Quick Overview

• Mandatory overtime: a maximum of 8 hours per week and 150 hours per calendar year.
• Additional overtime: only with the employee’s consent.
• Overtime pay: at least 25%of average earnings in addition to the regular wage.
• Compensatory time off for overtime: may be arranged in lieu of the overtime premium and is granted in an amount equal to the overtime worked.
• Overtime must be ordered or at least approved by the employer: this does not necessarily have to be a written order.

Do you regularly stay at work longer, but don’t see the overtime on your pay stub? We’ll review your employment contract, time records, and how your wages are calculated to determine whether you are entitled to overtime pay. Describe your situation to us, and an attorney will recommend the next steps.

Rules for Overtime Work

According to the Labor Code, overtime refers to work performed by an employee at the employer’s direction or with the employer’s consent beyond the established weekly working hours (or outside the scope of the work shift schedule).

Contrary to popular belief, however, overtime may only be worked in exceptional cases. An employer may order overtime only for serious operational reasons, such as various campaigns, seasonal work, organizational changes, changes in production, and the like. In exceptional cases, it may also be ordered during the continuous rest period between two shifts, or even on non-working days.

Mandated overtime, however, has legal limits. For any given employee, it may not exceed eight hours per week or 150 hours per calendar year.

Overtime beyond this limit may only be worked if you, as the employee, consent to it. Even in such cases, the eight-hour weekly limit still applies; however, this limit is not calculated separately for each week but as an average over a specific period. This period may not exceed 26 consecutive weeks; alternatively, a collective bargaining agreement may extend this period to 52 weeks.

However, it’s not considered overtime if you arrange with your boss to take Tuesday afternoon off and make up the time on Wednesday evening, or if you fall behind because you were on the phone with your wife during work hours and then stay at work an extra hour. Therefore, it does not refer to any work performed for the employer outside of predetermined working hours, but only to work that the employer has ordered you to perform beyond the established weekly working hours, or for which you have at least received the employer’s consent. It is not necessary to formalize this consent in any way; a written form is certainly not required—a verbal agreement, or even a tacit one, is sufficient.

Different conditions apply to overtime for certain employees:

Overtime Work by Supervisory Employees

For managerial employees, the rules governing overtime pay differ primarily. It is possible to agree on a salary that already takes into account overtime work within the scope corresponding to the statutory total amount of overtime work. For a regular employee, a maximum of 150 hours of overtime per year may be factored into the salary in this manner.

However, it is essential that the amount of overtime included in the salary be agreed upon. It is therefore not sufficient for the employer to simply assume that a managerial employee has “overtime included in their salary.”

Overtime for Part-Time Employees

For employees with shorter work hours, overtime is work that exceeds the specified weekly work hours. However, please note that these employees cannot be required to work overtime.

For example, if you work a contracted 30-hour workweek, any work between 30 hours and your established weekly working hours does not yet constitute overtime for compensation purposes. You are only entitled to overtime pay for work exceeding your established weekly working hours, which is 40 hours per week for most employees, though it may be shorter for certain work schedules.

Overtime During Pregnancy and for New Parents

The Labor Code prohibits requiring pregnant employees to work overtime. Employees caring for a child under 1 year of age may also not be required to work overtime.

Overtime in the Healthcare Sector

Healthcare workers are also subject to the general overtime limits set forth in the Labor Code. The former provision regarding so-called “additional agreed-upon overtime” in the healthcare sector will no longer apply as of 2024.

However, the Labor Code allows certain employees of hospitals and emergency medical services, under specified conditions, to work a shift of up to 24 hours within a 26-hour consecutive period. The employee must consent to this in writing and must not be coerced into entering into such an agreement. In addition, for the 13th hour and every subsequent hour of such a shift, the employee is entitled to a premium of at least 20% of their average earnings to compensate for the increased workload.

How is overtime calculated?

Overtime is calculated based on the actual time worked in excess of the prescribed weekly working hours outside the scheduled work shifts, provided that the employer ordered the work or at least consented to it. It is therefore not sufficient simply to have stayed at the workplace longer of your own volition.

For each hour of overtime, you are generally entitled to the regular wage for that hour plus a premium of at least 25% of your average earnings. If you agree to take compensatory time off instead of the premium, you will receive time off equal to the amount of overtime worked.

