Time Off

Breaks At Work

Under the Working Time Directive (which applies to most workers and sets out the minimum standards for working hours), your employer has to offer you a break of at least 20 minutes if the working day is longer than 6 hours. There is no requirement under the minimum standards though for your employer to pay you for this break, or to count it towards your working day.

Holidays

All workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ paid leave. The pay you receive should be the same as for a normal week’s work.

Part-time workers‘ entitlement to holiday is pro rata, so if you normally work 3 days a week, you get 16.8 days a year (the equivalent of 5.6 weeks’ working days).

For workers with no normal working hours, such as casual workers, a week’s pay equals the average weekly pay over a 12 week period, including overtime and overtime rates.

You may need to wait until you have worked enough days to accrue your holiday before you are allowed to take it.

Even if you do get public and bank holidays on top of your leave entitlement, there is not necessarily any entitlement to pay for these days, so you should check your contract to see what you are due.