Be Careful Of Time Spent Away From Desk
Source: RAPHAEL MAKSIAN on Unsplash
Spanish court rules workers can have pay deducted for smoking breaks
A company that stopped paying its employees for smoking breaks has won its case in Spain's high court.
Energy company Galp says it was implementing Spanish law when it began deducting time spent off premises from employees' working days.
A quick coffee break or breakfast with a colleague is also included in Galp's policy, which began in September last year.
The trade union that brought the case to court plans to appeal the decision.
Recent changes to Spanish law require companies to record employees' entrances and departures from the workplace.
The monitoring was supposed to prevent workers' exploitation and increase flexibility in working contracted hours.
It was also supposed to address Spain's problem of unpaid overtime work - in 2019 nearly three million of hours worked overtime were never paid.
But the requirement has had unforeseen consequences for Spain's roughly 10 million smokers.Energy company Galp says it was implementing Spanish law when it began deducting time spent off premises from employees' working days.
A quick coffee break or breakfast with a colleague is also included in Galp's policy, which began in September last year.
The trade union that brought the case to court plans to appeal the decision.
Recent changes to Spanish law require companies to record employees' entrances and departures from the workplace.
The monitoring was supposed to prevent workers' exploitation and increase flexibility in working contracted hours.
It was also supposed to address Spain's problem of unpaid overtime work - in 2019 nearly three million of hours worked overtime were never paid.
By recording when employees leave and enter the office, companies can calculate how much time workers are spending at the desk.
At Galp, employees who eat into their contracted hours by leaving the office for a smoke can't expect to be paid for the full working day.
Spain's high court relied on a previous ruling that workers do not have the right to a paid cigarette, coffee or breakfast break.
Spanish workers put in more hours annually than the majority of other Europeans, with the exception of Italy and Portugal.
In 2018, a company in Spain could expect their employees to work 1,701 hours, compared to 1,363 in Germany or 1,538 in the UK.
Vocabulary:
employee
In today’s English at Work, the big boss tells his employees some home truths! Watch this… https://t.co/6Ysdvoe8jL #learnenglish pic.twitter.com/ZbmWPhCn5j
— BBC Learning English (@bbcle) January 11, 2017
premises
Britain lost almost 6,000 licensed premises in 2020 https://t.co/DqZNV2bxlw
— The Guardian (@guardian) January 22, 2021
appeal
Ashers 'gay cake' row: Bakers win Supreme Court appeal https://t.co/3ySRCJ6F1y
— Graham Mad Teacher (@madteacher72) October 10, 2018unforeseen
Ashers 'gay cake' row: Bakers win Supreme Court appeal https://t.co/3ySRCJ6F1y
— Graham Mad Teacher (@madteacher72) October 10, 2018
roughly
#WOTD roughly
— Graham Mad Teacher (@madteacher72) March 19, 2019
(approximately)
- He's roughly the same age as me. = tiene más o menos la misma edad que yo.
- The cost of the extension will be €30,000, roughly speaking. pic.twitter.com/PY7SVIsJpY
expect
@annabosch The Olympics are held in the UK. You should expect some degree of patriotsim and a few Union Jacks. No flags Pza Colon style.
— Graham Mad Teacher (@madteacher72) August 12, 2012
Comments
Take this bit by bit. In the first place, I think, every Spanish worker has the right to rest, for fifteen or twenty minutes, to have a cup of a coffee or to have a little breakfast. As far as I know. I would have to see the Spanish law. So if this is right, before yes, neither company can abolish this right. In this case, workers and trade unions should complain to Spanish high court.
In the second place, entrances o departures from the workplace such as go to market, go out to smoke, go to talk to colleagues and so on, in my opinion, that is different and, then, it depends on each company. I remember that every company has a collective agreement in which there are rules about rights and duties of workers and their company. What is more, there is a law, called workers regulations, that is superior to collective agreement, which regulates labour behaviour. I remember that is provided by law that every worker has right to rest about fifteen minutes and this time is considered as real work, that is, companies have to pay it to workers.
I can´t believe that Spanish high court doesn´t observe this law, so this information is not true, if I understand it well.
On the other hand, every worker knows that they put in a lot of overtime in every company, especially, Spanish workers. It would be logical that companies permit to its workers to rest for thirty minutes, at least.
See you.
OK, deep breaths. One, two, three ... ninety nine, a hundred. Ready.
I agree with you that there should be some give and take when it comes to breaks and time off work. The problem is that some employees take pure advantage of relaxed rules while there are many cases of employers unfairly adhering to rules and regulations.
Take this bit by bit. In the first place, As far as I know, every Spanish worker has the right to rest for fifteen or twenty minutes, to have a cup of a coffee or to have a little breakfast. I would have to see the Spanish law. So if this is right, before yes, neither company can abolish this right. In this case, workers and trade unions should complain to the Spanish high court.
In the second place, entrances or departures from the workplace such as going to the market, going out to smoke, going to talk to colleagues and so on, in my opinion, that is different and, then, it depends on each company. I remember that every company has a collective agreement in which there are rules about rights and duties of workers and their company. What is more, there is a law, called workers regulations, that is superior to the collective agreement, which regulates labour behaviour. I remember that is provided by law that every worker has the right to rest about fifteen minutes and this time is considered as real work, that is, companies have to pay it to workers.
I can´t believe that the Spanish high court doesn´t observe this law, so this information is not true, if I understand it well.
On the other hand, every worker knows that they put in a lot of overtime wherever they work, especially, Spanish workers. It would be logical that companies allow its workers to rest for thirty minutes, at least.
Well done!
