GUEST COMMENT: You are not legally obliged to eat lunch at your desk

Pubs in the City and Canary Wharf may be bursting at the seams every lunchtime, but there are unseen masses who never leave their desks.

It was reported recently by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy that 1 in 4 workers are not exercising their rights to take rest breaks during the day. The Society said that long hours could pose "serious risks" to health and may lead to huge costs for employers.

Your basic legal rights to time off are set out in The Working Time Regulations, which applies to all workers, whether full or part- time and the majority of agency workers. You are entitled to:-

· a limit of an average 48 hours a week on the hours you can be required to work, although you can elect to work longer

· 5.6 weeks' paid leave a year

· a 20 minute rest break if your working day is longer than 6 hours

· 1 day off each week

· 11 consecutive hours' rest in any 24-hour period

The actual amount of break you receive is usually set out in your contract of employment and many banks will allow breaks that go beyond the minimum regulations. For example, one hour for lunch is usual. The breaks must be in one block and cannot be taken off one end of the working day - it must be somewhere in the middle. Subject to this, your employer can dictate what time the actual break is taken.

If your employer does not allow you to take your breaks against your wishes, then you can lodge a formal grievance and if necessary make a claim to the Employment Tribunal.

Of course, many employees are choosing voluntarily not to take breaks, mostly due to being overloaded with work. This is not clever. I have seen many cases where negligent decisions have been made by stressed and over-worked staff in the banking and wider financial industry.

So, what should you do if you find yourself in this position?

First, have an informal meeting with your line manager and explain the position. You do not have to play the "breach of statutory requirement" card. Explain that because you are overworked and unable to take reasonable breaks, you are concerned that mistakes will be made. If this falls on deaf ears, then you may have to consider the more formal approach of lodging a grievance, which your employer is then bound to address.

If you are a line manager and can see that those under your control are not taking breaks, then the onus should be on you to ascertain why this is happening and to address the position. You are responsible for their health and safety after all