Smokers at Kirklees Council and Huddersfield University spared clocking off for cigarette breaks

Nov 5 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SMOKERS at two major Huddersfield employers will not have their pay docked for taking fag breaks.

The news comes after Breckland Council, in Norfolk, took the radical step of making its staff clock in and out to smoke.

But Kirklees Council, which employs about 18,000 people, and Huddersfield University, which has about 2,000 people on its payroll, will not be following suit.

Breckland Council decided to impose the policy following confusion between smokers over whether to clock out before going outside for a smoke.

Staff at the council will not be paid in future for the time they take to have a cigarette after the proposals were given the go-ahead.

Simon Clark, from smokers’ lobby group Forest, said that everyone was entitled to a break during work.

The council said the move was aimed at making the issue of smoke breaks fairer for individuals who did not smoke.

William Nunn, leader of the Conservative-run council, said: “We are not trying to stop smoking ... what we are saying is when people go for a cigarette they should do it in their own time.”