Hi Graham,
It´s time to write to Mr. Graham. It´s a pleasure. Making a comment is an excuse to move the brain. Who moves his brain he is creating and, then, he does the world, the Universe and he does what he has to do.
You can do something in two ways, first suffering it and second enjoying it. In any case, you have always to do it but, in the first case, you could deteriorate your health and, in the second case, you could improve your health. You choose the best for you. Life is a world of choices.
My father told me that if I wanted to improve myself I would have to make effort. He was right. Generally speaking, every thing is got with effort. Nobody comes your home to give you money or things. The aristocracy doesn´t need to work, but you aren´t aristocratic, of course, and me neither and so I have learnt that I need to work. As I know it I tried that it was a pleasure, no a pain.
You give me an opportunity to learn English with your blog and I take advantage of it. What is more, I move my brain inventing nonsense sometimes and I practise it writing because I like it, as you know. You could take advantage of it practising like a journalist (I know you would like it) inventing and reviewing articles, comments and so on. And you could enjoy with that, then, you wouldn´t have to count up to one hundred. Anyway, breathing deeply is good to your health. Enjoy it.
I told you a lot of times and repeat it again that you blog is a enormous, complete and smart work which you should feel yourself proud of it. I am not going to lose this opportunity if I can do it. Enjoy it and don´t count up more sheep.
See you.
I always look forward to reading your comments - really! It's just that sometimes I don't have the energy to give a decent reply. Your comments are generally good - they aren't as cryptic as they once were. :D
It´s time to write to Mr. Graham. It´s a pleasure. Making a comment is an excuse to exercise the brain. He who moves his brain is creating and, then, he makes the world, the Universe and he does what he has to do.
You can do something in two ways, either suffering it or enjoying it. In any case, you always have to do it but, in the first case, you could deteriorate your health and, in the second case, you could improve your health. You choose the best for you. Life is a world of choices.
My father told me that if I wanted to improve myself, I would have to make an effort. He was right. Generally speaking, every thing is got with effort. Nobody comes to your home to give you money or things. The aristocracy doesn´t need to work, but you aren´t aristocratic, of course, and me neither and so I have learnt that I need to work. As I am aware of this, I tried to make it a pleasure, not a pain.
You give me an opportunity to learn English with your blog and I take advantage of it. What is more, I move my brain inventing nonsense sometimes and I like to do it by way of writing , as you know. You could take advantage of it practising as a journalist (I know you would like it) inventing and reviewing articles, comments and so on. And you could enjoy that, then, you wouldn´t have to count up to one hundred. Anyway, breathing deeply is good to your health. Enjoy it.
I have told you a lot of times and I'll repeat it again that your blog is an enormous, complete and smart work which you should feel proud of. I am not going to miss this opportunity if I can help it. Enjoy it and don´t count any more sheep.
In my opinion breaks are in general necessary for all workers, but the number and duration of those, are related with the type of work we are performing. Isn't the same to work in the construction field that requires a very important physical effort that working on Digital Transformation requiring more intellectual effort.
In both cases, breaks are needed and very useful to accomplish tasks in an efficient manner, but the abuse of these breaks can cause the opposite effect, so a good level of responsability and engagement from workers are required in order to establish the personañ balance between breaks and execution times, that guarantee an acceptable level of quality of the outcomes of our own work.
I've experienced during many years country's differences on the way of managing breaks during working ours, For example, in Germany people don't usually takes more than 2 breaks per dat , one of 20 minutes for lunch, and maybe another one of 5 min for a quick coffee with a peer.
In France, for instance, the ratio of breaks is bigger than in Germany, and as you can imagine in Spain the ratio is in general one of the biggest one all over Europe. For me the reason is clear a cultural behaviour, latin culture has a more sociable behaviour at work and sometimes this penalty our execution of tasks, requiring to be more present at the office to accomplish the same level of outcomes.
I see that you have joined Twitter.�� You'll see tweets in some blog posts - by clicking on them, you'll be taken to Twitter where you can tweet a comment.
I get the impression that many workers here in Spain are in no hurry to return to their work after a break. A coffee break can be as long as a lunch break. Yet a common complaint is about being overworked. You saw the expression - to get on (with your work) but I hardly ever hear a Spaniard say - I must be getting on with my work. ��
After reading this article about breaks during working hours, I want to share with you my thoughts based on my experience in working in different countries with different cultures like / such as France, Germany or the UK.
In my opinion breaks are, in general, necessary for all workers, but the number and duration of those, are related to the type of work we are performing. Work in the construction field, which requires considerable physical effort, isn't the same as working in Digital Transformation which requires more intellectual effort.
In both cases, breaks are needed and very useful to accomplish tasks in an efficient manner, but the abuse of these breaks can cause the opposite effect. A reasonable level of responsibility and engagement from workers is required in order to establish a personal balance between breaks and execution times, that guarantee an acceptable level of quality of the outcomes of our own work. (Wow - one sentence with six lines. Remember that we tend not to write as lengthy sentences in English as you do in Spanish. That doesn't mean to say that you can't write longish sentences but you need to be good at punctuation)
Over many years, I've experienced the different ways in which countries manage breaks during working hours. For example, in Germany people don't usually take more than 2 breaks per day , one of 20 minutes for lunch, and maybe another one of 5 min for a quick coffee with a peer /a colleague.
In France, for instance, the ratio of breaks is bigger than in Germany, and as you can imagine in Spain the ratio is, in general, one of the biggest in all of Europe. For me, the reason is clearly one of cultural behaviour. In Latin cultures, people are more sociable at work and sometimes this makes our execution of tasks more difficult, requiring us to be more present at the office to accomplish the same level of outcomes.