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?

@BoxOfCats what do you do?

As a manager, this sort of attitude would not bode well with me. At all.

doesnt matter what goes on in other jobs does it-op has been told not to do it and for some reason is questioning it

if youve done it once just apologise and say you didnt realise that was the policy

On probation and they told you not to do it?
Worst case scenario, you will be asked to leave.
Best case, your probation will be extended.
Probably best if they spot it is to admit you did wrong and apologise and say you won’t ever do it again.
The only place I’ve ever worked that allowed this was working for my cousin and I asked him advance.
I hope you don’t lose your job over this and you are able take this as a lesson to not do it again. 💐

You do know that people working from home do still work, don’t you? Going home to meet a commitment (with management agreement!) and then carrying on where you left off in the office can be fine, but they are still working their contracted hours. You didn’t.

Is this your first job? Or the first where you have a degree of autonomy? You need to look in to your company’s rules and gauge the expectations on you better.

I’m going to go against the grain here and say I wouldn’t have a problem with you leaving early, nor with you asking for permission in advance (it’s not school).

Im not sure if you’ve posted about this under another name in another topic with a bit more detail (related to training ?) but as a Manager I would thank you for your efforts and be grateful that you achieved so much in your day, and appreciate that you’d skipped lunch in order to do so.

As an employee, I’d see their lack of flexibility and appreciation as a massive red flag and that wouldn’t be a company I’d be working for for very long.

It has been fine at every job I have had post university, but I have also not had a job with official start and stop times.

I work for the nhs and it’s defining not allowed. Nor has it been In any other job. If you do 37.5 hours you are “working” for 8 hours a day say 8-4 but are not paid for the30 min lunch. If you don’t take it that’s on you but you work until 4.

unless it’s pre arranged and agreed it you have a flexible working contract to do this agreed

I work part time and legally you can work 5 hours and not take a break. I’m in the NHS - don’t worry op - just apologies if it’s mentioned.

None of us know. Depends on your work.
But generally no. You sound very naieve. I would be hacked off as a manager if you just waltzed off early telling no one.
Plus you did have 1/2 an hour, which is plenty of time to eat lunch. You stupidly chose not to.
Plus you are only entitled to 20 minute break for 6 hours.

This is a reverse, we saw the other thread. Let it go 😂😂😂

Oh…well in that case yes you’re completely unreasonable. It’s the norm at my work because we work flexible hours and I’ve been there long enough to know we all do the same and it’s allowed. If we’d been specifically told not to do it then that’s completely different.

I work for a very flexible employer, but they would not allow this no.

We can leave whenever we like as long as we complete monthly hours, the work is done, and we're not missing meetings etc. But all of that is secondary to the legal limits of working no more than 6 hours without a break (if we work through it then the 30 mins is deducted from time anyway, to encourage you to take it).

Hopefully you won't get caught but I can't imagine the half an hour is worth the anxiety you now have for doing something you were specifically told not to do

I was just about to comment this!!!!

Eurgh lots of these comments about “be lucky you get any breaks”.
If you are employed and part of those core hours include an unpaid lunch break. And you are unable to take that break. Then you are working for free.

Why wouldn’t you value yourself enough to be paid for that time or why give that time for free?

Id say obviously your management only care about their bottom lines. If you left the job you would be replaced. There’s this weird thing in this country where people feel guilty they have a job and feel they must give everything of themselves.
Added to that some morbid Willy-waving about who has it worse. 🤣

On top of that the feeling that if you flexitime or work part time you are some how not a proper person and if you wfh you must be taking the piss.

I used to work 9-6 with an unpaid 1hr30mins of breaks. If I only took the 30mins to shove food into my face and ended up working through the hr due to lack of staff - that’s 5 hrs per week and about £50 I’m working for free. If my colleague did the same that’s doubled. So the company were getting 10hr per week extra and saving £100 (which they could have used to employ someone else).

So we decided to take the breaks off site so we couldn’t be called onto the floor. (Not at the same time). When the other staff and manager had to help out because there weren’t adequate staffing on our section - we soon got those extra staff hours. The money to do so was there.

I would have only left earlier with the ok that it was ok to leave at that time if they were part of core hours. If it was an unpaid hr break in an 8 hrs day and you stayed for 7 with no lunch break then they owe you that hour back somehow.
Tbh - I don’t think I’d want to work for a company these days that made you have to fight for lunches or didn’t trust you enough to do your job - however within a probation period it’s probably not a good idea to Rock the boat if you want the job because of poor management culture.

I also wouldn’t go back to teaching because it’s seen as a vocation but it’s no longer about the kids but about the admin, the culture of all the work is toxic.

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

No, you're not 'entitled' to do this.

You might be allowed to do it if you ask permission.

You need to check

Quite!

The question you should be asking yourself is, why you thought it acceptable to go against the rules of your workplace? Everyone’s workplace is different, mine is pretty laid back and I would be able to leave early but I would do them the the curtesy of telling them. However, when I was probation I wouldn’t have pulled this kind of stunt.

The etiquette would usually be to speak to your manager.

It has been acceptable to skip lunch and leave early if there was a special reason wherever I've worked- but certainly not to just leave and not mention it!!!! Normally it was something which would be agreed upon beforehand. A lunch break is supposed to break up the working day.

Christ, shocked by some of the replies, you’re an adult paid to work X amount of hours a day, if you wanna take it at the end of your day I’d 100%go for it and if your managers don’t like it I’d question if it actually effects the work place or if they’re just on a power trip. I can’t stand micromanagers! I’ve never cared what time my team take breaks as long as they’ve got what needs to be done finished leave early, start late - whatever you need!

Unluckily for you it's against the Working Time Directive and employers can get it a lot of trouble for that attitude. The rule is in place to stop employers exploiting staff by not allowing them to take a break during their actual shift.

In the nicest way, what you think is irrelevant - it's illegal for employees not to take their break if they work more than 6 hours - and it's also illegal for them to take it at the start/finish of their shifts.