Who is entitled to a lunch break?
Providing employees with a break for rest and lunch is stipulated in parts 1 and 2 of Article 108 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation; this norm of the law is imperative in nature, i.e. All employers must comply with it, regardless of the form of ownership of the enterprise, the working hours established there and the length of the working day. The duration of a lunch break cannot be less than 30 minutes and more than 2 hours. As a rule, in most enterprises it lasts 1 hour. This hour is not paid by the employer, which means that you are free to manage this time as you see fit, at your own discretion.
When you go on your lunch break, leave the windows open to ensure the room is well ventilated.
How long is the lunch break?
During the working day, the employee must be given a break for rest and food - no more than two hours and no less than 30 minutes (Article 108 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). It is within these boundaries that the lunch break should be written down in the company’s internal labor regulations.
The lunch break can be divided into parts, but at least one of them must last at least 30 minutes.
In your internal labor regulations, you can designate the period during which an employee can be absent for lunch of a certain duration as follows:
A lunch break of 60 minutes is provided from 12.00 to 15.00
or like this:
A 45-minute lunch break is provided at any time during the working day. But no earlier than 2 hours from the moment it starts and no later than 3 hours before its end
Or write down a specific time:
A break for rest and food is provided from 13.00 to 14.00
It is impossible to completely abandon the lunch break in favor of shortening the working day - this is a violation of labor legislation, for which the company can be fined (Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). After all, you are worsening the employee’s situation by leaving him without a break for rest and food.
But for an employee whose daily work hours are less than four hours, a lunch break may not be established (Clause 1 of Article 108 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). And, as you guessed, write this down in the internal labor regulations or in the employment contract.
What to do on your lunch break
Be sure to spend some of this time eating.
This is necessary so that you do not experience a feeling of hunger that prevents you from working fully. In addition, it is simply necessary to have lunch in order not to gain weight, because nutritionists have proven that for this you need to eat food 4-5 times during the day with breaks of 3-4 hours. If you do not have the opportunity to eat a full lunch in a cafeteria or cafe, you need to take what you have prepared at home with you so as not to snack on chips, buns and cakes that are harmful to your stomach and figure. It usually takes 15 to 30 minutes to eat lunch, so you should spend the rest of your time in a way that is beneficial for you. It is not without reason that they say that the best rest is a change of activity. To stay productive and clear-headed throughout the workday, take a full break during your break. If you are engaged in physical labor, try to relax, preferably in a lying or reclining position, so that the muscles of your arms and legs can rest. Ask your colleagues for a light massage or give it to yourself.
For those who work at a computer, you can include a five-minute sports session in your lunch break, during which you can do simple exercises and stretch your muscles.
If your job is sedentary, do not stay in the office during lunch break, continuing to sit at the computer, even if not working. Many people try to go shopping during their lunch break, but this, of course, can hardly be called a vacation, it will only make you more tired. Be sure to take a walk and sit in the fresh air. You can usefully spend your free time communicating with a colleague or friends who work nearby, inviting them for a cup of coffee or taking them for a walk, this will give you double pleasure and will be able to take your mind off work problems and give your brain a rest.
Lunch business: where do Russians earn extra money during their breaks?
As we remember, the crisis and constantly growing inflation in Russia left a negative imprint on the salary opportunities of citizens - despite the nominal preservation of salaries, real incomes fell. This forces citizens to look for new ways to earn extra money. One of these, as it turned out, quite popular ways was to work part-time during your lunch break. According to a study conducted by the Moscow International Business School and the recruiting company YEx, 10% of Muscovites are not averse to using their lunch time for such purposes, and 6% of the respondents they surveyed are already doing part-time work during lunch.
Over 1.2 thousand working residents of the capital took part in the survey. And what’s interesting is that part-time lunch work has become an additional source of income for a wide variety of categories of citizens employed both in industry and in many mental areas of work - from accounting to advertising. As stated in the published information, through part-time jobs, many Muscovites provide themselves with an increase of up to 50% of their salary at their main place. Careerist.ru tried to figure out what Russians do during their lunch break and what their bosses think about it?
What's in the regions
Despite the much more widespread corporate conservatism, lunch jobs are even more popular among residents of the regions. Thus, according to a study by the Online Market Intelligence company, conducted at the request of the Vedomosti newspaper in the first week of September, about 30% of Russians living in the regions have a part-time job at their main place of employment . In addition to the fact of working part-time, respondents were also surveyed about what specific work they had to do. It turned out that about 70% of workers perform functions similar to their main job , but here we are talking about additional projects or fulfilling orders, for which workers are paid separately.
The range of occupations is truly enormous: people have to deal with repairing computer equipment, filling out accounting documentation, drawing up contracts and giving legal advice, developing design, sending mail, translations, coding, etc. For example, car mechanic Vladimir from Samara admitted that in his free time from orders, he straightens the cars of his friends. He tells his superiors that he does this for free, and does not acknowledge the money received as a “thank you.”
