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lacrimaomnis · 3 years

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BRF Reading, 5/10/2021

The cards were drawn yesterday (4/10) my time, around 11pm.

This will be the last question I ask about this Politico debacle and after that, I won't be asking any questions about this alleged Operation London Bridge leak again as the news seems to have died barring any official inquiry. This reading is under the cut as I pulled more cards than usual.

As written, this is merely a speculation and therefore must be taken with a grain of salt. This speculation is not true until proven otherwise.

My question is, what kind of documents regarding the leak did Politico have on its hands?

Cards drawn: Ace of Swords, Queen of Wands, Queen of Pentacles, The Tower, Ten of Swords

Underlying energy: Five of Wands, Eight of Wands, The Hierophant

Remarks/Comments: The dominating suit of this spread is the Wands (four out of eight cards) and Swords (two out of eight cards). Wands are the suit of creativity and passion; it is volatile and highly temperamental due to its association with the fire signs. Swords, on the other hand, is the suit of rational thoughts, the cold and clear power of the mind, associated with the air signs, so it is very interesting to see two opposing suits appear in one spread.

Summary: Politico has on their hands the documents that were given as a way to exact revenge and to chase prosperity. There are tensions surrounding these documents, and there is a need for us to look deeper beyond the surface, as it might not be what it seems to be. There will be a major change as things unfold, and these documents may be the reason for someone's downfall or trigger an end of something.

First card: Ace of Swords. Aces tend to be about new beginnings, but Ace of Swords tend to be not about that. This card speaks about clarity of vision, deceit, and self-illusion; emphasising the need to approach things with a clear mind and focused intent. This card speaks about the need to look for hard evidence and data, the need to put your emotions to one side and let the facts do the talking, and the need to look at things critically because not everything is as they seem. This card seems to suggest to me that yes, while Politico did have the documents on Operation London Bridge, there is also something else; the need to look deeper than the surface is there.

Second card: Queen of Wands. She is a strong figure associated with an Aries person. She is charismatic, mysterious, energetic, and warm; a charismatic queen with independence and confidence that is infectious and heart-warming. She is highly busy, a powerful ally, and a strong leader. However, she can be tyrannical and deceptive, manipulative and domineering, vengeful and resentful. She seems to tell me that the documents Politico acquired were given as a means to exact revenge by someone spiteful and resentful towards the BRF, that the documents were weaponised to hurt the BRF.

This falls in line with my first spread saying that the purpose of the leak was to inflict heartbreak and pain upon the BRF. Here the Queen of Wands tells me of someone vengeful that wants to inflict pain in the worst way possible -- Queen of Wands is a very strong character and what she wants, she gets.

Third card: Queen of Pentacles. She is the most motherly of all Queens, embodying the ultimate motherly archetype. She is nurturing, fertile, wealthy, successful, she embodies happiness, prosperity, and fertility. She is practical, motherly, and secure. As a court card, she stands for a Capricorn person.

Each Queen in my deck is depicted with an animal companion. The Queen of Wands is depicted to be accompanied by a black cat, while the Queen of Pentacles is depicted to be accompanied by a rabbit. Outside of a home situation where they cohabit and are raised together, cats are rabbits' natural predators. Coming after the Queen of Wands, she tells me like the black cat that appears to chase after the rabbit the Queen of Pentacle holds in her arms, the attitude taken and represented by the Queen of Wands was a way to chase after prosperity, as the rabbit symbolises prosperity.

Fourth card: The Tower. One of the two major arcana cards in this reading, The Tower heralds a change that cannot be denied or delayed, an upheaval that turns your world upside down, and a revelation that may shake you to your core. It speaks about liberation, catastrophe, drama, and pride. In my deck, this card is illustrated as a tall tower being struck by lightning as people leap or fall off the tower. This card is ruled by Mars and in my deck is associated with the sign Aries.

The lightning symbolises a sudden flash of truth, a revelation that changes the way we think and how we see the world. This card seems to suggest that the kind of documents regarding Operation London Bridge Politico have will create upheaval that will disrupt many lives -- in what form, I do not know -- but since this is a major arcana card, it is expected that we can see this upheaval publicly.

Fifth card: Ten of Swords. This is a card of ending, of betrayal, hurt, loss, economic hardship, pain, and disappointment. This card heralds an ending: of the cycle, an end of relationship or business or partnership, or even the end of a way of being. This card is depicted as a lone deer stabbed with swords, emphasising the need to go through the difficulties alone because sometimes we do need to go through our darkest times alone.

Coming after The Tower, this card seems to suggest that whatever the upheaval turns to be, it will result in exposing a betrayal and an end to something. If any inquiry is launched into investigating the documents, it will perhaps result in an end for the source and perhaps for Politico as a whole. As this card belongs to the suit of Swords, this seems to tell that the end will not be pleasant -- it will be harsh, painful, and unexpected.

Underlying energy 1: Five of Wands. This is the card of tension, conflict, and bickering. Sometimes this is the card where there is a fight for the sake of fighting, with no clear reason or cause. This card also speaks about people who cause unnecessary tension or even sabotage you, and the way to resolve the conflict is to look at things clinically and logically. This card is illustrated as two dogs fighting each other with a bird hovering over them, as the dogs wanted to eat the bird. This card seems to tell me that there is tension surrounding these documents, something similar to a do they don't they situation.

Just like how the bird can easily fly away, leaving the dogs fighting for something that is no longer there and they will realise sooner or later that the bird they want to eat is no longer there, this card also seems to tell me that while everything seems to make no sense and jumbled and there are theories abound, give it time to settle. There are certainly works being done behind the scene, and when it is time, we will know.

Underlying energy 2: Eight of Wands. This is a card of movement, speed, travel, haste, and progress. This is a very speedy card, indicating an urgency to move. This card appears when the time is right to take action, or when we have moved too quickly that there is a need to delay the action and think about our action thoroughly.

Coming after the Five of Wands, this card comes across in two ways. First, it is an advice to us all to tone down all the speculations and theorising about the supposed leak until further notice. Second, this card seems to suggest that things are moving quickly -- for example, if the palace is investigating this leak, then they have their investigations well underway.

Underlying energy 3: The Hierophant. The second of two major arcana cards in this reading, this is the card of institution, learning, organisations, community, conventionality, and traditions. Ruled by Taurus, this card represents the need to conform to the rules and fixed ideas. This card represents both the Queen, a Taurus, and the BRF as a whole. This leak is seen as a breach of rules and trust, particularly to the Queen, and the BRF wants this to be resolved as soon as possible, indicated by the Eight of Wands. This card also affirms that the documents Politico have on their hands indeed are about the Queen and are related to Operation London Bridge.

