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New Zealand Overtime Rules: No Statutory Premium, Public Holiday Pay, and the Hours Record That Decides Both (2026)

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New Zealand Overtime Rules: No Statutory Premium, Public Holiday Pay, and the Hours Record That Decides Both (2026)

The short answer: New Zealand law does not require a higher rate for overtime. An employer can pay ordinary time for hour 41 and be inside the law, unless the employment agreement says otherwise. What the law does require is stricter than it looks: at least the minimum wage for every hour worked, time and a half on public holidays, paid rest breaks, and a record of the hours worked each day, kept for six years. Every one of those rules runs on the same input. Exact hours, per person, per day. That is what Punch records every time someone punches in.

This guide is the New Zealand companion to our Australia, UK, and Canada overtime guides. The rules are lighter on premiums and heavier on proof.

There Is No Statutory Overtime Rate

Owners who move between Australia and New Zealand are often surprised by this. Australia's modern awards set penalty rates in detail. New Zealand has no general equivalent. There is no national law that says hours beyond 40, or beyond 8 in a day, must be paid at time and a half.

Overtime pay in New Zealand comes from two places:

  • The employment agreement. If the individual or collective agreement sets an overtime rate, that rate is binding. Many trade and construction agreements do.
  • The minimum wage. Every hour worked, overtime included, must be paid at least the minimum wage.

The Employment Relations Act does address hours. Employment agreements must fix the maximum hours of work at no more than 40 per week unless the parties agree otherwise. That is a scheduling rule, not a pay trigger. A crew can work 46 hours by agreement, and the six extra hours can be paid at ordinary time, provided nothing in the agreement says otherwise.

If you offer an overtime rate, write it into the agreement with the threshold that triggers it. Then pay it every time, because an agreed rate is as enforceable as a statutory one.

The Minimum Wage Applies to Every Hour, Salaried Staff Included

From 1 April 2026, New Zealand's adult minimum wage is NZ$23.95 an hour, up from NZ$23.50. The starting-out and training minimum wage is NZ$19.16, up from NZ$18.80.

The rule that catches small employers is not the rate. It is the coverage. The minimum wage must be met for all time worked, normal hours and overtime alike. A salaried employee on a fixed weekly amount is still owed the minimum for every hour they work.

Example. A site supervisor is paid NZ$1,000 a week. In a normal 40-hour week that is NZ$25.00 an hour, comfortably above the floor. During a deadline push she works 44 hours. NZ$1,000 divided by 44 is about NZ$22.73 an hour, below NZ$23.95. That week is now short, and the employer owes the difference.

You cannot see that shortfall in a payroll system that only knows the salary. You can only see it in a record of the hours. The same logic is why we argue that even salaried staff should be tracked, covered in do salaried employees have to track hours.

Public Holidays: Time and a Half, Plus a Day Back

New Zealand has 12 public holidays a year, Matariki included. This is where the premium New Zealand law does set lives.

Under the Holidays Act 2003:

  • An employee who works on a public holiday must be paid at least time and a half for the hours worked that day.
  • If the public holiday falls on a day that would otherwise be a working day for them, they also get an alternative holiday: a paid day off to take later. If you cannot agree on when, the employer can set the day, but only with 14 days' notice and only if the choice is reasonable.
  • An employee can only be required to work a public holiday if it falls on a day they would normally work and their employment agreement says they may be required to work public holidays.

Two facts decide every one of these questions: whether the person worked on the date, and how many hours. A punch in at 6:52 a.m. on Waitangi Day and a punch out at 3:10 p.m. settles both. A note that says "Dave did a half day on the holiday" settles neither.

Rest and Meal Breaks Are Partly Paid Time

New Zealand sets a minimum break pattern by the length of the work period:

  • 2 to 4 hours: one paid 10-minute rest break.
  • 4 to 6 hours: one paid 10-minute rest break and one 30-minute meal break.
  • 6 to 10 hours: two paid 10-minute rest breaks and one 30-minute meal break.

Rest breaks are paid. The meal break does not have to be. That split matters for the hours total. A crew member who works 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with a 30-minute unpaid lunch has worked 8 hours, and both 10-minute rest breaks sit inside those 8 paid hours.

The clean way to handle it is to keep rest breaks inside the shift and record the unpaid meal break as its own punch. An assumed lunch deduction is how hours go missing. We cover that risk in automatic lunch deductions.