But as Online Market Intelligence found out, there are also many examples of lunchtime activity shifts – about 30%. As expected, young people under the age of 35 perform the most extra work outside their core profile. For example, bank courier Sergei from Nizhny Novgorod, during an hour-long lunch break, goes to the metro and distributes advertising leaflets. But an employee of a Tula women's boutique, Arina, works part-time as a vocal teacher during her lunch hour. In general, this is a fairly common practice when managers earn extra money by doing manicures, ATS dispatchers draw sketches for tattoos, and accountants do translations...
But you need to understand that working part-time during lunch is a necessary measure for workers. Few people have the desire to engage in additional work during the time legally provided for rest. Nevertheless, the income situation forces you to take extreme measures, even if you are a highly qualified specialist with work experience, ambitions and an impeccable work record... What can I say, these are the realities of the Russian labor market!
Break rules
According to Irina Serova, head of the St. Petersburg branch, labor legislation does not prohibit employees from using the lunch break for their personal part-time work , especially since in commercial structures this hour is not paid at all. According to her, employees whose specific work requires a flexible schedule or constant movement are more likely to take on outside work than others. Most often, these are sales representatives, designers, programmers, legal advisers, couriers and even doctors.
With fixed working hours, organizing a side hustle requires much more effort. According to the results of an Online Market Intelligence survey, many respondents admitted that in order to do additional work, they often have to extend their lunch break by an additional hour or two, asking their bosses to take time off “for family matters.” But such tricks rarely work, and can become a reason for conflict with management.
Experts note that the Labor Code allows for a maximum lunch break of 2 hours. But according to Serova, this has long been an outdated norm. Not only does no one specify more than an hour in the contract, but also this specified standard hour is nothing more than a formality recorded for labor inspectorates and other inspection and control bodies. In fact, many workers manage to spend no more than 20-25 minutes on lunch , which is especially true for those who work shifts. In Moscow, this practice is found everywhere, what kind of part-time jobs are there?
These data are confirmed in a survey conducted by a Moscow business school: about 54% of Moscow offices provide employees with no more than 40 minutes for lunch. Only 30% of respondents can boast of a full lunch, equal to 1 hour. But despite its presence, about 20% of working Muscovites finish eating in 15-20 minutes, and spend the rest of the time on unfinished work or new tasks. At the same time, 46% of all respondents would very much like their lunch break to be increased to 1.5 hours.
Management's opinion
According to Tatyana Zolotareva, deputy director of personnel, the largest Russian systems integrator, their employees are free to manage their lunch break at their own discretion. According to Tatyana, management is loyal to this kind of part-time work, however, if it does not intersect with the activities and interests of the company. According to her, one of her subordinates does foreign translations during lunch, and this change of activity even allows him to relax during a break.
The loyal opinion of management, according to a survey by Online Market Intelligence, occurs in 67% of cases.
The management does not prohibit part-time work, but only if it does not interfere with the performance of a direct labor function. And sometimes management even offers part-time work, but such cases are extremely rare and occur only during downtime - their goal is to retain a valuable employee and prevent him from looking for additional work on his own. This is sort of an element of team building in Russian.
Nevertheless, support from superiors is not found everywhere. Thus, according to the same survey, 26% of Russians have to face an unspoken ban on additional part-time work. According to Anastasia Khrisanfova, head of the HR department of the logistics company, in their company there is no prohibition or informal regulations prohibiting additional work during lunch. But in her opinion, this is impossible without any damage to productivity and efficiency. But many still manage to take on additional projects, and then they have to start work 2 hours earlier. In addition, SPSR-Express often provides employees with part-time work, for example, during a large flow of shipments.
Despite their loyalty to changing activities, according to Tatyana Zolotorova, the management of Technoserv is against additional work for its employees in the IT field, because this is contrary to the interests of the company. The organization regularly conducts training for employees, the cost of which can reach 200 thousand rubles per person, so, in their opinion, it is dishonest when the knowledge acquired at the company’s expense will be used for other people. Zolotoreva claims that Technoserv has a sufficient number of its own projects, the work on which is scheduled by IT specialists literally by the hour. Management knows exactly how much time employees are putting in, so they hope that lunch is used by employees to recuperate.
The leadership of the supermarket chain “Ya Beloved” takes a much more radical approach to this issue. According to HR Director Anna Tashchyan, their employees do not have the opportunity to do any part-time work, since labor regulations prohibit them from leaving the workplace. Of course, this does not apply to the lunch break - as Anna says, the staff independently manages the time allocated for rest, however, management does not welcome part-time work. They do not have the right to deprive their employee of additional income, but, in their opinion, such quick switches will be ineffective.
