s due she’s shafting the rest of her workmates.

It's much easier to be a team player when paid to be a team player... Support staff are also normally explicitly not paid to work on INSET days. I suppose team players would have them coming into school then, too, unpaid, working alongside teachers who explicitly are paid for those days? And coming into school during school holidays, despite their explicit term-time only contracts?

Our TAs are all paid for inset days.

Lol!!!!! No.

I haven't had a lunch break in about 15 years! And I'm not a teacher. Corporate life does not lend itself to lunch, unless it's a working lunch.

If our TAs work over lunch it is because they are also paid to work as lunchtime supervisers and this is explicitly written into their employment contract. If they are asked to come intonwork on INST days, they are entitled either to claim overtime pay or time off in lieu - because of, you know, this funny little thing called an employment contract which says they are not contractually obliged to work on those days. Funnily enough, teachers working at the school are also uncannily aware of their employment contracts and, eg, part time teachers would not expect to do unpaid parents' evenings on their days off, and despite the huge expense to the school, would not expect to lose their PPA entitlement because the school kept booking them on training or asking them to go on trips every time they were supposed to be getting it. They are also uncannily aware of the number of hours directed time they are subjected to each year. Amazing, how they can read, isn't it? And how they think their contracts are worth the paper they are written on. I guess you'd also be a team player sort of a person if you paid for goods or services and did not complain if your contract was breached there, too.

What I liked about the corporate world was that I chose when to have a lunchbreak and when not to, and carried on doing what I was explicitly paid to do if I worked over my lunchbreak. If I worked a long way in excess of my normal contractual hours, I also billed the client for my food outside those hours... My contract did not specify I was paid by the hour and did not say that it would be reasonable for my employer to tell me that I must give up my lunchbreak to, eg, help out in the staff canteen - because that was not what I was employed to do. I was expected only to get the work done that I was actually employed to do.