How many paid rest breaks and unpaid meal breaks a shift earns under the Employment Relations Act 2000, from a 2-hour shift to a 16-hour one, when the breaks fall if nothing has been agreed, and how to put them on a roster.
Every employee in New Zealand is entitled to rest and meal breaks, and the number depends on one thing: how long the work period is. The rules are in Part 6D of the Employment Relations Act 2000 (section 69ZD) and Employment New Zealand publishes them as a table (Rest and breaks). This guide puts the table, the timing rules and what they mean for a roster on one page.
This is general information, not legal advice. For specific situations, talk to an employment law specialist or your advisor.
| Length of the work period | Paid 10-minute rest breaks | Unpaid 30-minute meal breaks |
|---|---|---|
| Under 2 hours | None | None |
| 2 to 4 hours | 1 | None |
| Over 4 to 6 hours | 1 | 1 |
| Over 6 to under 10 hours | 2 | 1 |
| 10 to 12 hours | 3 | 1 |
| Over 12 to 14 hours | 3 | 2 |
| Over 14 to 16 hours | 4 | 2 |
The pattern is easier to remember than the table. The Act sets the breaks for the first eight hours of work, then treats the time after eight hours as a new work period with the same rules. That is why a third rest break appears at 10 hours (eight hours, plus a new period of two) and a second meal break after 12.
The edges matter on a roster. A shift of exactly 4 hours earns one rest break; a shift of 4 hours 15 minutes earns a rest break and a meal break.
Rest breaks are paid, at the same rate the employee would earn for working. Meal breaks do not have to be paid, although an employment agreement can say they are.
That difference is what turns hours on site into paid hours:
| Shift | Time on site | Minimum breaks | Paid hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 to 12:00 | 3 hours | One paid rest break | 3 hours |
| 10:00 to 15:00 | 5 hours | One paid rest break, one unpaid meal break | 4 hours 30 minutes |
| 8:30 to 17:00 | 8 hours 30 minutes | Two paid rest breaks, one unpaid meal break | 8 hours |
| 7:00 to 19:00 | 12 hours | Three paid rest breaks, one unpaid meal break | 11 hours 30 minutes |
Agree it first. An employer and an employee must have a reasonable opportunity to agree when breaks are taken and how long they are. Only when nothing has been agreed do the fallback timings apply, and then only so far as they are reasonable and practicable:
Our NZ break calculator works out the entitlement and these fallback times from a start and a finish. It stops at 12 hours, the same place the fallback timings above stop: a longer work period is flagged, the last two rows of the table are shown and no fallback times are guessed.
Our free roster generator and the roster templates put the minimum breaks on every shift by length, mark the public holidays and total the paid hours, with no account needed.
In the Clockie roster, every shift carries its unpaid break, with a default you set once in Settings. On the time clock, Clockie can deduct an unpaid break automatically once a shift passes a length you choose (4 hours by default), so the hours that reach payroll already allow for it. The roster shows hours only, and payroll always comes from actual clock-ins.
This is general information, not legal advice. For specific situations, talk to an employment law specialist or your advisor.
Try Clockie free and roster next week with the breaks already in place.
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