Key takeaways
- Part 4 of the Employment Act sets the rules on hours, overtime and rest days. It covers workmen earning a basic monthly salary of $4,500 or less and other employees earning $2,600 or less. It does not cover managers or executives.
- Normal contractual hours are up to 44 a week: up to 9 hours a day if staff work 5 days or fewer, or up to 8 hours a day if they work more than 5 days.
- Overtime is paid at no less than 1.5 times the hourly basic rate, within 14 days after the salary period ends. Staff can do no more than 72 overtime hours a month and, with limited exceptions, no more than 12 hours of work a day.
- Every covered employee gets one rest day a week, with no more than 12 days between rest days. If the rest day isn’t Sunday, publish a monthly roster.
Last checked against Ministry of Manpower (MOM) pages: September 2026. This is a practical guide, not legal advice. For a specific case, check with MOM or an employment lawyer.
Who the Employment Act covers in an F&B business
MOM’s Employment Act coverage page says the Act covers every employee working under a contract of service with an employer, both local and foreign. That includes full-time, part-time, temporary and contract staff, whether they are paid by the hour, the day, the month or at piece rates. The main exclusions are seafarers, domestic workers, and civil servants or statutory board employees.
So your cooks, kitchen assistants, dishwashers, service crew, baristas and cashiers are almost certainly covered by the Act. The question that matters for working hours and overtime pay in Singapore is narrower: are they covered by Part 4?
Part 4: the salary limits that decide overtime and rest-day rights
Part 4 of the Employment Act deals with rest days, hours of work and other conditions of service. According to MOM, it applies only to:
- a workman (someone doing mainly manual work) earning a monthly basic salary of $4,500 or less, and
- any other employee covered by the Act earning a monthly basic salary of $2,600 or less.
Basic salary here excludes overtime, bonuses, the annual wage supplement, productivity incentives, reimbursements and all allowances. So a service crew member on a $2,400 basic salary plus a $300 meal and transport allowance is still under the $2,600 line.
MOM describes a workman as someone whose work involves mainly manual labour. That includes someone who supervises manual workers but also does manual work for more than half of their working time. The Act’s First Schedule also names specific jobs, such as cleaners and labourers. Many kitchen roles are hands-on, but job titles don’t decide classification: the actual duties do. A head chef who spends most of the shift cooking may be treated differently from one who mostly plans menus and manages staff. If you’re unsure, use the self-assessment tool linked from MOM’s page and keep a written job description for each role.
Managers and executives are outside Part 4. MOM says these are employees with executive and supervisory functions, such as making decisions on hiring, discipline, performance and pay, or running the business. For them, hours and overtime depend on the employment contract. A “supervisor” title alone doesn’t take someone out of Part 4.
Normal hours of work and break times
MOM’s hours of work, overtime and rest day page sets out the main limits for employees covered by Part 4. A week runs from Monday to Sunday. “Hours of work” means the time staff are expected to be on duty. It excludes rest and meal intervals, and employers don’t have to pay for those breaks.
| Work pattern | Contractual hours allowed |
|---|---|
| 5 days or fewer a week | Up to 9 hours a day or 44 hours a week |
| More than 5 days a week | Up to 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week |
| Under 44 hours every alternate week | Up to 48 hours a week, capped at 88 hours in any continuous 2-week period |
| Shift work of up to 12 hours a day | An average of up to 44 hours over any continuous 3-week period |
On breaks, MOM says employees should generally not work more than 6 consecutive hours without a break. If the work needs continuous attention for up to 8 hours, you must still provide meal breaks totalling at least 45 minutes. In a kitchen, plan staggered breaks so the line never runs empty during service.
If a non-shift employee agrees to work up to 12 hours a day while averaging no more than 44 hours over 3 weeks, MOM lists extra conditions. The employee must consent in writing and have the relevant sections of the Act explained. They must also be told their daily hours, working days and weekly rest day.
Split shifts and long service days
Split shifts are common in restaurants: a lunch block, a long afternoon gap, then dinner. MOM’s hours-of-work page sets out the general rules above but doesn’t describe split shifts in detail. Two points follow from what MOM does say. First, a genuine rest interval, when staff are free to leave and aren’t on call, is not counted as hours of work. Second, the daily and weekly limits and the 12-hour daily maximum still apply to the hours actually worked.
Where it gets grey is the unpaid gap itself. If staff are asked to prep, receive deliveries or “stay nearby” during the gap, that time may count as work. Before you build a roster around long split shifts, check with MOM how the Act applies to your pattern, and put the arrangement in the employment contract. Our guide to building an F&B staff roster covers practical shift patterns.
Overtime pay: how to calculate it
MOM defines overtime as all work beyond the normal hours of work, excluding breaks. Employees covered by Part 4 can claim overtime. The key rules are:
- The rate is at least 1.5 times the hourly basic rate of pay.
- Overtime must be paid within 14 days after the last day of the salary period.
