Everyone is entitled to paid rest breaks but they can be confusing and difficult to calculate manually for contract work.
Overview
Employees are entitled to paid rest and unpaid meal breaks that:
- give them a reasonable chance during work periods to rest, refresh, and take care of personal matters; and
- are appropriate for the length of their working day with the employer.
Rest breaks benefit workplaces by helping employees work safely and productively.
Employers must pay for minimum rest breaks but don’t have to pay for minimum meal breaks.
Read more about Rest and Meal Breaks on the government website here.
Why do we need to pay contract Paid Rest Breaks separately?
Work periods on hourly rate include paid rest break/s
Work periods on contract rate exclude paid rest break/s and require an additional payment. This payment allows the employee to take a break without losing money from downing tools
Who qualifies for separate Paid Rest Breaks?
If the employee is earning above the minimum hourly wage on contract, they require an additional payment to cover paid rest breaks
If the employee is earning below the minimum hourly wage on contract, they require an additional payment to top up their hourly rate to the minimum and do not qualify for separate paid rest breaks as the minimum hourly rate includes these
How do we calculate Paid Rest Breaks?
Option 1—Proportional
The following table is applied to all hours worked on contract rate, the employee is then paid the resulting quantity of 10-minute breaks
Length of employee’s contract work period | Minimum number of rest breaks employees are to be provided |
|---|---|
2.00 - 6.00 hours | 1 x 10 minute paid rest break |
6.01 - 10.00 hours | 2 x 10 minute paid rest break |
10.01 – 14 hours | 3 x 10 minute paid rest break |
14.01 to 16 hours | 4 x 10 minute paid rest break |
*Excludes unpaid breaks
Option 2—Percentage
A percentage is applied to the total contract earnings and effectively pays the employee 2.5 minutes for every hour worked:
Total earnings of employee's contract work period multiplied by 4.2%*
*20 minutes ÷ 60 minutes ÷ 8 hours = 0.042 minutes per hour
Last updated in accordance with the 6th May 2019 changes to rest and meal break entitlements as set by MBIE—read more about it here.
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