Bracketing cards (the first and the last card of the spread): My spread starts with Ace of Swords and ends with Ten of Swords. In tarot numerology, Ace is considered number one and Ten, well, 10. 1 and 10 are considered the strongest numbers available on pip cards, as they herald a beginning and an end. This seems to further elaborate on the energy the spread is giving me: the documents will result in an end for someone or something. The initial drive was there, it was strong, but in the end, it fizzles out and ends things for someone or some people. There is a sense of impending things, an end that cannot be delayed or denied because it will happen anyway.

Conclusion: Although subtly and not stated outright, my cards think the documents Politico has may have some new details that will perhaps result in an official inquiry because I see the same message over and over again in all of my three spreads. Unless I grossly misinterpreted the message my cards give, I think we will hear news about an official inquiry being launched into this leak case. Then again, as the Eight of Wands strongly advises in this spread: we may need to delay theorising and throwing suspicions here and there before there are official announcements from the Palace or a press release for this case, like the unnamed source quoted by DM mentioned if it turns out that an official inquiry will be opened.

#reading: brf #g reads

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pilesofnonsense · 3 years

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RQBB Writer Guidelines & Sign-up

(This is a post including the requirements for writer participation for ease of access to mobile users. As it is quite long, please reblog our Writer Sign-Ups Announcement Post instead of this one!)

RQBB Writer Guidelines

Welcome to the Rusty Quill Big Bang - a large-scale event bringing writers and artists together to create an explosion of fan content for Rusty Quill podcasts!

Please read the following carefully to understand what will be expected of you as a participant. If you’re on browser, you can see more details on our Challenge Guidelines and FAQ pages.

Schedule for 2021 (all times in BST)

Writer Sign-ups: May 10th - 16th

Check-in 1: June 13th by 11pm

Full First Draft & Summary Due: July 9th by 11pm

Artist Sign-ups: July 12th - 18th

Check-in 2 & Art Draft Deadline: August 15th by 11pm

Final Fic & Art Due: August 27th by 11pm

Posting: August 31st - September 15th

Fandoms: Rusty Quill Gaming, The Magnus Archives, Stellar Firma, Inexplicables

Participation Requirements:

You must choose whether to join the Big Bang as an artist or writer. You may not do both.

Writers will require an AO3 account; if you do not have an AO3 account, please request one via AO3’s login page, or message the mods for an invite.

If you wish to write M or E rated fics you must be aged over 18.

All participants must read and adhere to the Expected Conduct guidelines (see below).

Minimum Final Word Count: 20,000

Maximum Number of Fics per Writer/s: 1

Maximum Number of Writers per Fic (collaboration): 2

Fic Draft Requirements: At the draft deadline (July 9th), we will require a complete draft of at least 18,000 words. “Complete” means that the fic is written from start to finish with no indispensable scenes missing or left as outlines—think, “If I posted this right now, would I be happy with the story it tells?”

Ideally, you will refine and polish your draft in the remaining time, but it can also be your final draft if you prefer.

Drafts will be handed in via a form that will be sent out to you before the deadline. Drafts should be available in Google docs, or if need be in PDF format.

Summary Requirements: A form for the summary will be sent out to you before the deadline. Summaries should briefly outline the general premise, and include rating, ships, triggers and other warnings, and any other relevant details.

Eligible Fics: Fics of any rating and with any warnings are permitted, as long as they meet the minimum word count (20,000), are centred around at least one Rusty Quill show (The Magnus Archives, Rusty Quill Gaming, Stellar Firma, Inexplicables), and are tagged appropriately. We encourage authors to take this opportunity to challenge themselves to take on a project that they might not otherwise—though please consider what is realistic in terms of the deadlines as well!

Fics must be stand-alone, complete, and previously unposted.

Crossovers are allowed, but the focus should be on the RQ podcast involved. For example: a fusion crossover with the Leverage Team replacing the LOLOMG in the RQG!verse would not be permitted, though the RQG characters in the Leverage!verse would be.

Please be aware that fics with obscure crossovers, common squicks, higher ratings, etc., may be more difficult to match, and thus take a little longer to get snapped up. We will do our best to find you a suitable match, though!

If you have any questions about the suitability of your fic, please contact the mods.

Matching Process:

The artist sign-up will include a list of the anonymised fic summaries. Each artist will select 3 fics which they would be interested in creating for, with additional preferences (favourite show/shows they do not follow, OTPs and NoTPs, Do Not Wants, etc.) indicated in the comment field. Mods will then match writers to artists, taking preferences into account as much as possible.

If one fic is oversubscribed or if it is otherwise necessary for a work to be matched, it may be removed from the list of eligible fics before the end of artist sign-ups.

If you have an issue with your match, please let the mods know as soon as possible.

Do Not Wants: In this event, you will have an opportunity to Do Not Want (DNW) the types of content that you do not wish to work on. Similarly, if you’ve had conflicts with certain people in the past and do not want to risk matching to them, you can include this in your sign-up or draft submission, and we will avoid matching you with them (details of these will not be shared beyond the mod team).

The mods will take DNWs into account within reason - attempts to manipulate matches by DNWing large lists of people or otherwise acting in bad faith will result in the rejection of your sign-up or draft. We are also not private detectives, and will thus not be fielding any requests such as “do not match me with anyone who has ever drawn/written XYZ”, so please keep that in mind when considering whether this event is right for you.

Expected Conduct:

By signing up for this event, you agree to meet our deadlines. If it becomes apparent that you need a little more time, we require that you email the mods to explain your situation before the deadline passes. (Those who miss deadlines without contacting the mods beforehand may be defaulted from the event without further contact.)

In order to participate in this event, you must be willing to contact the mods directly in the event that you have a question, concern, or issue with your participation (as in the deadline example above). We are happy to help participants with anything that arises, but cannot accept “telephone”-style communiques on behalf of others.

Be kind and courteous towards your match and fellow participants.

Please take care to credit your artist/writer in your own final post.

Be in regular contact with your match - if you’re going to be offline for a significant length of time, let them know. Radio silence from your match in events of this kind can be very concerning.

Our Discord server has its own list of rules, which are listed within the server. If you decide to join the server, we require you to read and abide by those rules.

Harassment of other participants (including but not limited to callout posts, namecalling, etc.), either publicly or in the Piles of Nonsense discord server, over their fanworks or headcanons will result in an instant default.

We, like Rusty Quill, have an “all headcanons are valid” policy. Harassment or mockery of those with different interpretations or other attempts to limit participants’ creative expression will not be tolerated. Please note that this does not mean you cannot discuss, for example, how you see the characters with others or that your artist or writer should not take it into account at their discretion, but insistence that any one interpretation must be adhered to, or that others are “invalid”, will be frowned upon.

Writer sign-up is here.

