Overtime

What it means

Overtime is work beyond the set weekly working time, ordered by the employer or agreed with the employee. It must answer a temporary, pressing need rather than a permanent state.

The law caps it: only a limited number of hours may be ordered per year, and the total including agreed hours is capped too. Special rules apply to managerial staff.

Not every extra hour is overtime. A part-time employee who works beyond the agreed hours but still below full weekly working time is not working overtime; the employer cannot order such work, only agree it. Nor is standby duty itself overtime until the employee actually starts working during it.

How it works in practice

Overtime is paid as wages plus a premium, or taken as time off in lieu if agreed. Records are always the basis: without them nobody can prove what was worked.

Systematic overtime signals a capacity problem, not flexibility. In cost terms it is dearer than another employee, once premiums and the errors of tired people are counted.

For seasonal swings we suggest clients consider a working time account instead of overtime. Hours worked at the peak are balanced by time off in the quieter period, the employee receives the same pay throughout, and the company pays no premium for each extra hour. It has to be introduced under the Labour Code rules, not by a verbal understanding.

What to watch out for

Pay "inclusive of overtime" is only possible within the limits the law allows. Otherwise the employee gets the premiums anyway, retrospectively, with contributions and a recalculation of average earnings.

Overtime also counts against rest: between shifts and once a week the employee must have uninterrupted rest of the statutory length. Where the records show overtime cutting into it, the labour inspectorate imposes a fine even if every hour was honestly paid with the premium.