Sheila do night care workers have to be paid for breaks which they take whilst on duty at night? They would not be leaving the building and are provided with food.

Answered by Sheila Scott

Dear T,

Thank you for your question.

The first place to look is the contract of employment. What does that say?

I asked Chris King an Employment Law Specialist from the Employment team based at Napthens’ East Lancashire office and this is what he said:

“If there is an occupational and/or regulatory requirement which prevents these employees from leaving the building when on breaks then they should be paid for those. If they are free to come and go as they please on breaks then the client can choose whether or not to pay them for breaks.”

This piece of advice does, I believe, reflect decisions that have recently been made about “sleep-ins” where it was decided that if the person sleeping in could not leave the building then they should be paid for the time they were required to be in the building.

Best wishes,

Sheila