#pon mod post #nonsense mod post #rqbb2021

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greatnowimconfused · 6 years

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KOKO’S Curfew

‘KOKO’ is a venue in Camden town known best for its concerts, club nights and stage performances. ‘The Camden Theatre’ opened in 1900 with performers such as Ellen Terry and in 1909 was renamed ‘The Camden Hippodrome’ where Charlie Chaplin regularly performed. The venue also ran as a cinema and put on novelty nights with a line up of different guesses and it also became a BBC theatre. In 1970 it was brought back to life as ‘The Music Mashien’ and grabbed the hearts of punk, it hosted legendary names such as ‘Iron Maiden, Sex Pistols and The Cure’. Since then the venue has hosted all the top charted names, being a venue every artist wants to play in.

There is a pub called ‘Hope and Anchor’ that sits next door to ‘KOKO’ and could be imagined to be a great pub to have a drink before heading to see a concert. It was shut down in 2013 and has been left empty since. Plans to demolish the building where being made by the land owner soon after which were to be made into flats and on January 6th, Camden counsel agreed for these plans to take place.

Obar Camden (KOKO owners) has got reports because of noise before. However their community have supported the culture and importances of the venue, and no major claims or closures were made. This has reoccurred multiple times however in this situation they was worried the new flat tenants would have an issue with the loud music and late timings and have more of a case in which could cause closing ‘KOKO’. London has the largest amount of live music venues and more than half of them are at risk of shutting down due to noise complaints or updated safety risks.

Typical noise sources from any venue may include vents, bar movements, taxi’s and delivery vehicles, outdoor areas for smoking and any amplification systems. All venues have a legal responsibility to keep the noise at a responsible level to keep the public happy. Direct noise can be a public nuisance that is easily prevented. Ways in which ‘KOKO’ and venues like them could lower the complaints include things like making sure the noise cannot be heard at sensitive locations such as hotel and places of business. Public facilities are not to be disturbed and if plans for operations is planned to be later than 11pm, greater permission is needed. Within the premises of the venue, keeping windows and doors (not emergency exists) closed, providing sound proofing and using house speakers to control a DJ’s set will help contain the noise reducing the chance of causing any public nuisance.

In 2018 an MP John Spellar put forward a new law that state any property developers have to take into account the repercussions of any pre-existing businesses around where they plan to develop. This was only a small idea not so long ago with the name of ‘Agent of Change’ but has now taken a big step forward and has the backing of ‘Music Venue Trust’ and ‘The Musicians Union’. This would mean if the flats were to be built next to ‘KOKO’ that they would have to build with extra precaution of their old neighbours such as sound proofing and age advising who lives there. This would benefit music venues all over as they will hopefully not be restricted to much in what they are able to do. Unfortunately this was not in action when they was fighting the flats however I believe it would have made their case go faster and easier.

In 2015 ‘Obar Camden’ won the battle under the terms that the court was ‘significantly misled’ by the planers. The plans for the space where ‘Hope and Anchor’ stands has been changed quite a few times since winning the case and ‘Vavil’ has brought the land along with 2 buildings nearby in cooperation with ‘Obar Camden’. It was discussed that it could be made into a 3 story extension making the bottom floor into an estate agents or shops; however this was also denied with talks about it not fitting in with the culture or theme of Camden. Along with the ideas of what was happening with ‘KOKO’ the reconstruction of the sky dome, the fly tower and fly gallery being restored to its former glory, they had also been given permission by the council to add a rooftop terrace, restaurant and recording studio within the premises matching the relevance of music and creating an environment more people can enjoy for longer once again. After more plans being worked on and the current plans are for the 3 locations to be made into boutique hotels. The aim of these plans is to “ensure the building’s uses are truly complementary, ensuring a viable and sustainable future as a live music venue and cultural hub”.

#KOKO Camden 11pm

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erinravenseekerarts · 7 years

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This is the Deal You Made

HEY LOOK I ACTUALLY POST SOMETHING

Alright so this is a Miraculous Ladybug fic I wrote partly inspired by this chapter in seasonofthegeek’s awesome One Hundred MORE Miraculous Drabbles. Also inspired by that one bit in JelloApocalypse's So This is Basically Miraculous Ladybug when he says "ladybubs has the power to be lucky, and catnerd has the power to kill anything he touches."

Also disclaimer don’t trust my science. Yes, I actually do have a degree. In bullshitting.

So yeah this happened. Read on my AO3 or under the cut.

Post on the Ladyblog, Today at 11:03pm.

victory once again!

theLadyblogger another akuma beat by ladybug and chat noir! you two are awesome!! ladybug totes beat ass back ther like omg ur the best herere the snaps i got frm the fight bros attachment: heckyes.pptx but srsly its like 11pm cn hwkmoth plz just take a brkkkkk alredy????

Comments on; victory once again!

cookietime at 11:10pm ladybug isn’t the best, she’s useless without chat noir

curiositykilledthechat at 11:13pm What do you mean? I disagree.

cookietime at 11:14pm i mean ladybug would probably be dead by now if it werent for chat noir

curiositykilledthechat at 11:16pm Don’t say that! Ladybug is definitely capable of taking all these akumas on her own, you know.

cookietime at 11:17pm shes literally cannon fodder w/out chat what are you talking about. i stand by my previous claim shes naive and shed already be dead

curiositykilledthechat at 11:18pm That’s a lie! Ladybug is intelligent, beautiful, and she works incredibly hard to keep the city safe every night! That’s more than many people in Paris can do.

cookietime at 11:20pm whatever. she wouldve died tonight if it werent for chat noir. dont even try to convince me otherwise.

theLadyblogger at 11:21pm the heck is goin on here!?!??!!?!?!!1?!?? this is blASPHEMY

Marinette didn’t even dare to look at the next response, closing the tab. Of course Alya had to arrive then. Marinette’s honestly surprised she hasn’t been banned yet for all the times she’s ‘blasphemed’ or whatever about Ladybug. Maybe that’s just her best friend privileges speaking.

Her phone buzzes. Probably Alya. She doesn’t even care right now, flopping back onto her bed, pulling a pillow over her head, and screaming into it. She’s so tired, it’s one of those days, and she just can’t handle it right now. Not with the late-night akuma attack, with her friends throwing praise at her alter ego all the time, not when she really doesn’t deserve it. Sometimes it’s fun, but on days like this she only fights because she’s the only one who can.

She doesn’t move as the trapdoor above her bed squeaks a little, as a small gust of the chilly night air outside puffs into the room, as a weight lands and makes itself comfortable on her bed. She feels like if she lifts the pillow off her head she’ll scream or sob and she can’t do it. Not when he’s come to visit her on a night like this. He didn’t have to argue with her online, he didn’t have to break out at almost midnight, and he certainly didn’t have to jump rooftops in the cold just to make sure she would be okay.