Six Years of Wage and Time Records

Every New Zealand employer must keep wage and time records showing the days each employee worked and the number of hours worked on those days, plus the wages paid each pay period and how they were calculated. Those records must be kept for six years, even after the employee has left.

The penalties are not symbolic. A Labour Inspector can issue an infringement notice of NZ$1,000 per offence. The Employment Relations Authority can order penalties of up to NZ$10,000 per breach for an individual employer and up to NZ$20,000 per breach for a company.

A weekly total does not meet the standard. The law asks for hours by day, which is a record of when each day started and ended.

The Employment Leave Act Makes Hours Even More Central

In July 2026, Parliament passed the Employment Leave Bill, which replaces the Holidays Act 2003. A 24-month implementation period runs before it takes effect, and the existing Holidays Act rules continue to apply until then.

The new model is built on hours worked:

  • Annual leave accrues in hours from day one, at a minimum of 0.0769 hours per hour worked, which works out to four weeks a year for someone on steady hours.
  • Sick leave accrues at 0.0385 hours per hour worked, capped at 160 hours, so part-time staff earn it in proportion to the hours they work.

Under that system, a leave balance is a direct function of the hours record. An hour that was never punched is an hour of leave that was never accrued. Employers who start capturing exact hours now will have two years of clean data in hand on the day the new rules switch on.

Why Punch Is Built for This

Every New Zealand rule above resolves to the same question: what hours did this person work, on which day. Punch answers it at the source.

  • New Zealand is a supported country. Pick it when you create your workspace and Punch sets NZ$ currency and the New Zealand overtime preset, which starts from the Employment Relations Act position of no statutory premium. If your agreement sets an overtime rate, enter your own threshold and multiplier and Punch applies it.
  • Exact punch in and punch out times, with no rounding, so the minimum wage check on a salaried week is arithmetic, not an estimate.
  • Lunch punched separately, so the unpaid meal break is a recorded fact and paid rest breaks stay inside the shift.
  • Split shifts, for days that break in the middle and resume later.
  • Weekly or bi-weekly pay periods, with manager approvals and bulk approve or reject before anything is paid.
  • PTO and time-off requests with balances managers can see before they approve.
  • Reports and exports, including a QuickBooks Online integration, QuickBooks and Excel CSV exports, and a Square integration, so the hours that prove a public holiday or a salaried shortfall land in payroll as they were worked.
  • Offline punching for rural sites with no signal, and a shared-iPad kiosk with PIN for depots and workshops.
  • A geofenced punch in, never a camera in your crew's face. Punch does not do photo-at-punch or facial recognition. A job site boundary confirms location without turning a punch into surveillance. Punch out and lunch are never gated by location.

Pricing is flat per workspace, not per worker. Owners are always free, and every plan includes every feature. Per-seat tools like Connecteam, Homebase, and QuickBooks Time charge again for every person you add and hold features back for higher tiers. Punch gives a five-person crew in Tauranga the same product as a fifty-person firm in Auckland.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have to pay overtime in New Zealand?

There is no general legal requirement to pay a higher rate for overtime. An overtime rate is owed only if the employment agreement sets one. Every overtime hour must still be paid at least the minimum wage.

What is the minimum wage in New Zealand in 2026?

From 1 April 2026, the adult minimum wage is NZ$23.95 an hour. The starting-out and training minimum wage is NZ$19.16 an hour.

What do I pay an employee who works a public holiday?

At least time and a half for the hours worked. If the holiday falls on a day that would otherwise be a working day for them, they also get a paid alternative holiday to take later.

Are rest breaks paid in New Zealand?

Yes. Rest breaks of 10 minutes are paid. The 30-minute meal break does not have to be paid.

How long do I have to keep time records in New Zealand?

Six years, even after the employee leaves. Time records must show the days worked and the hours worked on each of those days.

When does the Employment Leave Act take effect?

It passed in July 2026 with a 24-month implementation period. The Holidays Act 2003 rules apply until the new system starts.

Keep the Record the Law Assumes You Have

New Zealand asks less of employers on overtime premiums and more on proof. Minimum wage for every hour, time and a half on public holidays, paid rest breaks, six years of daily records, and soon, leave that accrues by the hour. None of it works without an exact hours record.

Punch writes that record every time someone punches in, with New Zealand currency and overtime settings built in, approvals before payroll, and exports that go straight to QuickBooks or Square. Flat pricing per workspace, every feature on every plan. The 14-day free trial starts on signup, no credit card required.

Start tracking hours the New Zealand way with Punch →

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