Overtime – what is it and what are your rights? 
Overtime is working beyond the statutory working hours. Additional pay is due for overtime work. In this article you will learn more about the provisions of the Labor Protection Act.
The starting point for time employee's work is the working time agreed in the contract. For an employer to order overtime work, there must be a special and time-limited need, see § 10-6 para. 1 Labor Protection Act. Working overtime should therefore not be a permanent solution.
Working time and standard working time
Before explaining what overtime is, it is necessary to clarify two concepts, namely working time specified in the contract and standard working time: The working time specified in the contract should result from the employee's employment contract, in accordance with § 14-6 sec. 1 lit. j. Working time is the time when the employee is at the employer's disposal, in accordance with § 10-1. In simple terms, it is the time when the employee is at work. Standard work time is work within the limits specified in § 10-4. Standard working time should not exceed 9 hours in 24 hours and 40 hours in XNUMX days.
Overtime and extra work
If the employee's work exceeds the limits of standard working time, the additional working time is considered overtime work in accordance with § 10-6 para. 2. This means that working more than 9 hours in 24 hours is overtime and working more than 40 hours in 7 days is overtime.
If an employee works more than the agreed working hours, but within the standard working hours, this is not overtime but additional work. Take, for example, an employee who works 8 hours a day and works 8,5 hours a day. The extra half hour is not overtime under the Health and Safety Act, but extra work. For those with flexible working hours, extra work gives you extra hours that can be compensated for in the future.
Payment for overtime work
For working overtime, the employee will be paid more than usual. An additional remuneration of at least 40% must be paid, see § 10-6 par. 11. This means that the hourly wage for overtime work should be at least 140% of the normal hourly wage.
Upper limits for overtime work
There are limits on the amount of overtime work. In accordance with the Labor Protection Act § 10-6 para. 4 overtime work "shall not exceed ten hours in seven days, twenty-five hours in four consecutive weeks and two hundred hours in 52 weeks." Exceptions and adjustments The regulations regarding overtime work do not apply an employee in a managerial position or in a particularly independent position, see § 10-12 section 1 and 2. There are possibilities to adapt the regulations.