Marinette resists the urge to punch something, probably herself, as slivers of green light filter past her shut eyelids. She can hear Plagg muttering and the sound of a drawer opening, likely the small cat getting at the camembert she always keeps there for him. When she feels the pillow being pulled at a little, she only holds it tighter.

“Mari,” Adrien says quietly, and she lets out a sob. She’s shaking, she knows, and he scoops her up into his arms as she cries and her pillow leaves her face and all she can do is latch onto him. Either one of them could’ve died tonight and it’s just so hard to think straight and here she is, breaking down when she really shouldn’t and it’s just so difficult to keep going on like everything is normal when it really isn’t. She can’t go to school tomorrow, and she has no doubt Adrien would just stay here and play games with her for the whole day if she didn’t force him to go.

“It’s okay,” he shushes, and she knows she can hear Tikki and Plagg talking in the background but all she can focus on is how tight her grip on the front of Adrien’s shirt is because if she lets her mind any further than what is immediately in front of her she’ll snap completely. “We’re okay.” She ignores the buzzing of her phone by her leg. Alya’s either mad, or worried, or both, but she can’t care right now.

It seems like ages before Marinette's able to pull away just a little, forcing her breathing to even. Adrien still won’t budge, keeping her in a close hug. God knows she needs it.

“You didn’t have to come,” she says eventually, body completely under control once again. She pulls away. “I’ll have been fine eventually.”

“Nonsense, bug. What kind of partner would I be then?” he gives her an empathetic smile. “Besides, we both have our days. At least I can be here for you.”

More tears are going down Marinette’s cheeks but now she’s smiling faintly. She’s pulled back into the hug and honestly, there’s nothing else she wants right now.

If the next day is spent napping and cuddling and playing video games and definitely not at school, who’s to judge?

Breathing is hard.

Skeletal muscles attach to bones and move according to messages from the nervous system. One such muscle is the diaphragm, the muscle that facilitates the breathing process by expanding and contracting the space inside of the lungs, creating a vacuum that is quickly replaced by air via the bronchial tubes.

Moving is hard.

Fatigue slows the central nervous system, causing difficulties in reaction time and movement speed. As muscles typically involved in all types of movement are skeletal muscles, they rely on the central nervous system to pilot them.

Keeping one’s tired heart together is hard.

Scientifically speaking, hearts themselves cannot break. They aren’t made of a brittle substance, they are muscle. However hearts, unlike other muscles, cannot tire. They consist of a special muscle called cardiac muscle, which contains up to 35% mitochondria, supplying the heart with a nigh-limitless amount of energy. While the heart does not tire naturally, it isn’t impossible for it to tire. By the point that it does, serious damage has already been done to the fibres.

The bright screen hurts his eyes in the darkness of his room. His hands are shaking. Plagg is asleep. He doesn’t want to wake the exhausted kwami. The Ladyblog is open on his computer and he can’t keep writing. Alya’s probably pissed.

curiositykilledthechat at 9:47pm Chat Noir doesn’t even do anything useful.

theLadyblogger at 9:51pm wat the heck u talkin about?!??!?!?????

curiositykilledthechat at 9:53pm I mean, Ladybug always carries the fights. She’s the one who always fixes everything.

cookietime at 9:54pm that doesn’t mean chat noir isn’t helpful!

theLadyblogger at 9:54pm chat noir protects ladybug and makes it so she can fix everythin tho!!!

curiositykilledthechat at 9:56pm All he does is destroy things and put people in danger.

Adrien's vision is blurry. When did he start crying? He can’t read the messages on the Ladyblog. It probably doesn’t matter. His phone buzzes. Several times. Then it rings. He doesn’t pick it up, doesn’t move from his spot in the chair at his desk. When a cold gust of wind hits him he faintly thinks When did my window open? before two arms wrap around his shoulders from behind. Ah. Then. The window is always unlocked anyway. His hand grips the arms tightly, and he doesn’t protest when they urge him up and move him over to the couch to sit down. He still doesn’t look. There’s a flash of pink light as the window is shut, then footsteps make their way to him.

“Shhhhh, it’s alright,” Marinette sits down beside him and pulls him into a hug. She runs her hands through his hair as he silently struggles to control his breathing. He’s leaning heavily on her, but she doesn’t complain. He’s always leaning on her, always being a burden, always messing things up and endangering her and being controlled and destroying everything.

“Quiet now, kitty,” she whispers as he opens his mouth to say something, anything, and he buries his face further into her shoulder. His hands are shaking but he’s stopped crying now, at least.

“All I do is destroy things,” he gets out meekly after a few minutes. Marinette hums.

“What about us? You’re always saving me. You were the one to ask me out,” she replies gently.

“I’m scared,” he’s almost whispering now. “I have the power to destroy everything I touch. I do destroy everything I touch.” It’s barely audible now. “What if I destroy someone?”

“I’ll know you never meant to,” comes the steady reply. He knew that would be the answer. He just can’t believe Marinette would trust him so deeply and entirely. Because it’s happened before, that he’s tried to use Cataclysm on a person. She told him so; he’d pulled it on her during the Dark Cupid incident. He feels sick. The power to destroy whatever he touches, to kill people so easily, is terrifying to wield. He feels like he shouldn’t have this responsibility, no matter what Plagg or Tikki say. He can’t trust himself enough.

They spend a little longer in silence until Adrien is almost falling asleep on Marinette’s shoulder, calmed and purring quietly. Side effects of being Chat Noir. She eventually huffs and nudges him up.

“Come on, sleepy kitty, we have a test tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep too.” Adrien protests faintly as she leaves. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Is that okay?”

Adrien nods. “Yes. I’m okay.”

Alya and Nino are worried about their friends, sure. Sometimes the happiness seems forced, too-wide smiles and very quick "i’m fine"s followed by a change in subject. They’re better around each other, though. Marinette is less frantic when near Adrien, and Alya suspects she’s just acting all flustered and stuff now. Adrien seems less tense around Marinette, more comfortable in his own skin.

Alya and Nino know they aren’t part of whatever seems to be going on in their best friends’ lives. They know no matter how much they wish they could change the circumstances, know and be part of it, it’s something they can’t be privy to.

Whatever’s wrong, they’re glad those two have each other.

End.

#erinravenseekerart #fanfiction #miraculous ladybug #adrien x marinette #marinette cheng #adrien agreste #adrienette #angst #emotional hurt/comfort #post-identity-reveal #basically these children are sad #excuse me while i basically just copy the tags from the AO3 upload #help #too many tags wth #I'm posting this at 10:30pm

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nathanielburgos · 4 years

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Rest Breaks at Work (Employers’ Guide)

The rules on taking breaks at work are covered by the Working Time Regulations 1998 and your employee’s own contract of employment.

Whether or not these breaks are paid is entirely your decision as the employer, and should be stated in the employee’s contract.