- For non-workmen, the overtime rate is capped at the $2,600 salary level, which MOM gives as an hourly rate of $13.60.
For a monthly-rated employee, MOM’s formula for the hourly basic rate is (12 × monthly basic salary) ÷ (52 × 44). For daily-rated staff, it is the daily basic pay divided by the working hours per day. For piece-rated staff, it is the total weekly basic pay divided by total hours worked that week.
| Example | Hourly basic rate | Overtime pay |
|---|---|---|
| Non-workman, $2,600 basic, 2 hours overtime (MOM’s own example) | $13.60 | $13.60 × 1.5 × 2 = $40.80 |
| Kitchen assistant on $2,300 basic, 10 hours overtime in the month | (12 × 2,300) ÷ 2,288 = about $12.06 | $12.06 × 1.5 × 10 = about $180.90 |
The second row is our illustration using MOM’s formula; round according to your payroll policy and check the result with MOM’s overtime calculator.
Two MOM FAQs trip up many F&B owners. The first says you can’t replace overtime pay with time off for employees under Part 4. The second says overtime pay applies when the employer requires the work, and encourages employers to state their overtime policy clearly. In practice, if a manager lets the closing team run late every night, that is hard to describe as unrequired. Write down who can approve overtime, and record it. Our comparison of scheduling apps for F&B shift work looks at overtime flags.
Daily and monthly limits on overtime
MOM says an employee must not work more than 12 hours a day. The exceptions are narrow: an accident or threat of one, work essential to the life of the community, defence or security, urgent work on machinery or plant, and an interruption of work that could not be foreseen. A busy Saturday isn’t one of them.
Overtime is capped at 72 hours a month. Work on a rest day or public holiday is not counted towards the 72 hours, except for hours worked beyond the usual daily hours on those days. Those extra hours count.
If you genuinely need more, you can apply for an overtime exemption. MOM asks employers to apply at least 3 months before the overtime starts and says processing takes about 30 working days. You’ll need acknowledgement forms signed by affected employees, a risk register endorsed by an approved workplace safety and health auditor, union consent if you are unionised, pay slips and time records for 5 employees covering the last 3 months, and evidence of what you’ve done to reduce overtime. That last requirement is a strong hint: MOM expects exemptions to be a stopgap, not a staffing model.
Rest days and rest-day pay
Under Part 4, you must give one rest day a week. It is a whole day from midnight to midnight, and it is unpaid. For shift workers, it can be a continuous 30-hour period instead. You decide which day it is. If it isn’t Sunday, MOM says you should prepare a monthly roster and tell staff their rest days before the month starts. The maximum gap between two rest days is 12 days, so you can pair rest days at the end of one week and the start of the next, but no more than that.
You can’t compel staff to work on their rest day except in exceptional circumstances. If they do work, MOM sets the pay as follows:
| Work done on a rest day | At the employer’s request | At the employee’s request |
|---|---|---|
| Up to half the normal daily hours | 1 day’s salary | Half a day’s salary |
| More than half the normal daily hours | 2 days’ salary | 1 day’s salary |
| Beyond the normal daily hours | 2 days’ salary plus overtime pay | 1 day’s salary plus overtime pay |
Public holidays have their own rules, which MOM covers on a separate page.
Part-time staff and overtime
F&B relies on part-timers. MOM’s coverage page says anyone working under 35 hours a week is a part-time employee under the Employment of Part-Time Employees Regulations. MOM’s part-time employment section explains how rest days, public holidays, leave and overtime are pro-rated.
For overtime, MOM’s part-time overtime page uses two tiers. Hours beyond the part-timer’s own daily hours, but still below a comparable full-timer’s normal hours, are paid at the hourly basic rate. Hours beyond the full-timer’s normal hours are paid at 1.5 times. MOM’s example: a part-timer on $5 an hour who normally works 4 hours, with full-timers on 8 hours, works 9 hours. Pay for the extra time is (4 × $5) + (1 × $5 × 1.5) = $27.50.
Keep records and roster to control overtime
Overtime disputes usually come down to records. MOM’s overtime exemption process asks for pay slips and time records, which tells you what it expects employers to keep. A few habits help:
- Record actual hours, not rostered hours. Clock-in and clock-out times should match reality, including late closes.
- Approve overtime in advance. Name who can authorise it and log each approval.
- Roster to sales. Use hourly sales from your POS to staff up for peaks and cut dead hours. Our POS reports page shows the reports that help.
- Track labour cost as a share of sales each week, not just at month-end. See our guides to restaurant labour cost and building a wage budget.
- Fix chronic overtime with hiring. If the same people hit 60-plus overtime hours every month, you’re short-staffed. Our guide to hiring F&B staff covers where to find people.
ChaChaCha, powered by AppsPOS, gives each staff member their own login with staff permissions, and its reports show sales by hour and by staff. That makes it easier to match rosters to real demand. If you want shift clocking or rostering handled in the same system, ask us to confirm what’s available for your set-up. You can talk to our team for a walkthrough.
