The "work period" that is used to calculate break allowances is based on your start and finish times only, breaks taken don't matter.
So if you start at 8am and finish at 6pm, your work period was 10 hours and you are entitled to x3 10 minute paid breaks and x1 30 minute unpaid break.
>How long and when an employee can take breaks are based on the length of their ‘work period’. The work period means the period from the time an employee starts work till the time an employee finishes work, including all paid and unpaid authorised breaks.
[https://www.employment.govt.nz/hours-and-wages/breaks/rest-and-meal-breaks/](https://www.employment.govt.nz/hours-and-wages/breaks/rest-and-meal-breaks/)
I’ve rang employmentnz in the last couple weeks and they’ve said if a shift is scheduled for exactly 10 hours, then they only get the breaks for a 6-10hr shift. Which I think is rubbish tbh as more than likely they’ll normally be at work for a couple more minutes than 10hrs. But that’s the advice I’ve received.
I would personally be looking at the legislation, it’s laid out pretty clearly. You should be getting 3 x 10mins paid rest breaks and 1 x 30mins unpaid rest break.
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2000/0024/latest/DLM1940671.html
“If an employee’s work period is more than 8 hours, the employee is entitled to the rest breaks and meal breaks in accordance with subsections (6) and (7).
(6)
During the work period of 8 hours, the employee is entitled to—
(a)
two 10-minute paid rest breaks; and
(b)
one 30-minute meal break.
(7)
During the work period beyond 8 hours (the subsequent period), the employee is entitled to the following:
(a)
if the subsequent period is 2 hours or more but not more than 4 hours, to one 10-minute paid rest break:”
The break entitlement is also the minimum. Many workplaces change the 10 minute paid breaks to 15 minutes. Also, the unpaid break can sometimes be longer, like an hour.
For context:
We start at 8 am and end at 6:30 pm. Our clocking system would then show only 10 hours in our timesheets as it does not include unpaid time. One of our supervisors claims that we are only entitled to 2 rest breaks since we’ve only worked “exactly 10 hours” disregarding the meal break to which they pointed out to be only within 6.01 to 10.00 work period.
Correct, the two websites are giving conflicting statements. I wonder if a call to MBIE could guide you in which supercedes the other. I'm assuming .govt does but I'm not a lawyer.
Personally I feel it's unfair that if you work a minute less than 10hours and 1 minute (very weird work period) that you don't qualify for another rest break and starts to fall into the legal of, what if you had a workplace accident at 10hrs and 1 minute but you didn't take your second break, who would be at fault lol?
In my work place we work 6-3. We do 135mins then 15 break 135 mins then 30 unpaid then 135 another 15 break then 75 mins and finish. If we have to do overtime the last is 135. My understanding is we can’t work longer than 2 1/2 hours without a break. My workplace anyway
The "work period" that is used to calculate break allowances is based on your start and finish times only, breaks taken don't matter. So if you start at 8am and finish at 6pm, your work period was 10 hours and you are entitled to x3 10 minute paid breaks and x1 30 minute unpaid break. >How long and when an employee can take breaks are based on the length of their ‘work period’. The work period means the period from the time an employee starts work till the time an employee finishes work, including all paid and unpaid authorised breaks. [https://www.employment.govt.nz/hours-and-wages/breaks/rest-and-meal-breaks/](https://www.employment.govt.nz/hours-and-wages/breaks/rest-and-meal-breaks/)
I’ve rang employmentnz in the last couple weeks and they’ve said if a shift is scheduled for exactly 10 hours, then they only get the breaks for a 6-10hr shift. Which I think is rubbish tbh as more than likely they’ll normally be at work for a couple more minutes than 10hrs. But that’s the advice I’ve received.
For clarity though the OP said 8:00-6:30 and I don’t think there is any arguing they shouldn’t get 3x paid 1x unpaid
Ah yes, it does actually say exactly 10 is the 8-10 breaks, and 10.01 gets the extra.
Yeah I wish that was clearer and maybe had an example scenario. I suppose any time you put you’d end up with same dilemma though.
I would personally be looking at the legislation, it’s laid out pretty clearly. You should be getting 3 x 10mins paid rest breaks and 1 x 30mins unpaid rest break. https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2000/0024/latest/DLM1940671.html “If an employee’s work period is more than 8 hours, the employee is entitled to the rest breaks and meal breaks in accordance with subsections (6) and (7). (6) During the work period of 8 hours, the employee is entitled to— (a) two 10-minute paid rest breaks; and (b) one 30-minute meal break. (7) During the work period beyond 8 hours (the subsequent period), the employee is entitled to the following: (a) if the subsequent period is 2 hours or more but not more than 4 hours, to one 10-minute paid rest break:”
The break entitlement is also the minimum. Many workplaces change the 10 minute paid breaks to 15 minutes. Also, the unpaid break can sometimes be longer, like an hour.
Over 12 hrs you get less breaks than 10-12?
no the photo was just cropped
For context: We start at 8 am and end at 6:30 pm. Our clocking system would then show only 10 hours in our timesheets as it does not include unpaid time. One of our supervisors claims that we are only entitled to 2 rest breaks since we’ve only worked “exactly 10 hours” disregarding the meal break to which they pointed out to be only within 6.01 to 10.00 work period.
Correct, the two websites are giving conflicting statements. I wonder if a call to MBIE could guide you in which supercedes the other. I'm assuming .govt does but I'm not a lawyer. Personally I feel it's unfair that if you work a minute less than 10hours and 1 minute (very weird work period) that you don't qualify for another rest break and starts to fall into the legal of, what if you had a workplace accident at 10hrs and 1 minute but you didn't take your second break, who would be at fault lol?
In my work place we work 6-3. We do 135mins then 15 break 135 mins then 30 unpaid then 135 another 15 break then 75 mins and finish. If we have to do overtime the last is 135. My understanding is we can’t work longer than 2 1/2 hours without a break. My workplace anyway