At the same time, 47% of Muscovites prefer to spend lunch on eating and relaxing – this is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the capital’s business school. At the same time, 20% prefer to spend lunch time chatting with colleagues or friends, and 16% prefer to walk around the city in order to relax a little in the fresh air. 13% of those surveyed prefer not to even leave their workplace if there is a computer there - they scroll through the news feed and relax while listening to music. Moreover, 30% of those who do rest at lunch believe that such part-time jobs are unfair to their bosses. But 55% would prefer to refuse them altogether if they received an offer, because, in their opinion, lunch should be used for relaxation. And whatever one may say, it’s hard to argue with the latter...
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They go outside
After you come to the office in the morning, your lunch break will be the only opportunity to go outside until the evening. Even two minutes of fresh air, enjoying the sun or watching the rain, will be enough for your mind and body to recover and take your mind off a busy day. Walking lifts your spirits - it's proven by science!
They take food with them
If you cook your own lunch, you have detailed control over your diet. In reality, planning lunches doesn't require much time or effort. Pita pizza, pita rolls or sandwiches are quick and easy options. A home-cooked lunch will be cheaper and healthier for you than what you can usually buy at a cafeteria or store near your office. If you want to become more energetic and happier, this is something you need to consider!
Being late from lunch as a reason for dismissal
The crisis is forcing employers to become more and more creative in order to “optimize” their staff (read: get rid of excess workers). In fact, downsizing and sincere persuasion to write “on your own” is not easy and, if something happens, can be expensive.
It’s another matter to bring an employee to the point of resigning. And the temptation is great to start with those who are late at lunch.
And from the point of view of corporate culture, the position is justified: food lovers “discourage” the team, bringing anarchy into the orderly ranks of those eager to work (including for the same salary and without lunch).
My hands are itching to fire me. Is it really possible to fire someone for being late from lunch break? Let's get a look.
And, first of all, let’s ask ourselves: does being late from lunch violate internal labor regulations? Because no matter what anyone says, punishment will be legal only when a person either does not fulfill his job duties at all or performs them improperly.
Smoke breaks, tea parties and lunch for a workaholic
Smoke breaks, tea drinking and eating cookies during working hours are not included and are not subject to payment by the employer.
Breaks are included in working hours and are payable for:
- heating (Article 109 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
- feeding a child (Article 258 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), while at the request of a woman who has a child (children) under one and a half years old, the employer is obliged to add breaks for feeding the child to lunch;
- relieving fatigue when working at a computer (Standard instructions on labor protection when working on a personal computer; approved by order of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Communications and Information dated 07/02/01 N 162, put into effect on July 1, 2001).
That is, if during these breaks an employee wants to smoke, it will be a paid smoke break.
To monitor compliance with the labor regime, the employer maintains a time sheet (Part 4 of Article 91 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), reflecting the number of hours worked by employees, attendance and absence from work, illness, etc.
At the same time, it is not forbidden to record time using electronic keys and video surveillance. If the results reveal that working time is not being used for its intended purpose, the employer has the right not to pay for it.
That is, if, for example, the working day is from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the lunch break is one hour from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and an employee spends five minutes every hour on a cigarette break, then it turns out that he takes nine breaks during the day, six of them at work time. Thus, the employer may not pay him for half an hour.
Or, on the contrary: the employee does not go to lunch at all, but works. Should he be paid for such hard work?
If he does this on his own initiative, then no. If an employee is brought to work on the initiative of the employer (and, of course, this is documented), then you will have to pay for overtime work (Articles 99, 152 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), remembering that:
- it is possible to engage in overtime work only with the written consent of the employee or in cases of the need to prevent industrial accidents, catastrophes, eliminate the consequences of a natural disaster, etc. (Part 3 of Article 99 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
- Pregnant women and minors cannot be involved in overtime work - under any circumstances (Part 5 of Article 99 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
Lunch – employee’s personal time
That is, the employee is obliged to eat at lunch? No. He can not only eat, but also walk, go shopping and have interviews. He can work for another employer - unless, of course, this is prohibited by law.
The lunch break is his personal time, rest time, during which he is free from work duties and can use it at his own discretion (Article 106 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
However, taking into account production conditions, a situation may arise that providing a meal break is impossible - then in this case the employer is obliged to provide the employee with the opportunity to eat food during working hours. The list of such work is established by the internal labor regulations (Part 3 of Article 108 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
However, if the employee is located on the employer’s territory, then he is still obliged to comply with the requirements of local acts of the organization and comply with labor protection rules (Part 2 of Article 21 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
The lunch break is established by the internal labor regulations, which all employees must be familiar with upon signature (Part 2 of Article 108 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), in the same document the start time and end time of the lunch break are clearly established.
If lunch time for a particular employee differs from the generally accepted one (due to health reasons or due to the traveling nature of the work - it doesn’t matter), then this condition should be enshrined in his employment contract.
In any case, half an hour should be provided to any employee (Part 1 of Article 108 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
