Understanding Paid Rest Breaks

Paid rest breaks can be confusing and difficult to calculate manually.

Who requires a Paid Rest Break?

Work periods on contract rate exclude paid rest break/s and require an additional payment
Work periods on hourly rate include paid rest break/s

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

The following table is applied to all hours worked on contract rate;

Length of employee’s work period	Minimum number of rest and/or meal 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

A percentage is applied to the total contract earnings and effectively pays the employee 2.5 minutes per hour worked.

Calculation
20 minutes / 60 minutes / 8 hours = 0.042 decimal minutes per hour

Last updated in accordance with the 6th May changes to rest and meal break entitlements as set by MBIE > Related government documentation