Most citizens have the right to a technical break during work. However, not everyone knows what the legislation says about such breaks. This article will talk about what the Labor Code of the Russian Federation regulates in technical pauses.
Technical break: general description
A small rest during work shall be granted to citizens by law. Time or type of rest can be selected depending on the production technology. That is why a technical break is always set by the employer. However, it is worth remembering that the rest time must comply with the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Otherwise, the employer may be held responsible for the consequences.
A worker can carry out work of various types of complexity and duration. Depending on the type of work, a break is also set. The legislation regulates some of the main types of rest at the workplace. These include:
- breaks in airing of rooms in which harmful substances could accumulate;
- cleaning breaks;
- breaks for updating the informative base, etc.
A rather important point that should be noted is the inclusion of breaks in the length of the working day. The employer violates the law by considering the statutory rest time as additional hours to work.
The main types of breaks
The Russian Labor Code divides the technical break into several basic types. So, it is worth highlighting the following main groups:
- special and general breaks;
- recommended and required;
- included and not included in remuneration.
The Labor Code considers general breaks as minutes (hours) of rest for personal need. These are, as a rule, lunch breaks and, at some enterprises, sleep breaks. A special technical break is set depending on the type of labor activity (for example, metallurgists need time to ventilate the workshop). Mandatory breaks are set by the employer, and they cannot be avoided. Recommended rest time must be agreed upon.
With breaks included or not included in pay, everything is clear. It is only worth noting the need for breaks included in the payment for almost any civilian enterprise.
Work with computer
A significant increase in office workers is strongly reflected in the law. So, not every employer can correctly set the duration and type of technical break for workers with a computer.
However, it is worth highlighting the position of SanPin of 2003, which pretty clearly establishes the procedure for organizing work with computer equipment. So, one of the points of the presented document regulates the need for a break lasting from 50 to 140 minutes. Moreover, an employee cannot sit at the computer for more than two hours in a row.
Why do we need such technical breaks at work? First of all, for the health of citizens. After all, even the most modern and safe technique exerts considerable pressure on the eyes, causes fatigue, tension and irritability.
Rest and food
Any technical break involves satisfying the personal needs of employees. This is usually lunch. The Labor Code prescribes that the time for a lunch break should be at least half an hour and no more than two hours. In this case, a specific time is set only by the internal labor schedule.
However, there are a number of certain enterprises where a lunch break is not possible. In this case, management should give workers time to eat during working hours. It is also worth noting the existence of paid and unpaid lunch breaks. Unpaid can be used not only for eating, but also for any personal needs. With paid hours, everything is somewhat different. An example is teachers who are obliged to have lunch only with their children (in fact, right during working hours: in parallel, teachers exercise control over students).
Personal needs
As mentioned above, common breaks include time intended for all sorts of personal needs. This is usually lunch hours, visits to the public restroom, breaks, psychological discharge , etc. Such breaks are needed to reduce fatigue. As you know, fatigue has an extremely negative effect on workers. Efficiency decreases significantly, many employees become irritable, as a result of which collectivism is nullifying.
Breaks for personal needs are usually ten or twenty minutes. However, their duration varies only on the basis of working conditions. It is also worth noting the presence in some companies of special facilities where employees can relax and unwind. It would be useful to recall the Asian example: for example, in Japan, the leaders of many companies are confident in the beneficial effect of sleep on human performance. That is why some Japanese workers use technical production interruptions for sleep.
Special breaks
Above it was described in detail about the time for rest of the general type. And what are specialized breaks? As you know, this is the time for some updating of the workflow: airing the shops, cleaning the territory, making changes to the databases, etc. Naturally, a special technical (or technological) break is not established everywhere. This is required only by those enterprises where rest is necessary for technology, and not for a person. What can an employee do at this time? Since the technological break is paid, the workers are usually allowed to do everything that is not prohibited by the charter: to eat, smoke, go to the store, etc.
Moreover, often the rest is necessary for the person himself. We are talking about enterprises with harmful working conditions: for example, tobacco, metallurgical, starch, or any other production hazardous to health.
How much time is given for such a technical break? 15 minutes is the minimum limit, and one hour is the maximum.
Temperature conditions
Abnormal temperature conditions are, in fact, one of the subspecies of special breaks. Thus, workers in many enterprises can simply lose their strength if the working conditions are too hot or, on the contrary, too cold . Naturally, such workers need a quality vacation. This is evidenced by article 109 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which is devoted precisely to temperature conditions that do not correspond to the norm.
To establish the optimal duration of rest should a group of specialists. The employer must take into account all the necessary information on the rest. After that, he proceeds to the arrangement of special sites or premises where workers could regain strength. It is necessary to mention the presence of special equipment that would help employees keep warm or, conversely, take a break from the heat.
Uneven load
Often, the labor activity of many workers can be divided into certain parts, and not equal in degree of load. Naturally, this kind of working activity presupposes a certain duration of a technical break. What does the law say in this case?
If the work process is divided into parts, then appropriate breaks should be established between the stages of labor activity. At the same time, each break should be at least ten minutes, maximum two hours. Working hours should not exceed the temporary norm of a working day. It is also worth noting that the breaks in question are not considered paid, and therefore are not included in the opening hours.
Despite the fact that the working day can be split up in completely different ways, the principle of compliance with standards remains extremely important. For example, the workload of shuttle bus drivers should be divided into two parts. Moreover, each of the parts should not exceed four hours. Labor Code Technical Break set for two hours (this does not include lunch and a break for technical reasons).
Break time
Enough has already been said about the duration of the breaks. So, too short, inappropriate rest, leads to the imposition of liability on the employer. However, there are other problems. One of them is too long a break.
A long break is often even worse and more uncomfortable than too short. After all, it significantly delays the work process, exacerbating the situation of both workers and employers. At the same time, two situations stand out: the first is the prolongation of breaks by the employees themselves. Such antics can be considered as a banal delay, respectively, they entail the imposition of certain sanctions on the employee. The second situation is a schedule that does not meet the standards. The employer takes too long breaks, as a result of which the work process becomes less and less effective. In this case, there are two decisions: either a direct dialogue with the management, or a decision of the case through the court (with obvious discrepancies between the breaks and the norms).