Example: If an employee works two hours of overtime, they will receive their regular wage for both hours worked, plus a premium of at least 25% of their average earnings for each hour. If they agree with their employer to take compensatory time off instead of the premium, they will receive two hours of time off in lieu of the premium.

Overtime Pay

According to the Labor Code,“for the period of overtime work, an employee is entitled to the wages to which they are entitled for that period, and a premium of at least 25% of their average earnings, unless the employer and the employee have agreed that the employee will receive compensatory time off equivalent to the amount of overtime worked in lieu of the premium.”It is thus clear from the above that the employer and the employee may agree that, for overtime work, the employee will be granted compensatory time off instead of an overtime premium.

Compensatory Time Off for Overtime

Compensatory time off for overtime is not something an employer can unilaterally choose in lieu of overtime pay—the employee and employer must agree to it. The time off is granted in the same amount as the overtime you worked.

Your employer must grant you this time off within three calendar months after the overtime was worked, unless you agree on a different timeframe. If your employer fails to grant you compensatory time off within this period, you are entitled to an overtime premium.

However, wages can be agreed upon with overtime already factored in (up to 150 hours for regular employees, and the full amount—that is, up to 416 hours—for managers), in which case the employee cannot claim any compensation for overtime work. This option for the employer to require work without adequate compensation does not apply when the salary is agreed upon in the form of a salary determination.
The employer must therefore decide which option is more advantageous: whether to agree with the employee on a specific wage that already includes overtime, or to unilaterally determine the wage amount via a wage determination and pay for overtime separately. If you are unsure whether your salary already includes overtime or whether you are being paid correctly for your overtime, simply consult an attorney who can help you determine what you are entitled to.

Example: Mr. Martin contacted us to ask for an assessment of his situation. His employer was assigning him a heavy workload that Mr. Martin could not complete during regular working hours. So he always told his employer that he was staying late to “finish those reports, prepare the required spreadsheets,” and so on. Since this willingness was not reflected in his paycheck, even though his salary was set by a pay scale, Mr. Martin asked his boss directly about overtime pay. His boss was surprised, stating that he had not ordered any overtime and viewed it as Mr. Martin’s voluntary effort and diligence. He had no intention of paying for the overtime.

Mr. Martin turned to us for advice. We advised him that if he could prove that his employer had ordered him to perform the work in question, that it was not possible to complete it within a standard 8-hour workday, and that, furthermore, he had de facto reported the extra hours and his employer had tacitly approved them, then the work in question should be considered mandated overtime.

However, if an employer assigns work that an average person objectively cannot complete by the end of the workday, it constitutes overtime. He approached his employer again with a printed copy of the attorney’s statement, and his boss eventually paid him in full for the overtime.

Does your employer claim they didn’t know about your overtime? In disputes like this, concrete evidence often makes the difference. A lawyer can review your time records, communications with your employer, and your employment contract to determine whether you can substantiate your claim for overtime pay.

What if your employer doesn’t pay for the overtime?

If your employer has not paid you for overtime, first verify whether the overtime was already validly included in your agreed-upon salary. If not, gather evidence showing when you worked beyond your scheduled shift and that your employer was aware of it or directly ordered you to work those hours.

The following can be particularly helpful:

• time sheets,
• emails and messages with your supervisor,
• the time-and-attendance system,
• work reports,
• testimonies from coworkers.

Then, send a written request to your employer demanding payment of the outstanding wages and overtime pay. If they refuse, you can pursue your claim through legal channels.

Can I refuse to work overtime?

If an employer orders overtime within the limits of the law and has serious operational reasons for doing so, the employee is generally required to work it. However, this applies only to overtime that the employer can unilaterally require—that is, a maximum of 8 hours per week and 150 hours per calendar year.

The employer cannot require overtime beyond the annual limit of 150 hours without your consent. Additionally, special protections apply, for example, to pregnant employees or employees caring for a child under one year of age.

Summary

Overtime must be ordered or at least approved by the employer and may only be worked in exceptional cases. An employer may unilaterally require a maximum of 8 hours of overtime in a single week and 150 hours per calendar year; any additional overtime is permitted only by mutual agreement. For overtime work, you are generally entitled to your regular wages plus a premium of at least 25% of your average earnings; alternatively, you may agree to compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay. For part-time positions, overtime is considered to have been worked only after the established weekly working hours have been exceeded. If the employer does not recognize the overtime, it is essential to have evidence of the hours worked and proof that the employer ordered the work or was aware of it.