What are legal split shift working hours?

Question

My partner works i a pub and is on some occasions the licensee. He is given split shifts of the following hours: 7am-12pm and then 4pm - 5am. Is this legal? as it takes him an hour and a bit to cycle to work he doesn't come home in the break and it means he is out of the house for 24 hours. Can they really make him do this and with a baby of 10 months to help me look after????

Answer 1

no that seems very illegal to me. your meant to have a 15 minute break every 4 hours, and i dont think you can go over 12 hours.

Answer 2

12.5 hours per day - must have a break within 4 hours of commencement. Legal limit is 48 hours per week for Europe, If you want to work longer you need to sign an opt-out paper.

Answer 3

No its unreasonable, but without more information on how many of these split shifts he does it would be impossible to tell you what to do.

Other than:

1) read his contract of employment

2) calculate how many hours on average he does each week.

3) what his average hours are per day

Do it over a reference period of a month if he is paid monthly and ring acas phone number can be found on their website page with reference to the working time directive.

They will help you in deciding how to challenge this but legally you are entitled to at least 11 hours off between shifts.