Most employees have a right to a break of twenty minutes if they work for six hours or more. The break can be away from their desk and, as stated, does not need to be paid.

The break may be taken at any point during the working day, but cannot simply be tagged on to the beginning or end of an employee’s shift.

There are some employees who do not qualify for this break, for example senior executives, the emergency services and police, and transport workers.

Below we sumamrise the key points for employers when dleaing with rest breaks at work, including the recent exceptional contingency measure to relax drivers’ working hours in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

What does the Working Time Directive say?

The Working Time Directive is a piece of EU law that became UK law in the form of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR).

The WTR give the employee the right to:

A maximum of 48-hours on the working week, which includes overtime;

A compulsory break of twenty minutes after six hours of work;

A break of 11 hours in every 24;

One day off a week or two days off a fortnight.

Opting out of the Working Time Regulations

It is possible for an employee to opt out of the first of these, relating to the 48 hour maximum working week, by signing an opt out agreement. This is voluntary and can be for a certain period of time, or indefinitely.

Even if the opt out provision is contained in an employee’s contract of employment, an employer must allow an employee to opt back in if they request to do so.

The employee should give notice that they want to opt back in, and the employer can specify the length of this notice, which can be between seven days and three months.

The WTR state that you must keep ‘adequate’ records of the hours worked by your employees, and payroll data is usually deemed to suffice.

It is not possible to opt out of any of the other obligations under the WTR, although there are exceptional cases where the entitlements to normal rest breaks do not apply. These cover employees in specific types of work who are instead entitled to compensatory rest, and are discussed separately below.

Other protections under the WTR

There are special provisions if you employ someone who is over school leaving age but under 18. In that case, you must allow them to take a break of 30 minutes if they work for 4 hours and thirty minutes or more, and they must have twelve hours rest per day and two days of rest per week.

Night workers also receive additional protection under the WTR. A night worker is someone who works for at least three hours during the night, and the night is defined as being between 11pm and 6am. In such a case, employees’ hours are capped at an average of eight hours for each 24 hour period, calculated according to a seventeen week reference period. Modifications to the deemed night time period can be made by collective agreement where you have a unionised workforce.

Night workers whose jobs involve special hazards, or heavy physical or mental strain, are only allowed to work eight hours in any 24 hour period, with no averaging. An employee is deemed to fall into this special category if a collective agreement identifies them as doing so, or a risk assessment made by the employer has identified a significant risk to the health or safety of its employees from this kind of work.

Finally, the entitlements to rest breaks also apply to those employed on zero hours contracts.

What is compensatory rest?

Compensatory rest is where an employee misses out on a rest break, so has to take a break at another time to make up for it.

Under Regulation 21 of the WTR these are known as ‘special cases’ and include the following categories of employees:

those working in security;

those working in industries which “involve the need for continuity of service or production” such as hospitals, residential institutions (like care homes and boarding schools), television and radio production and utility providers;

those whose jobs involve “a foreseeable surge of activity”, for example, in tourism; or

employees who miss out on a rest break due to “unusual and unforeseeable circumstances” that are “beyond the control” of their employer.

Length of compensatory rest

In these cases the employer is legally obliged to, wherever possible, allow the employee to take an equivalent period of compensatory rest, which should be a reasonable period of time after the missed break, and as long as the break would have been.

A recent case in the Court of Appeal clarified the nature of compensatory rest periods. In Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Crawford [2019], the employee worked as a signaller whose role it was to regulate railway traffic. Because of the continuity of service involved, Mr Crawford fell within the special cases in Regulation 21 of the WTR. Therefore, he was entitled to compensatory rest.

During his eight hour shift, Mr Crawford was able to take many short breaks of five minutes, which exceeded twenty minutes in total.

However, he was not able to take one interrupted break of twenty minutes. The Court of Appeal held that the period of compensatory rest did not need to be identical to the original entitlement, and found that the employer’s obligation to provide compensatory rest was satisfied by the frequency and total length of breaks enjoyed by the employee. This was seen as a relatively reassuring result for employers, but it should be noted that the court examined closely the working pattern in this case in order to reach its conclusion and will presumably take a similarly forensic approach in the future.

What if I cannot provide compensatory rest?

If the employer simply cannot provide the compensatory rest break, it must still take steps to safeguard the health and safety of an employee who is missing out on their breaks. Such steps should be meaningful and documented. For example, the employer can offer a free health assessment to the employee, to check that the employee’s working hours are not having a detrimental effect on their health. The employee is not obliged to accept this offer.

The employer could also assign them to lighter duties after the period of intense activity has subsided, or offer assistance in the form of a temporary extra member of the team.

As stated, the courts have shown that they will assess each case on its own merits, so it is important that adequate records are kept for each employee.

What are the rest break entitlements for 8 hour shifts or longer?

There is no extra entitlement to a rest break if your employee works a shift of longer than eight hours. However, you must bear in mind the employee’s right to a break of 11 hours in every 24.

There is a separate provision in the WTR for those employees engaged in a monotonous pattern of work “such as to put the health and safety of a worker…at risk”. This could be work on a production line, for example. In this case, Regulation 8 states that the employer must ensure that the employee is given “adequate rest breaks.” There is no detail on what these may be, but it is safe to assume that additional breaks are required to fulfil this obligation.

Health and Safety obligations

An employer owes a duty to the employee, under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, to take reasonable care of their health and safety at work, including providing adequate bathroom facilities. You will owe additional obligations to some employees and these are outlined below.

Pregnancy

Once an employee tells you that they are pregnant, you must carry out a risk assessment. This should address the risks posed to the employee by long working hours and standing or sitting for long periods without sufficient breaks. You should discuss with the employee what amendments might need to be made to their working pattern, for example, increasing their number of breaks.

Medical conditions

If an employee tells you that they have a medical condition that requires them to use the toilet more frequently, then you must allow this. If you deem it necessary, you can ask for medical evidence to support the employee’s position.

Whether or not an employee needs to visit the toilet more or less during the working day will depend on a myriad of factors, including age, menstruation and the menopause. Several protected characteristics could be engaged by you restricting toilet breaks amongst people in these groups. Therefore, you must take a cautious approach in order to avoid committing indirect discrimination.

Driver’s hours relaxed due to COVID-19

Existing drivers’ hours and working time rules are in force to protect road safety and the working conditions of drivers and to reduce the risk of drivers being involved in fatigue-related accidents.

A relaxation has been authorised for drivers under the EU drivers’ hours rules or the GB drivers’ hours rules and undertaking carriage of goods by road in all sectors, between 23 March and 21 April (continuation of the relaxation past 5 April is subject to review) in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Government states in its guidance that relaxation of these rules should only be considered where genuinely necessary and when other supply chain management interventions are unable to alleviate issues. Advice about emergency situations is if the journey is necessary to enable someone to:

provide goods or services to protect public health, and/or

meet their or others’ basic needs for day to day living, and/or

provide medical treatment

and there is a risk of danger to the life or health of people if your journey is not carried out; then you should make use of the emergency exemption.

