Working Hours and Overtime in Papua New Guinea

What Are The Standard Working Hours In Papua New Guinea?

An employee whose age is 16 or younger has a maximum of 6 hours per day and 30 hours per week. An employee whose age is 17 or older is allowed to work 44 hours per week. A minimum meal interval of 30 minutes must be observed by employees who work more than 5 hours in a day. In typical working hours, Monday through Friday, the hours are 8:00 to 16:30.

Maximum Working Hours In Papua New Guinea

Under the Employment Act, the standard limit for adult employees in Papua New Guinea is generally 8 hours per day and 44 hours per week, excluding meal breaks. You should structure rosters so that ordinary hours are spread over no more than 6 days in a week, with at least one full day reserved as a rest day. Any hours worked beyond these ordinary limits are treated as overtime and must follow the statutory rules.

Collective agreements or individual contracts can redistribute ordinary hours across the week, for example by using slightly longer days and a shorter day elsewhere, provided the 44-hour weekly ceiling is respected. You must clearly document agreed working hours in the employment contract and keep accurate time and attendance records to demonstrate compliance. Where flexible or shift arrangements are used, ensure that daily rest and weekly rest entitlements are not eroded.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

Companies hiring in sectors like healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, or hospitality may be subject to special scheduling rules that reflect operational needs. In Papua New Guinea, these sectors often rely on shift work, split shifts, and on-call arrangements, but you remain responsible for ensuring that total weekly hours and overtime rules are respected. You should also consider fatigue risks and provide additional rest where work is physically demanding or safety critical.

• Healthcare professionals may work 12-hour shifts with extended rest periods.
• Transport workers must comply with EU-aligned rest and driving limits.
• Manufacturing and security staff often rotate through night or weekend shifts.

Even in these sectors, you must ensure the average weekly limit is respected over a reference period. Where you introduce compressed workweeks or long shifts, confirm that employees still receive at least one full rest day per week and that overtime is paid at the correct statutory rate. Written rosters and clear communication are essential to avoid inadvertent breaches.

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managerial and supervisory employees in Papua New Guinea may be excluded from some working-time and overtime provisions, particularly where they have genuine autonomy over their hours and earn higher salaries. However, you should not assume that a job title alone creates an exemption, and you must assess the actual duties and level of control over scheduling. Where managers are treated as exempt, their contracts should clearly state that their remuneration covers reasonable additional hours.

Even for exempt staff, you retain a duty of care to prevent excessive working hours that could endanger health and safety. It is good practice to monitor workloads, discourage routinely long days, and ensure managers also benefit from weekly rest and annual leave. Transparent policies on availability outside normal hours can help prevent burnout and disputes.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, full-time employment is typically based on the statutory standard of 44 ordinary hours per week for adult employees. These hours are usually spread over 5 or 6 days, with daily shifts of around 8 hours plus an unpaid meal break. Any arrangement that significantly departs from this pattern should be clearly agreed in writing.

Part-time and casual employees may work fewer than 44 hours per week, but their ordinary hours and overtime triggers should still be defined in their contracts. Where you use variable or fluctuating hours, specify the normal expected hours and how additional hours will be requested and compensated. This reduces the risk of claims that regular extra hours should be treated as contractual.

Overtime Regulations In Papua New Guinea

Overtime in Papua New Guinea is tightly regulated, and you must obtain employee consent where required and keep accurate records of all hours worked beyond ordinary time. Failure to track overtime properly can lead to underpayment claims, penalties, and back-pay liabilities. You should implement clear policies and approval processes so that overtime is planned, authorized, and paid at the correct statutory rates.

What Counts As Overtime In Papua New Guinea?

For most adult employees, overtime is any time worked beyond 8 hours in a day or 44 hours in a week, whichever threshold is reached first. Work performed on the employee’s weekly rest day or on a public holiday is also treated as overtime, even if the 44-hour weekly limit has not yet been exceeded. You should define ordinary hours and overtime triggers explicitly in contracts and rosters so there is no ambiguity.

In practice, you should avoid relying on informal arrangements where employees stay late without recorded authorization, as these hours can still be claimed as overtime. Where shift systems operate, overtime is generally any work beyond the scheduled shift length or outside the agreed roster cycle. Ensure supervisors understand that asking staff to work beyond rostered hours will usually attract overtime obligations.

Maximum Overtime In Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea’s legislation does not prescribe a detailed numerical overtime cap comparable to some other jurisdictions, and there is effectively no fixed weekly or annual statutory overtime ceiling for adult workers. As a result, the practical limit is set by the ordinary 44-hour week plus any additional hours that can be justified without breaching health and safety obligations. In the absence of an explicit cap, you should adopt internal limits, such as not exceeding 12 total hours per day or 60 total hours per week, unless there is an emergency.

