Rest breaks without staff room

[MsPussinBoots]

I work in an office on a high street which doesn't have a staff room. There is a small kitchen area at the back and a glass-walled office for meetings with wooden seats, but no private space (except one toilet).
Before I was pregnant, I would eat lunch at my desk and go for a walk on my break but now I'm exhausted and struggling at 25 weeks! I'm also planning to breastfeed and pump when I go back to work.

The hse says that an employer should provide a suitable place with somewhere to lie down if necessary but my employer has pointed out that she can't change the office layout or add more furniture. I get the park and ride so relaxing in my car is out. I just want to sit/lie down away from customers for 15 mins.

Does anyone have any suggestions? If I get really tired I'll sit on the floor in the glass room, but it will generate comments from staff and customers.

Are there no offices or meeting rooms that could be converted? It is the law but if there is physically nowhere I'm not sure what they can do.

Can the meeting room be booked for you at a designated time? Even if it means a slightly different time for your lunch break.

Can they put up blinds/curtains in the glass walled office?

I can see that you want a bit of privacy and peace.

Can blinds be added to the meeting room?

Get a cushion for the wooden chairs in the glass room and sit rather than lie down.

Sit in a colleague’s car for the pumping. Or they could put up screens in the glass room.

HSE regulations are all very well but they can’t magic space out of nowhere.

So, from legislation, looks like they either:

1. book out meeting room and instal blinds so you can use everyday over rest times and then also when you need to pump on return to work
2. Or they need to offer flexible working so you can leave premises and get rest somewhere else.. like home ? Or offer wfh for half day and you come in/go home at/after lunch

Either that or contact ACAS for advice

quoting….

What If There Is No Space to Provide a Rest Area?

• Legal obligation remains: A lack of physical space does not exempt an employer from their statutory duty of care under health and safety legislation. 1]
• Alternative accommodations: Employers must find creative or alternative solutions, such as repurposing a first-aid room, a private office, or a quiet meeting space on a temporary or scheduled basis. 1]
• Flexible adjustments: If physical rest space is genuinely constrained, employers must compensate through other reasonable adjustments—such as flexible working hours, remote work options, or permitting more frequent shorter breaks away from the workstation. 1]
• Risk assessment failure: If an employer fails to adjust or provide adequate welfare conditions, it constitutes a breach of health and safety regulations, exposing them to civil liability and claims via Acasor an employment tribunal

I think putting blinds on the glass meeting room walls sounds like an acceptable solution for everyone.

As per message above…your manager can’t just shrug their shoulders and say “no space, what do you expect me to do”….its a HSE legal requirement for employers and it’s her problem to solve not yours.
all employees have a right to a rest area anyway…away from their workspace, even if it’s a cornered off area of office…they should read up on that too
but you have legal right to private area…lying down may be a stretch on space unless you have medical cert from midwife or Gp…but should be comfy supportive chair and ideally a foot stool to raise legs. Again their problem not yours. You have legal rights to private space to pump..but oddly no legal right to specific time to pump…at worse this will have to be in your 20 mins allocated legal break. But they run a risk if they don’t be more accommodating for you to go to court on sex discrimination by not being flexible for nursing mums

sounds like your manager is woefully ill informed on their legal requirements around rests and pregnant/nursing women

please don’t tell us you’ve not had a full risk assessment either? Should have been done when you notified them you were pregnant. Legal requirement

And this is just another reason why it’s an issue for small business to employ younger people.

if you want to”rights” work in the civil service.

I know this will be an unpopular opinion on MN, it reality. Respect you have a job, your paid for mat leave and you don’t have an illness.

By 'younger people's do you actually mean 'women of child bearing age' ? Because men don't need a private place to express breast milk.

Employment law and rights applies to everyone in afraid, the size of the business doesn't matter.

I've never worked anywhere that has this adult kind of sick bay space.

And this is just another reason why it’s an issue for small business to employ younger people.

No, be clear that you mean women.

This legislation exists precisely to force the hand of people who share your attitude - who see the basic human requirement for new mothers to look after their bodies for 30 minutes as some kind of major assault on capitalism.

Hopefully you're having a big old laugh, and hopefully you're not a manager.

So what about a small shop, that just has a kitchen sink and one separate toilet cubicle out the back? This kind of rule could never be workable there.

Thank you, I honestly hadn't thought to ask to put blinds up so that's a great starting point. And I'll take some cushions in too.
Im not as young as I once was (late 30s) and while I'm obviously not asking them to add a bed, a comfy chair away from customers would be amazing.
Risk assessment will hopefully be completed this week.