Need assistance?

When dealing with workforce issues, it is important to consider the full legal risks and rights of your workers. DavidsonMorris’ employment lawyers are on hand to help you assess the circumstances and understand the options that are in your best interests, not least to avoid unwanted tribunal claims and damage to reputation.

As employment law specialists, we can assist if you have any queries relating to working conditions, employee rights and the legal risks of making changes to contractual terms. Speak to our experts today for advice.

Rest breaks at work FAQs

What are the rules for toilet breaks?

There are no specific rules for toilet breaks; the only compulsory daily break is that of twenty minutes after six hours of work.  However, it is not recommended to try to restrict toilet breaks, as this could cause health problems for employees, and does not send a positive message to employees. Therefore, it is expected that both employee and employer will approach this in a responsible and respectful manner.

What are the rules for lunch breaks?

Lunch breaks per se are not covered by the Working Time Regulations. However, most employment contracts contain the right to a lunch break of one hour, and should also state whether this is paid or unpaid.

Can employees take longer breaks during hot weather?

No, there is no provision for employees to take longer breaks during hot weather. In fact, there is no specified legal maximum temperature in the workplace at all (although there is a minimum temperature). The Health and Safety at Work Act states that the temperature in the workplace should be reasonable, which depends on what type of work is being done and where. However, employers should take account of employees who may be especially sensitive to the heat, and need extra breaks as a result. For example, pregnant employees, those with medical conditions and older employees.

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Last updated: 12 April 2020

Rest Breaks at Work (Employers’ Guide) published first on https://ordergcmsnotescanada.tumblr.com/

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democratsunited-blog · 6 years

Text

A New Era for the Travis County Democratic Party: After years of infighting and a tumultuous election in March, the TCDP must now proceed as one - News

https://uniteddemocrats.net/?p=3644

A New Era for the Travis County Democratic Party: After years of infighting and a tumultuous election in March, the TCDP must now proceed as one - News

Illustration by Jason Stout / Thinkstock

Just after 11pm on the night of this year’s primary election, Dyana Limon-Mercado announced to a crowd of advisers and supporters gathered at the South Austin Third Base that local attorney Anne Wynne had just called to concede the race for chairperson of the Travis County Democratic Party.

“I’m in shock,” Limon-Mercado exclaimed, “so I really don’t have eloquent words prepared. I also wasn’t planning to give a speech either way, because I was just going to be like, ‘Fuck all this shit. I’m ready to go to bed.'”

In Wynne and Limon-Mercado, voters had a choice of ideals to address concerning what type of woman they wanted leading the party.

The race for the position, which is responsible for fundraising and ultimately getting Democrats elected into public offices throughout the county (and driving turnout for statewide races), had been particularly close. Early voting had her up by one percentage point. By the end of the night, she had increased that lead to two. The underdog planning to close the night by saying “fuck all this shit” ousted the onetime appointee of Ann Richards, who’d been recruited to run by some of the most influential members of the party.

Such support likely would have carried Wynne to victory in any other year. But the circumstances that led to this year’s election were rather unprecedented, and Limon-Mercado ran a campaign that would ultimately reel in a consequential string of endorsements from those beyond the typical kingmakers.

“Truthfully, I could not have done this without Our Revolution,” she told supporters, “without Young Democrats; without the Tejano Democrats; without my core group of volunteers. Without every single group of people who I think in this community have felt marginalized for a long time.”

Then she said what had been on the mind of all those groups: “Even though the Democratic Party was our party, we didn’t always have the voice and the representation we wanted. This campaign was won because of grassroots power, word of mouth.”

Dyana Limon-Mercado

An Unenviable Position

The two dissimilar candidates didn’t arrive at March 6 in a vacuum. The events that made their contest possible began to fall into place in September of 2015, when Jan Soifer resigned from the position to pursue a campaign for the 345th District Court. (She was elected the following year.) On the surface, Soifer was a successful party chair: In her two years, she amassed $1.1 million in donations, and helped shepherd in a vice chair position and several full-time staffer positions, so that the party – which generally shrunk during off-election years – could benefit from constant staffing.

But when she resigned she acknowledged the challenge she had just faced: “When I decided to run for this position, I knew that it was a challenging, unpaid position, but I never guessed just how much work it would be. … It certainly has demanded much more work than I expected – but it has been an honor to serve our party.”

Jan Soifer (Photo by Jana Birchum)

Soifer told me this summer that she doubts she would have been able to do the work she did had she been at a different point in her life. Her children were grown; she and her husband had a stable law practice. There were days when her party duties didn’t end until late at night and only then could she begin on her day job’s work.

And Soifer benefited from several moments that temporarily sparked the party during her brief tenure, including the Wendy Davis filibuster and a partnership with Battleground Texas. “There were exciting things happening, and it was a year when people were really motivated to help,” she said.

Shortly after Soifer announced her resignation, Vice Chair Vincent Harding beat out political operative Sylvia Camarillo in a special election. Though Camarillo vowed to challenge Harding again in the March primary, she eventually reneged, and Harding won a full term unopposed.

Harding wasn’t a typical choice for party chair. The employment and ethics attorney had spent most of his time within the party as secretary, a neutral position where he wasn’t championing favored candidates, and he relished the freedom that accompanied that status. He is also black – only the second black man to be TCDP chair – and at 28 was the youngest person to ever hold the position. “I know that I stand on the shoulders of giants,” he wrote in a statement announcing his ascension, “and I am committed to opening doors for those who will follow me.”

Trouble in Paradise

Those remarks marked the beginning of a tumultuous, three-year tenure marred by party infighting and discontent. Harding came into the role promising a reorientation of the party, and took seriously his job as an independent arbiter. But the ethics-above-politics mentality didn’t jibe with party stalwarts, and helped exacerbate the growing tensions.

It was with that reputation Harding waded into the first test of his brief term, in January of 2016, during the primary campaign for district attorney. At the time, the favorite to succeed Rosemary Lehmberg was longtime Assistant D.A. Gary Cobb – in fact, for a while, he hadn’t even drawn a challenger. But defense attorney Rick Reed eventually jumped into the race, and when he did so he alleged that Cobb’s candidate application had both violated a number of state election codes and included signatures from several members of the TCDP staff (Reed believed party members should not endorse candidates in a primary), and that Harding failed to “properly review” the application.

Vincent Harding (Photo by John Anderson)

Harding told Reed that the oversights wouldn’t push Cobb’s name off the ballot, and the situation eventually settled itself: The courts allowed Cobb’s candidacy, and he was later defeated by Margaret Moore. (Reed withdrew on election day.)

