What is overtime?
Overtime is time worked beyond the hours agreed in the employment contract or collective agreement, or beyond a legal threshold. It is usually paid at a higher rate, or compensated with time off in lieu.
Where the threshold comes from
What counts as overtime depends on the rule that sets the normal hours. In many countries that is the contract or the collective agreement, not the law. A contract of 38 hours per week can make hour 39 overtime, while a collective agreement may only count hours above 40, or above 9 hours on a single day. In France, the legal working week of 35 hours is the threshold for overtime, not a maximum. In Spain, overtime is capped at 80 hours per year.
Overtime is different from working-time limits. Overtime is a pay question; maximum working time and rest periods are health and safety rules. A shift can be paid as overtime and still be legal, or stay within normal hours and still break a rest rule.
Calculating and tracking overtime
To calculate overtime you need accurate hours per day and per week, the threshold that applies and the multiplier. Example: with a 40-hour threshold and 46 hours worked, 6 hours are overtime. At a 125% rate and €20 per hour, those 6 hours pay €150 instead of €120.
TimeTracking totals hours per day and per week, applies overtime and allowance rules from the rule engine and passes the result to payroll in the export. Planners see expected overtime in the roster before it happens.
Related pages
France
Code du travail: 35-hour legal week (overtime threshold), at most 10 hours per day and 48 per week, 20-minute break after 6 hours, 11 hours of daily rest.
Spain
Estatuto de los Trabajadores: 40 hours per week on average, 12 hours between working days and a mandatory daily time record kept for 4 years.
Rest time
The legal minimum of uninterrupted time off between two working days and within each week.
Overtime calculator
Split hours into regular time and overtime per week or per day, with pay at 1.5x or 2x.
Payroll exports
Approved hours out in the format payroll expects. SD Worx-format and configurable CSV/XLSX today.
Shift allowance (ORT)
Extra pay for hours worked at inconvenient times such as evenings, nights, weekends or public holidays; in the Netherlands called ORT.
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