Meal Breaks & Rest Pauses
Clause 27.1 of the SCHADS Award governs unpaid meal breaks for shifts longer than five hours. Knowing when the break is owed — and what happens when it is worked through — is vital for fatigue management and for not triggering overtime by accident.
Quick Facts
- Meal Break
- 30–60 mins, unpaid (cl.27.1(a))
- Tea Break
- 10 mins (paid)
- Trigger
- In excess of 5 continuous hours
- Worked Through
- All time post-5h at OT rates (cl.27.1(b))
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The 5-Hour Rule (cl.27.1(a))
An employee who works **in excess of 5 continuous hours** is entitled to an unpaid meal break of **not less than 30 minutes and not more than 60 minutes**, taken at a mutually agreed time after commencing work.
The cap matters: a "meal break" longer than 60 minutes does not count as an unpaid meal break under cl.27.1 — and it may instead trigger broken-shift treatment under cl.25.6. This is the structural reason a 60-minute threshold cleanly separates meal breaks from broken-shift gaps.
The cap matters: a "meal break" longer than 60 minutes does not count as an unpaid meal break under cl.27.1 — and it may instead trigger broken-shift treatment under cl.25.6. This is the structural reason a 60-minute threshold cleanly separates meal breaks from broken-shift gaps.
Worked through the break (cl.27.1(b))
If the employee is required to work through the meal break and continuously thereafter, **all time worked until the break is taken must be paid at overtime rates**. This is not optional — every minute past the 5-hour mark is OT until the break starts.
The practical implication: if a roster doesn't include a break, every shift longer than 5 hours generates OT exposure. Many providers under-pay here because their payroll system treats the shift as ordinary hours and never flags the missing break.
The practical implication: if a roster doesn't include a break, every shift longer than 5 hours generates OT exposure. Many providers under-pay here because their payroll system treats the shift as ordinary hours and never flags the missing break.
Eating with a client (cl.27.1(c))
There is a narrow exception. If the employee is **required by the employer to have a meal with a client** as part of the normal work routine — for example, eating with a participant as part of social support — that paid meal counts as time worked, and clause 27.1(a) does not apply.
This requires explicit notation. Where the timesheet doesn't flag the exception, the default position is that the cl.27.1(a) meal break is owed.
This requires explicit notation. Where the timesheet doesn't flag the exception, the default position is that the cl.27.1(a) meal break is owed.
Rest Pauses (Tea Breaks)
Employees working 4 hours or more are usually entitled to a paid 10-minute tea break. Unlike the meal break, this counts as time worked and is paid. It does not satisfy cl.27.1(a) — a paid 10-minute tea break and the unpaid 30–60 minute meal break are separate entitlements.
Meal break vs broken shift gap
A meal break and a broken-shift gap are not the same thing.
A **meal break** is a 30–60 minute unpaid period inside a continuous shift, taken after agreement, capped at 60 minutes by cl.27.1. The shift remains one continuous engagement.
A **broken shift** under cl.25.6 is two or more separate periods of work in the same day separated by an unpaid gap that is **not a meal break** — typically a gap exceeding 60 minutes. A morning shift and an evening shift with a 3-hour unpaid gap is a broken shift; a 45-minute lunch break inside a 7-hour shift is not. The cl.27.1 60-minute cap is what enables clean separation between the two regimes — a single rule that prevents a meal break from accidentally being treated as a broken shift, or a broken-shift gap from being disguised as a long meal break.
A **meal break** is a 30–60 minute unpaid period inside a continuous shift, taken after agreement, capped at 60 minutes by cl.27.1. The shift remains one continuous engagement.
A **broken shift** under cl.25.6 is two or more separate periods of work in the same day separated by an unpaid gap that is **not a meal break** — typically a gap exceeding 60 minutes. A morning shift and an evening shift with a 3-hour unpaid gap is a broken shift; a 45-minute lunch break inside a 7-hour shift is not. The cl.27.1 60-minute cap is what enables clean separation between the two regimes — a single rule that prevents a meal break from accidentally being treated as a broken shift, or a broken-shift gap from being disguised as a long meal break.
Common errors
Audit findings cluster around three issues: rosters that schedule no break at all on shifts longer than 5 hours (every minute post-5h becomes OT-payable); meal breaks recorded as 90 minutes to "be generous", which can convert the shift to a broken-shift roster and pull cl.25.6 into play; and exports that simply don't record breaks. Where the export genuinely has no break column, the conservative position is to treat the absence as inconclusive rather than as proof a break was taken — but where start-to-end times show a strictly continuous block longer than 5 hours, the cl.27.1 breach is on the record.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I eat lunch with my client?
- If you are required by the employer to eat with a client as part of social support, that is considered working time and must be paid — cl.27.1(c) treats it as time worked and the unpaid meal break rule does not apply.
- What if my shift is exactly 5 hours?
- Clause 27.1(a) triggers when an employee works "in excess of" 5 continuous hours. A shift of exactly 5 hours does not on its own trigger the unpaid meal break entitlement.
- What happens if my employer doesn't give me a break on a 7-hour shift?
- Every minute worked past the 5-hour mark must be paid at overtime rates under cl.27.1(b) until the break is taken. If no break is taken at all, the full post-5h period is OT-payable.
- Is a long meal break the same as a broken shift?
- No. Clause 27.1 caps unpaid meal breaks at 60 minutes. A gap longer than 60 minutes is not a meal break — it is a broken-shift gap under cl.25.6, with separate allowance and 12-hour spread rules.
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