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No — only the meal break. Under the Employment Relations Act 2000 the 10-minute rest breaks are paid working time and stay in paid hours. The 30-minute meal break is unpaid and comes out. The entitlement runs by hours worked: 2 to 4 hours gets one paid 10-minute rest break; more than 4 and up to 6 gets that plus a 30-minute unpaid meal break; more than 6 and under 10 gets two paid rest breaks plus the meal break. Timing can be agreed; the entitlement itself cannot be contracted out of.

Two things, not one. The hours actually worked are paid at a minimum of time and a half. And if the day would otherwise have been a working day for that employee, they also earn a whole paid day off — an alternative holiday — on top. Record the alternative day in the month it is earned, not only when it is taken: it does not expire, and any balance is paid out on termination.

It asks whether the employee would have worked that day had it not been a public holiday or a day of leave. On a fixed roster the answer is obvious. Where hours vary, you look at the employment agreement, the roster history, how often they work that day, and what both parties intended — which is exactly why keeping past rosters and timesheets is worth the filing. It decides public holiday pay, alternative days and most leave payments.

Not by law. New Zealand has no award system, so any weekend, night or overtime premium comes from the employment agreement. The hard floor is the minimum wage — $23.95 an hour for adults and $19.16 for starting-out and training rates from 1 April 2026 — which must be met for every hour actually worked. Unpaid trial shifts and unpaid training are not lawful.

Yes, and in those words. The Employment Relations Act 2000 requires a wage and time record for every employee — the hours worked each day and each pay period, and what they were paid for them. The Holidays Act 2003 separately requires a holiday and leave record: leave taken, leave owing, and the payments made for it. This is a firmer duty than in Australia or the UK, where the obligation is inferred from minimum wage and working time rules rather than named.

At least six years, and you must be able to produce them on request. A labour inspector can ask for them. If you cannot produce them, section 132 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 lets the Employment Relations Authority accept as proved the claims the employee makes about their hours — which is the practical reason to keep the record, rather than the legal one.

The days the employee worked and the hours worked on each of those days, the wages paid and how they were calculated. Alongside it you must keep the employee’s name and postal address, their age if under 20, their start date, whether they are full-time, part-time or casual, the kind of work they do, a copy of the employment agreement and any wage deductions. Records can be paper or electronic provided they are easy to access — keeping them as digital HR records is what makes the six-year part survivable.

Yes. The Employment Leave Act 2026 replaces the Holidays Act 2003 on 6 August 2028, moving annual leave from a weeks-based entitlement to hours-based accrual from day one. That makes an accurate hours record more important, not less — accrual will be calculated from hours actually worked. Our Holidays Act leave calculator covers the current rules.