Popping outside to have a quick cigarette just got a lot more expensive. Long gone is the tea lady, employed to deliver a cup of tea and a biscuit so you don’t take a cigarette break outside (yes, back then in the UK and Spain, smoking was allowed inside). They wanted their workers then to keep on toiling with as few stops as possible.
Then, the smoking ban came in for shared indoor spaces. And Spain’s rules were the toughest in the World at the time. In Spain, taking a quick break outdoors was seen as fair compensation in sympathy for the smoker, and the smell of stinky wet ashtrays marked the entrance to most big buildings around the country.
Now, however, the party is over. Spain’s employees stepping outside for a quick puff might need to stay late at work to compensate for lost time. Labour experts are now warning that smoking breaks are not protected as paid working hours. Companies have every right to demand workers clock out for these brief absences.
Employment lawyer Juanma Lorente recently went viral on TikTok clarifying this legal reality. He explained that taking a drag on a cigarette or a vape does not qualify as a physiological necessity under law, unlike visiting the bathroom. Employers can and should strictly monitor these habits by enforcing a clock-in and clock-out policy for every outdoor excursion. Failing to recover those missed minutes constitutes a breach of...
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