Where collective agreements or company policies set stricter caps, such as a maximum of 16 overtime hours per week or 200 overtime hours per year, those limits become binding on your operations. You should monitor overtime trends and require higher-level approval when an employee is expected to exceed your internal thresholds. If sustained high overtime is necessary, consider hiring additional staff or restructuring shifts to reduce risk.

Overtime Payout Rates In Papua New Guinea

Under the Employment Act in Papua New Guinea, overtime worked on ordinary working days must be paid at a minimum of 1.5x (150%) of the employee’s basic hourly rate. This 1.5x rate applies to hours beyond 8 per day or 44 per week, whichever is reached first, unless a more generous rate is provided in a contract or collective agreement. You may always choose to pay higher than 1.5x, but you cannot go below this statutory minimum.

For work performed on the employee’s weekly rest day or on a public holiday, the statutory minimum overtime rate is 2x (200%) of the basic hourly rate. If an employee both exceeds 44 hours in the week and works on a public holiday, you still apply at least the 2x rate for those holiday hours, not 1.5x. Ensure your payroll system is configured to distinguish between ordinary overtime at 1.5x and rest day or public holiday work at 2x so that employees are paid correctly.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, employees commonly work up to 8 hours per day and 44 hours per week, and rest periods are designed to protect health and productivity within this framework. During a standard workday, employees who work more than 5 hours must receive a meal break that does not count as working time. Over the week, daily and weekly rest entitlements must be scheduled so that total hours and overtime do not lead to fatigue.

• Meal Break: Employees who work more than 5 consecutive hours in Papua New Guinea must receive at least a 30-minute unpaid meal break, which should be scheduled roughly in the middle of the work period. You should ensure that operational demands do not routinely shorten or delay this break.
• Daily Rest: Employees are generally entitled to a continuous daily rest period of at least 10 to 12 hours between the end of one workday and the start of the next in Papua New Guinea. When planning shifts, avoid back-to-back scheduling that would reduce this rest window.
• Weekly Rest: Workers must receive at least one full rest day of 24 consecutive hours each week in Papua New Guinea, commonly on Sunday or another agreed day. If business needs require Sunday work, you should provide a substitute rest day within the same week.
• Minors: Young workers under 18 in Papua New Guinea should have shorter daily hours, more frequent breaks, and earlier finishing times than adults. You should avoid scheduling minors for night work or long consecutive days that could interfere with schooling or health.
• Employer Duty: Employers in Papua New Guinea are responsible for organizing work so that statutory breaks, daily rest, and weekly rest are actually taken. You should keep rosters and attendance records that demonstrate compliance and intervene if employees skip breaks to meet workload.

Night Shifts And Weekend Regulations In Papua New Guinea

Night and weekend work are legal in Papua New Guinea but they come with additional responsibilities for employers to manage fatigue, safety, and fair compensation. You should carefully assess whether staffing levels, supervision, and security are adequate during these periods. Written policies on night and weekend work help ensure consistent treatment across your workforce.

Night work in Papua New Guinea is commonly understood as work performed between 22:00 and 06:00, although specific definitions may be refined by contract or collective agreement. This time window often coincides with reduced public services and higher safety risks, so you should consider transport arrangements and emergency procedures. Not all roles will require night work, and you should clearly state night shift expectations in employment contracts.

• Premium Pay: Papua New Guinea law does not prescribe a specific statutory night work premium, so there is no mandated percentage such as 25% or 1.25x solely for night hours. In practice, many employers voluntarily pay a night shift allowance in the range of 10%–30% (1.10x–1.30x) of the basic hourly rate or provide a fixed nightly allowance, and you should document any such premium in the contract.
• Health Monitoring: While there is no detailed statutory schedule for medical checks, you are expected to manage health and safety risks for regular night workers in Papua New Guinea. This often includes offering periodic health assessments, monitoring fatigue-related incidents, and adjusting rosters if night work adversely affects an employee’s health.
• Workplace Restrictions: Minors under 18 in Papua New Guinea should generally not be employed on night shifts, especially in hazardous industries such as mining, construction, or security. Pregnant workers should be reassigned away from night work or heavy weekend shifts where reasonably practicable, based on medical advice and risk assessments.

Weekend work, particularly on Sundays, is permitted in Papua New Guinea but is usually treated as work on a rest day if Sunday is the designated weekly rest. When employees work on their weekly rest day, you must either provide a substitute 24-hour rest day in the same week or pay them at a premium rate, typically at least 2x (200%) of the basic hourly rate. Clearly specifying weekend expectations and premiums in contracts and rosters will help avoid disputes.