Employment Relations Act 2000, ss 69ZEA, 69ZEB
Some workers involved in essential services don’t have the right to the set break times set out above. This includes hospital and ambulance staff, and workers involved with electricity, sewage and water supplies. The exceptions also apply to jobs that involve national security.
In these cases, you can agree with your employer that you’ll take your breaks at different times or in a different way. If you can’t come to an agreement on this, then your employer has to give you some kind of compensation for not having the breaks that workers in non-essential services get. This compensation could be extra money, or it might be an arrangement like letting you start work later or finish earlier.