Meal and rest breaks

Meal and rest breaks are the pauses an employee is entitled to during a shift — and in Australia, the rules live in modern awards and enterprise agreements, not the National Employment Standards. That means the right answer is always "check your award": when a break is due, how long it is, and whether it's paid all vary by industry.

The two kinds of break

• Rest breaks (often called tea breaks) are short — typically ten minutes or so — and usually paid, counting as time worked.
• Meal breaks are longer — commonly thirty to sixty minutes — and usually unpaid, with the employee free of duties.

Awards generally key breaks to shift length: work more than a set number of hours and a meal break becomes due, with rest breaks added as shifts get longer. Some awards — hospitality is the classic example — also say that if an employee isn't given their meal break on time, a higher rate applies until they get it. A break skipped to cover the lunch rush can quietly become a penalty-rate issue.

Rostering breaks well

Breaks are also a fatigue and safety matter under work health and safety law, and a respect matter in practice. Build them into the roster rather than hoping they happen, and make sure unpaid meal breaks are genuinely work-free — a sandwich eaten at the till is time worked.

Break clauses of the applicable modern award or enterprise agreement under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) — see the Fair Work Ombudsman's guidance on breaks.

Related terms

• Broken shift
• Hospitality Award (HIGA)
• SCHADS Award