there is no mention of breaks in my contract, on prevoius ones it has stated 30mins unpaid etc,

Hi, I wrote about twelve weeks ago about a dispute with my employer, They are deducting 30mins per day from my total hours worked. I have finally had a meeting today which I have had to write a second greivance for and copy our H.R in to get to this stage. My Contract T&C states a 50 hour working week & does not state that any deductions will be made for breaks. The answer given today was that the working time directive states that breaks are not counted as working time. I tried to argue that these are two different sets of rules which do not have anything to do with each other, I drive a truck for a living and am required to comply with EC driving regulations & the WTD regarding breaks. Am I right that these are two seperate sets of rules? Do I have a case for reclaiming these 30mins? As I always work overtime the 30mins deducts from my overtime total and last time I did a rough calculation it was over £1500 of deductions. Any help appreciated, Regards Steve

Thanks for the information, I will try to clarify the situation next week, I now feel a lot more confident and able to quote the Employment act, I have been waiting 4 weeks for them to come back to me which suggests they are looking for a way out ! Thanks once again & I would appreciate you checking on the Haulage firms deducting breaks Cal37. Will advise when I have an update, Steve

I drive 44tonne, I have to, by ec driving regulations take a break after 4.5 hours driving, & also have to observe the 30 mins break after 6 hours work WTD if not taken due to driving hours, during these times I am still responsible for my vehicle & load with values often exceeding £30k. This aside is totally irrelevent to the being deducted for time/breaks which is not included in my T&C of my employment contract it claerly states 50hours with no mention of deductions, I abide by the driving regulations, but my company does not seem to deduct breaks nationwide, but on my location it has & is happening which I am currently trying to address.

Yes it is, why is it relevant?

Thanks for the information, makes me beleive that they are stalling after reading S13 Employment act, the deductions are not in the contract so time to esculate the grievance as you suggest in writing. I will advise accordingly, Steve

My contract says a 50hour week ie 10 hour day, it states nothing at all abou breaks or time being deducted. my clock card total is adjusted by hand from the gross hours I do by 2.5 hours a week as 30mins per day is deducted from my gross daily hours. I generally work about 60-65 hours per week so this 2.5 hours is actually reducing my overtime total by this amount so at nearly £14 per hour amounts to a lot of lost income, Steve

Hi, I have noticed after reading through my employment contract that it does not mention being stoppped any money/time for breaks, I have been stopped 30 mins per day since Oct 2006. I have spoken to employees from other sites doing the same job & can find no one else who is deducted the time. I have had an initial meeting with "Management" and they are looking into it (for nearly 4 weeks now) There are four employees in the same position, Any advice appreciated Steve