The 3rd Court of Appeals sided with Harding in Reed’s lawsuit, but it unearthed hard feelings that Cobb had been allowed to continue at all. Harding contends he was doing his best to navigate a difficult legal question on the fly and was concerned with keeping the seat in party hands.

“That was my honeymoon,” he remembered wryly. “Having someone run against you and then getting sued.”

Harding’s troubles would not end there. Party insiders grew bitter about his handling of the 2016 coordinated campaign, particularly the Fourth Street space he’d rented as its headquarters, which earned criticism both for its location and lack of air conditioning. Some grew demoralized at what they perceived to be a lack of organization at the management level. Those party insiders complained that Harding had stopped listening to their suggestions, and worried his staff wasn’t experienced enough to handle complex campaigns.

“We cannot let primary race differences divide us in November.” – U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett

Harding drew further scorn last June when he declined to endorse a call for Rep. Dawnna Dukes’ resignation from the state House. He justified his decision in a Statesman op-ed, citing an unwillingness to take action against “a duly elected state representative on the spot without community notice or input.” He also noted that the party had never asked a candidate to resign in such a manner, and hesitated to set that precedent with a representative like Dukes, a long-respected member of Central Texas’ African-American community. “Austin should rise to the occasion and show that diversity not only can unite a community but is the fuel to defeat bigotry,” he wrote. “Let’s move beyond internal disagreements and focus on serving the entire community.”

Today Harding acknowledges: “Some of the decisions I made people did not agree with.” But he believes he did his best to fulfill his campaign promises by raising ethical concerns when he saw them. And his tenure was not without its bright spots. Harding was successful in engaging with the party’s grassroots wing, made progress on immigration, workers’ rights, the battle with Uber and Lyft to maintain local rideshare regulations, and pushed the party to make bold statements on police brutality and oversight. He takes pride in the robust voter turnout in the 2016 general election, which topped 65% within the county.

Still, by the spring of 2017, Harding decided he wouldn’t run again. Though he’d raised about $1 million, the same amount as Soifer, he began to struggle with fundraising the longer he went into his tenure.

Harding had told his closest confidants, but hoped to keep the news private until he wrapped up a couple of community initiatives. But the news leaked. And all of a sudden, in September 2017, weeks before he was ready to announce his decision, Harding was getting calls from people across the county who knew his plans and had already conferred with Rick Cofer, rumored as the next consensus candidate. Harding announced his resignation via email on Sept. 28. The next day, Cofer launched his own campaign.

Sideshow Politics

Cofer immediately lined up an impressive array of supporters that included current and former City Council members, state elected officials, and a slew of Travis County bigwigs. He was a known quantity within the party, a veteran of UT’s University Democrats, and a former legislative staffer who’d worked as a prosecutor for both the county and district attorneys.

Cofer’s ascent to the party chair was hailed as an inevitability. And it may have worked out that way, had news not begun to swirl that Cofer had been accused of multiple incidents of chauvinistic behavior during his time at the county attorney’s office. Cofer withdrew his candidacy in late October, having been asked to leave by at least one ally within the Travis delegation: state Sen. Kirk Watson, a onetime party chair himself. “I certainly told him [to step aside],” Watson told me. “I felt like, based on what I was hearing, that he would not be able unite the party under the circumstances. And I didn’t like what I was hearing.”

Rick Cofer (Photo by Jana Birchum)

Cofer announced his withdrawal in a statement that did not acknowledge any rumors, but instead appeared to attribute the decision to the fact that there were “several strong female candidates waiting on the sidelines.

“The very best thing I can do for our party is to step aside for incredible women leaders,” he continued.

Party Secretary Bianca Garcia and former Central Health Board Member Rosie Mendoza were two of the names quickly considered. But neither came forward to run. Instead, Precinct 428 Chair Mike Lewis announced he would step in. The Bernie Sanders supporter painted himself as an outsider and reformed Libertarian who had devoted himself to progressive politics in the wake of Trump’s election, and sought to energize others within the county in that same vein.

But Lewis’ campaign was even briefer than Cofer’s; a website eventually tied to local political players at GNI Strategies revealed embarrassing Facebook posts Lewis had made in the past, when he was perhaps more Libertarian than progressive. Even more alarming was a crude post he’d made about the rape allegations brought upon Bill Cosby. He apologized for those remarks, and said his journey from conservative to progressive had been long and arduous.

But the damage had been done, and he announced he’d ditch the race just as the party elites were beginning to draft Wynne. In December, Lewis filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission alleging that GNI’s Jovita Pardo used an unregistered political committee to attack his candidacy on behalf of Wynne. Pardo later said her actions fell within state guidelines, and Wynne denied knowledge of the PAC.

Two Formidable Candidates

The prospect of Wynne’s candidacy was growing more popular among TCDP insiders, however, and Watson, who still plays an active role in local circles from his perch up at the Lege, began fielding calls from local Democrats who sought some form of stability. In Wynne, who state Rep. Celia Israel considers a “political mom,” they had their rock.

But Watson et al. didn’t know at the time that Limon-Mercado had been considering a run of her own, thanks to the prodding of a number of the party’s periphery players, including her boss at Planned Parenthood Votes, Yvonne Gutierrez, and Precinct 46 Chair Daniel Segura-Kelly. Limon-Mercado, the deputy executive director for Planned Parenthood Votes, with no close affiliation to party insiders, said she watched the field unfold with skepticism.

Mike Lewis

“Just the optics of it looked strange, right?” she recalled to me this spring. “We sort of had this chosen person who stepped down for not really clear reasons, and they said it should be a woman of color. But then somebody like Mike Lewis steps up, and then people have questions about Mike Lewis’ sort-of-Democratic credentials.

“And I think there were a lot of people, myself included, looking around like, ‘Surely someone’s going to fix this. Surely somebody’s going to do something about this.’ We have got to be able to do better in Travis County in 2018, just after the year we’ve had as Democrats. Coming off of the Trump election, the year of Resistance, everything we’ve been building toward, the real meaningful conversations I’ve felt like we’ve had in the Democratic Party. And this is what we get? These two candidates?”

A Bold Vision

By the second week of November, Limon-Mercado and Wynne both announced their campaigns and had the field to themselves, and the party eventually ended up with what many had said they initially wanted: a chance for a woman to hold the role. And in the two candidates they had a choice of ideals to address concerning what type of woman they wanted leading the party.

In Wynne they had a longtime ally with deep connections to some of the party’s most enduring members, who promised to use her decades of political experience to bring back the type of blockbuster fundraising that the party had been missing for the past half-decade; in Limon-Mercado, a young, Latina outsider who promised to balance a party thirsty for that fundraising with attention shown toward the local communities desperately seeking organizational engagement. Sustaining members would grow through her outreach, she said, which meant the party wouldn’t have to struggle when elected officials tightened their budgets, as often occurred during Harding’s tenure.

