WFH - am I entitled to a lunch break today?

[millerjane]

I've been lucky enough to work from home during this pandemic. All morning I've been unable to sign in due to a network wide issue (according to the IT help desk). It appears I'm the only person in my team having this issue. Whilst I've been unable to work I have had to message/speak to the IT people and follow their instructions. So obviously I haven;t been working as normal.

But am I entitled to have an hour lunch despite this? Manager just rang me and seemed annoyed when I asked her to ring back in 20 minutes as I was in the middle of lunch (consists of going for a walk and eating my sarnie).

AIBU?

TBH I'd have taken the call and had my lunch afterwards. sounds a bit inflexible. Unless you were physically out on a walk and needed the computer to answer the call.

I would have just taken the call tbh.

You have tried to work but they have an IT issue. You are allowed lunch!

Agree with previous poster

I would have taken the call and eaten lunch afterwards.

The call would involve about an hours worth of work. I had not eaten due to the technical issues.

But also yeh I'd have just taken the call and added the time of the call to my lunch hour

Sorry, I mean the first reply!

You could have spoken to her while walking.

Are you now logged on? Perhaps your manager expected you to take the down time to have your lunch (obviously depending on the hours you were affected.)

If we had sustained system outages at work, I'll take the opportunity to re-schedule non-systems activities for that time, including breaks, lunches, team meetings, ad hoc training/coaching, etc.

That only works, though, if IT support are able to give a realistic timeframe for the fix. If they gave you the impression that a fix would be imminent, then YANBU.

I was literally going out the door.

Why do you need 20 mins to eat a sandwich?

Maybe she didn’t realise you weren’t physically there. I don’t think you did anything wrong going for lunch - it’s not like you were late and had said you’d work through lunch to make up for it (for example).

I personally don't like to work on my lunch break for the sake of my mental well being (on medication for depression and anxiety/eating disorder).

I had no other oppurtunity to get out of the house.

Why do you need 20 mins to eat a sandwich? hmm

You've missed the point. She didn't need to be eating anything at all. It's her time to not be working.

Honestly, I'd have taken the call.

I'd have finished my sarnie, then done the call. Much as its nice to get out for a walk, if someone needs me then I do that first

Why do you need 20 mins to eat a sandwich?

Oh for Christ’s sake. A) I’m sure the OP didn’t literally spend 20 minutes eating a sandwich, B) she was out walking and would need time to get back and C) suggesting a 20-minute break is too long when she’s entitled to an hour is batshit.

My boss is really keen on blocking out lunch hour, but I'm afraid I would have taken the call too.

Presumably you're not talking with IT constantly and aren't on video, so could have just put yourself on mute and eaten your sarnie.

So you havent really done anything all morning and your boss calls you to discuss something and you say no?

You ask a question and then come up with a whole list of reasons why you weren’t being unfair so what was the point ? .
Your manager called and you asked her to wait , that’s unprofessional.
You should have taken the call and finished your sandwich when you had ended the call.
Your MH will be a lot worse if you are sacked ..

Depends if the timing mattered. Ie talking before an afternoon meeting for example.

If not then good to take the break.

I'm not making excuses just contextualising my reasoning. I'm on a grad scheme so still learning. Tbh there are people in my organisation who are always available/working and I just want to maintain my boundaries. Can see it both ways for sure.