Overtime: Increase and Legal Calculation 2026

Calculating overtime looks simple: beyond thirty-five hours, an uplift applies. In practice, most reassessments and employment tribunal rulings do not concern the rate applied, but three points that employers rarely handle with the same rigour: recording of working time, exceeding the annual quota, and evidence. This article sets out the applicable rules, then examines these three points of failure.

What triggers an overtime hour

The statutory working time is set at thirty-five hours per week. Any hour worked beyond this, at the employer's request, constitutes an overtime hour. It is counted on a calendar-week basis, unless working time arrangements are provided for by agreement. These rules apply regardless of the type of contract: the distinction between permanent and fixed-term contracts has no bearing here, as an employee on a fixed-term contract is entitled to overtime under the same conditions.

Two clarifications change many practical situations.

First, the employer's request need not be in writing. Tacit agreement is enough: if the employer is aware of the hours worked and does not object, they become binding on the employer. Prohibiting overtime in an internal memo is therefore not enough to avoid paying for it when the workload made it necessary.

Second, only actual working time counts, that is, the time during which the employee is at the employer's disposal and complies with their instructions without being able to attend to personal matters. Breaks are excluded, unless they meet this definition.

Uplift rates

In the absence of a collective agreement, the rates are as follows:

• 25% for the first eight overtime hours of the week, i.e. from the thirty-sixth to the forty-third hour.
• 50% from the forty-fourth hour onwards.

A company-level agreement or, failing that, a sector-level agreement may set a different rate. This flexibility is not unlimited: the agreed rate cannot be lower than 10%. Where such an agreement exists, it applies, even if it is less favourable than the default statutory rates — hence the importance of checking the applicable collective agreement before any calculation.

The annual quota and compensatory rest

This is the threshold most often overlooked, because it is not visible on a single payslip.

In the absence of an agreement, the annual overtime quota is 220 hours per year per employee. Below this, hours are simply paid at the uplifted rate. Beyond it, mandatory compensatory rest is added on top of the uplift: it amounts to 50% of the hours worked beyond the quota in companies with twenty employees or fewer, and 100% in companies with more than twenty employees.

This compensatory rest is not optional for the employee: it is owed. A company of thirty employees that has an employee work ten hours beyond the quota owes ten hours of rest, in addition to the uplifted pay. This is a liability that accumulates quietly when no one tracks the annual total per employee. This tracking falls within payroll management, the only place where the annual total becomes genuinely visible before the threshold is crossed.

Replacement compensatory rest

A collective agreement may provide that payment for overtime is replaced, in whole or in part, by equivalent rest. An hour paid at a 25% uplift then becomes one hour and fifteen minutes of rest.

Two points deserve attention. Replacement rest, when it fully covers the hour and its uplift, cancels out its counting towards the annual quota. And it should not be confused with the mandatory compensatory rest mentioned above, which is additional and replaces nothing.

Caps that must not be exceeded

Regardless of pay, maximum durations apply:

• 10 hours per day, except where an exemption applies.
• 48 hours in a single week, an absolute cap.
• 44 hours on average over twelve consecutive weeks.

Exceeding these caps cannot be remedied by payment: it constitutes an offence, regardless of the uplift paid. Case law also holds that the mere fact of exceeding the maximum duration causes harm to the employee, without the employee having to prove it.

Recording working time: the obligation that decides disputes

The employer must keep a record of working time when employees do not work according to a posted collective schedule. This is a standalone obligation, and it is the real crux of disputes.

In the event of a dispute, the burden of proof is shared. The employee must present sufficiently precise elements to allow the employer to respond — a timesheet, time-stamped emails, access logs. The employer must then produce their own records. Failing this, the judge rules on the basis of the employee's evidence alone, and the outcome is predictable.

The practical consequence is clear: a company that does not keep reliable records does not lose because the employee is right, it loses because it has nothing to counter with. A monthly record validated by the employee, dated and unalterable afterwards, entirely changes the position. The same evidentiary logic applies to the digital payslip, whose value in the event of a dispute rests on the demonstrable integrity of the document and its retention for the full statutory period.

The case of day-rate arrangements

Executives with genuine autonomy in organising their working time may be subject to an annual day-rate arrangement. They then do not record their hours and do not accrue overtime.

This exemption is fragile, and it is a frequent source of disputes. A day-rate arrangement requires a collective agreement authorising it, and a written individual agreement signed by the employee. It also requires effective monitoring of workload and an annual review meeting. If any one of these elements is missing, the day-rate arrangement is deprived of effect: the employee reverts to hourly time recording and may claim retroactive payment of overtime, together with the corresponding uplifts.

This is the point where formalisation matters most. The individual day-rate agreement is a signed document, whose existence and date must be capable of being established years later — as with amendments changing its terms, or the documents governing remote working, another arrangement where enforceability depends on a written record.

Usage scenarios

SME with no posted collective schedule. The individual recording obligation applies in full. A declarative record validated each month by the employee is the bare minimum defensible position, and it must be retained.

Exceeding the quota. As soon as an employee approaches 220 hours per year, mandatory compensatory rest becomes due on every subsequent hour. Tracking must be annual and per employee, not monthly and aggregated.

Executives on day-rate arrangements. Check three things: the collective agreement authorises it, the individual agreement is signed, and workload monitoring is documented. The absence of even one of these elements exposes the company to reclassification.

Frequently asked questions

Can an employer refuse to pay for hours not explicitly requested? With difficulty. Tacit agreement is enough: if the employer knew about the hours worked and did not object, they are owed. A blanket prohibition does not prevent payment when the assigned workload made those hours necessary.

What rates apply? 25% for the first eight hours beyond thirty-five, 50% thereafter, unless a collective agreement provides for other rates, which cannot fall below 10%.

Can rest replace payment? Yes, if a collective agreement provides for it. The rest must be equivalent to the uplifted pay. It should not be confused with the mandatory compensatory rest owed beyond the quota, which is additional.

What happens beyond 220 hours per year? The hours remain due and uplifted, and mandatory compensatory rest is added on top, amounting to 50% in companies with up to twenty employees and 100% beyond that.

Is overtime exempt from tax? It benefits from a reduction in employee social security contributions and an exemption from income tax, up to an annual cap. This cap changes over time: it must be checked for the relevant year before any net pay calculation.

Can an employee on a day-rate arrangement claim overtime? Yes, if the day-rate agreement is deprived of effect — due to the absence of an authorising collective agreement, a signed individual agreement, or effective workload monitoring. The employee then reverts to hourly time recording, retroactively.

Key takeaways

Uplift rates are the easy part of the subject, and the one that generates the fewest disputes. What proves costly are three parallel obligations: tracking the annual quota per employee to avoid letting an invisible rest debt build up, complying with maximum durations that no payment can remedy, and above all keeping an enforceable record of working time.

On this last point, the issue is not formal compliance but evidentiary position. In the event of a dispute, an employer who produces a dated record, validated by the employee and unalterable afterwards, argues the facts. One who produces nothing suffers the consequences of the other side's.