Anne Wynne

Soifer told me she approached both women during the campaign to warn them of what they were getting into. And Limon-Mercado, who campaigned while pregnant and just had her second child last week, heard those warnings from many more people than just Soifer, but she told me she believes it’s important the job not be limited to attorneys with vast resources, which has been the case for as long as most can remember.

“As a working-class person in the community, also as a parent, as someone who’s involved in the grassroots – if this position is inaccessible to me because of the time commitment, how many other people are we leaving out of the conversation?” she asked. “How much other talent are we leaving at the door?

“Instead of talking about how demanding it is, and how people like me don’t have the time to be involved, why don’t we create a better system that allows us to be involved?”

94,491 people voted in the TCDP chair election in March: 45,864 for Wynne, 48,627 for Limon-Mercado. Neck and neck, the results made clear that the party was still divided.

Reconciliation?

But there are at least signs the Travis County Dems are making strides toward unity. Travis County Democrats have, at least publicly, begun to make overtures of reconciliation. Watson told me he’s enjoyed “getting to know the new chair,” and said he’s invited Limon-Mercado to participate in his traditional Twitter town hall at the state convention this next weekend in Fort Worth. “We are developing what I consider to be a really good working relationship.”

There are at least signs the Travis County Dems are making strides toward unity.

Watson isn’t the only one embracing the “stronger together” theme in the wake of a tough election. Party insiders still sour about the results have been nudged privately by more moderate voices to embrace Limon-Mercado and the change she represents. The state senator said he’s “encouraged by the number of ideas that she has, and the fact that she is as ready to hit the ground running and get it done.”

That support is also showing in the party’s fundraising efforts. U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett recently signed his name to an email recruiting new sustaining members, and in it he alludes to the need for unity.

“Following some hotly contested races this year, including the race for our County Chair, we need to come together to take on Trump and his Trumpettes,” he wrote. “After meeting with Dyana, our new Chair, to discuss her plans for what our local party can achieve, I have written my own check as a sustaining member.

“We cannot let primary race differences divide us in November. Contributing now can help ensure the Democratic wave does not dissolve into a ripple.”

Harding for District 1: Outgoing Party Chair Enters City Race

While Austin City Council races are nonpartisan, much of the same ideological jockeying occurs when it comes time to fill the dais. Leaders in District 1, which is currently represented by outgoing Council Member Ora Houston, who announced on Wednesday that she won’t seek re-election, spent much of the spring drafting outgoing Travis County Democratic Party Chair Vincent Harding to run. And on Wednesday, Harding announced that he plans to file for candidacy. He joins a crowded field of candidates, including Natasha Harper-Madison, Mariana Salazar, and Lewis Conway Jr.

“We are at a pivotal moment, 90 years from the 1928 plan, in the middle of a land development code rewrite,” Harding said last week when he revealed his plans to me. “At a time where we are consistently one of the Top 10 places to live, we are also one of the most economically and racially segregated cities in the country and … a third of our black and brown children are growing up in poverty.”

Harding declined to assess the district’s current leadership, instead focusing talks on economic advancement and transportation. He said he’d support the long-discussed Capital Metro Green Line and workforce solutions to bring “middle skill” jobs (those that don’t require a bachelor’s degree) to the area. Harding believes his experience at City Hall (he was a member of the city’s Board of Adjustment) and its inner workings will go a long way toward making those ideas a reality. “I believe I have the skill set to work with people on many different sides of the issue,” he said. “At the same time, while being a coalition builder, I also have the courage to stand up and do what’s right and take whatever heat.”

A version of this article appeared in print on June 15, 2018 with the headline: Party of Some

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nathanielburgos · 4 years

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Rest Breaks at Work (Employers’ Guide)

The rules on taking breaks at work are covered by the Working Time Regulations 1998 and your employee’s own contract of employment.

Whether or not these breaks are paid is entirely your decision as the employer, and should be stated in the employee’s contract.

Most employees have a right to a break of twenty minutes if they work for six hours or more. The break can be away from their desk and, as stated, does not need to be paid.

The break may be taken at any point during the working day, but cannot simply be tagged on to the beginning or end of an employee’s shift.

There are some employees who do not qualify for this break, for example senior executives, the emergency services and police, and transport workers.

What does the Working Time Directive say?

The Working Time Directive is a piece of EU law that became UK law in the form of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR).

The WTR give the employee the right to:

A maximum of 48-hours on the working week, which includes overtime;

A compulsory break of twenty minutes after six hours of work;

A break of 11 hours in every 24;

One day off a week or two days off a fortnight.

Opting out of the Working Time Regulations

Even if the opt out provision is contained in an employee’s contract of employment, an employer must allow an employee to opt back in if they request to do so.

The employee should give notice that they want to opt back in, and the employer can specify the length of this notice, which can be between seven days and three months.

The WTR state that you must keep ‘adequate’ records of the hours worked by your employees, and payroll data is usually deemed to suffice.

Other protections under the WTR

Finally, the entitlements to rest breaks also apply to those employed on zero hours contracts.

What is compensatory rest?

Compensatory rest is where an employee misses out on a rest break, so has to take a break at another time to make up for it.

Under Regulation 21 of the WTR these are known as ‘special cases’ and include the following categories of employees:

those working in security;

those whose jobs involve “a foreseeable surge of activity”, for example, in tourism; or

employees who miss out on a rest break due to “unusual and unforeseeable circumstances” that are “beyond the control” of their employer.

Length of compensatory rest

During his eight hour shift, Mr Crawford was able to take many short breaks of five minutes, which exceeded twenty minutes in total.

What if I cannot provide compensatory rest?

The employer could also assign them to lighter duties after the period of intense activity has subsided, or offer assistance in the form of a temporary extra member of the team.

As stated, the courts have shown that they will assess each case on its own merits, so it is important that adequate records are kept for each employee.

What are the rest break entitlements for 8 hour shifts or longer?

There is no extra entitlement to a rest break if your employee works a shift of longer than eight hours. However, you must bear in mind the employee’s right to a break of 11 hours in every 24.

Health and Safety obligations

Pregnancy

Medical conditions

Driver’s hours relaxed due to COVID-19

provide goods or services to protect public health, and/or

meet their or others’ basic needs for day to day living, and/or

provide medical treatment

and there is a risk of danger to the life or health of people if your journey is not carried out; then you should make use of the emergency exemption.

Need assistance?

Rest breaks at work FAQs

What are the rules for toilet breaks?

What are the rules for lunch breaks?

Can employees take longer breaks during hot weather?

Last updated: 12 April 2020

Rest Breaks at Work (Employers’ Guide) published first on https://ordergcmsnotescanada.tumblr.com/

0 notes