To leave work early if I miss my lunch?

[leaveitnow1244]

Just that really - if I miss my lunch break am I entitled to leave early and not mention to anyone?

They leave it to us to take lunch breaks but a training course left me with just half hour to take lunch so I didn't bother and left early instead is this bad?

Wouldn’t have been acceptable in my job as I’m working within ratio’s and not acceptable in daughters workplace (hospitality) however my husband can get away with this as he works outside and has a set job for the day and once finished they can leave.

I might get away with it if I spoke to manager first.

My workplace doesn't let you do this. They make you take your lunch.

Stupid thing to do

I work sort of flexi and manage my own diary, so I could in theory put a message on the chat saying didn't get a break all day, finishing at 4, on mobile if anyone needs me. I don't do this because unfortunately my most productive hours are later in the day, but people do and it's not frowned upon as we are all big professional adults who can manage our own time. My job does have a lot of freedom etc though, I can go for lash or nail appointments in the morning and work later or whatever if that fits my diary that day.

We often don't get breaks. There's no way we'd get away early as compensation.

wouldnt be allowed in my work unless agreed before hand

I have one that does this. Try to call her to ask something, no answer, not online, not on Teams - next morning she says ‘oh I worked through lunch and finished at 4.30pm’. 🤔🤔. I really have no issue with this (within reason and not every day or week even) but she just goes. The annoying thing is our calls always increase slightly towards the end of the day (people finishing work etc) and she’s needed.

Yeah it's also a H&S thing, you should be taking a break anyway

Whether you're allowed to leave or entitled to a break is not something we can answer. I would advise you to notify somebody if you are leaving at a different time to usual just from a health and safety perspective. I think you might get fired if firemen and are searching a burning building for you and are at home.

I’d love a half hour lunch break.

You walked out of work early without permission? No, you can't do that.

If you've been told you can't do it, then you shouldn't do it.. I've never worked anywhere you're expected to return after a course that finishes an hour early though

Depends on your job. I missed half of my lunch break today because I was supervising a student catching up on an assessment she'd missed. But I pretty much always spend half my lunch break working. Some how I don't think it would go down well if I decided to walk out halfway through my last lesson of the day unannounced and go home .

I think it's usually expected that you would at least tell someone. I can't imagine just leaving without saying anything. Also half an hour is a fairly normal lunch break isn't it??

This.

You absolutely cannot do this.

Totally fine in some workplaces.

Completely unacceptable in others.

No one can answer this unless they are familiar with OP's workplace

It obviously depends on your job and work culture, it isn't a generic thing that you will ever gain perspective on (just look at the DH wanting to go to Japan), I regularly miss my lunch as someone will no doubt want me or the inevitable will network failure, DB issue.

If on a training course has led to it being a situation of missing half an hour lunch then I would say YABU for automatically wanting to leave early, but context matters and it is only for your boss to decide. Work to rule is fine in context, it gets even more nuanced when training is involved and you have someone at the back of the class trying to deal with the basics.

Where I work flexibility is expected on both sides.
So it wouldn't be an issue at all.

I wouldn’t be able to because my lunch break is paid but in other places it would be ok as a one off.

The reverse of this exact thread was posted last week but I don’t know how to link!

They told me not to do this and I'm in probation aswell

In that case it probably wasn't the best choice, but I'm not sure why you're so worried - has someone found out and pulled you up on it?

Depends entirely on your workplace but in most places it wouldn’t be encouraged as you are legally supposed to take breaks. Also most people won’t be super productive after 6-7 hours with no break or food.

I work quite flexibly so some days I do 9-5, others 8-4. I don’t always take an hour for lunch but I don’t take this into calculation for my working day. I figure it’s give and take, my employer is flexible when I need extra time.

It depends where you work but as a general rule I would so no otherwise why wouldn’t everyone do this every day and go home early leaving no staff for the last hour.

Of course you can’t breach your contract and walk out early, no!

is this your first job?

I do this almost daily and it's fine, but I can imagine it's not ok in lots of places. You need to check with your manager