Nova Scotia restaurant labor laws

Nova Scotia: overtime after 48h a week, $16.75 minimum wage, 30-min meal break after 5h, night limits for minors. Every figure sourced.

The figures ShiftNivo schedules against in Nova Scotia, read from the source linked at the bottom of this page.

Updated September 21, 2026

Start with Nova Scotia's rules loaded →No credit card. Free during early access.

What the engine does not model here

Overtime is 1.5x the minimum wage, not 1.5x the employee's own rate.

Overtime

Daily: No separate rule*
Weekly: after 48h · 1.5×
Double time: No separate rule*

Overtime is calculated on the statutory minimum where a wage falls below it.

Rest between shifts: No separate rule*
Eating period: 30 min after 5h
Minimum wage: $16.75since 2026-04-01
Default time zone: America/Halifax

* “No separate rule” means the engine does not enforce one here. That is not the same as saying the jurisdiction has none.

Public holidays · 6

Canada DayJuly 1premium pay
Christmas DayDecember 25premium pay
Good Friday2 days before Easterpremium pay
Nova Scotia Heritage Daythird Monday in Februarypremium pay
Labour Dayfirst Monday in Septemberpremium pay
New Year's DayJanuary 1premium pay

Youth hours

The bands the product checks for Nova Scotia, read from the jurisdiction's own source. Permits, supervision and exemptions sit underneath every band, and each one says what is not checked.

Under 14
School day
3h
Non-school day
8h
Not between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
School and work together may not exceed 8 hours in a day. More than 3 hours on a school day needs a certificate under the Education Act.
Ages 14 to 15
No hour or night limit
A 14- or 15-year-old may work in a restaurant only if they do not operate cooking equipment and have had safety training on everything they do use. Guidance also describes a 10 pm to 6 am limit at this age; it is not in the Code's under-14 provision and is not checked here.

Source: novascotia.ca/lae/employmentrights/children.asp

Minors →

What ShiftNivo checks for you here

Overtime after 48 hours in a week, priced as you build, with a warning four hours before anyone crosses it.
A shift longer than 5 hours without its 30-minute eating period.
Workers under 18: the minimum age, the hours in a day and in a week, and the evening limit, read from a birth date and marked as errors, not warnings.
6 public holidays, each flagged the week before it arrives and priced at its premium, split at midnight.
Everywhere: double bookings, approved time off, and shifts outside the hours someone said they can work.

Start with Nova Scotia's rules loaded →

Next door

The rules one border over, for a second location or a team that crosses it.

The federal standard: Federal (Canada Labour Code) →All 66 jurisdictions →

This is reference data, not legal advice.

Every figure on this page was read from the source linked beside it and carries the date it took effect. Minimum wages are indexed once or twice a year in most jurisdictions — usually on 1 April or 1 October — so this table is reviewed on a schedule rather than when somebody notices.

Employment standards change, and a restaurant's obligations depend on facts no software can see: an exemption, a collective agreement, a municipal ordinance, the particular job somebody does. Some rules are deliberately not modeled, and where that is true this page says which.

Treat these figures as a starting point. Confirm them against the source before relying on them for pay, and take advice about your own situation.

Found something wrong? Corrections get fixed first. hello@shiftnivo.com

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