Overtime: Increase and Legal Calculation 2026

Calculating overtime looks simple: beyond thirty-five hours, you apply a premium. In practice, most audit adjustments and employment tribunal rulings do not turn on the rate applied, but on three points that employers rarely handle with the same rigor: tracking working time, exceeding the annual quota, and evidence. This article covers the applicable rules, then these three breaking points.

What triggers an overtime hour

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

Two clarifications change many real-world situations.

First, the employer's request need not be in writing. Tacit agreement is enough: if the employer was aware of the hours worked and did not object, they are binding on the employer. Banning overtime in an internal memo is therefore not enough to rule out payment when the workload made those hours necessary.

Second, only actual work counts, meaning the time during which the employee is at the employer's disposal and follows its instructions without being able to attend to personal matters. Break times, unless they meet this definition, are excluded.

Premium rates

Absent 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 onward.

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

The annual quota and the compensatory rest entitlement

This is the threshold most often overlooked, because it does not show up on a single pay slip.

Absent an agreement, the annual overtime quota is 220 hours per year per employee. Below that, hours are paid at the premium rate, and that's all. Beyond it, a mandatory compensatory rest entitlement is added on top of the premium: 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 entitlement is not optional for the employee: it is owed. A company with thirty employees that has an employee work ten hours beyond the quota owes ten hours of rest, in addition to the premium pay. It is a liability that quietly builds up when no one tracks the annual cumulative total per employee. This tracking falls within payroll management, the only place where the annual cumulative total actually becomes visible before the threshold is crossed.

Compensatory rest in lieu of payment

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

Two points deserve attention. Replacement rest, when it fully covers the hour and its premium, neutralizes the count against the annual quota. And it should not be confused with the mandatory compensatory rest entitlement mentioned above, which is added on top and replaces nothing.

Ceilings 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 ceiling.
• 44 hours on average over twelve consecutive weeks.

Exceeding these ceilings cannot be remedied through payment: it constitutes an offense, regardless of the premium 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.

Tracking: 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 stand-alone 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 records. The employer must then produce its own tracking records. Failing that, the judge rules based solely on the employee's evidence, and the outcome is predictable.

The practical consequence is clear: a company that does not keep a reliable record 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 after the fact, entirely changes the position. The same evidentiary logic applies to dematerialized pay slips, whose value in the event of a dispute rests on the document's demonstrable integrity and on its retention for the full statutory period.

The case of day-rate flat annual arrangements

Executives with genuine autonomy in organizing their schedule may be covered by an annual flat-rate arrangement based on days worked. They then do not track their hours and do not generate overtime.

This exclusion is fragile, and it generates abundant litigation. A day-rate flat arrangement requires a collective agreement authorizing it, and a written individual agreement signed by the employee. It also requires effective monitoring of workload and an annual review. Absent any one of these elements, the flat-rate arrangement is deprived of effect: the employee reverts to hourly tracking and may claim retroactive payment of overtime, with the corresponding premiums.

This is the point where formalization matters most. The individual flat-rate agreement is a signed document, whose existence and date must be provable years later — just like the amendments that modify its terms, or the documents governing remote work, another arrangement where the written document determines enforceability.

Use cases

SME with no posted collective schedule. The individual tracking obligation applies in full. A self-reported 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 annual hours, the mandatory compensatory rest entitlement becomes due on every subsequent hour. Tracking must be annual and per employee, not monthly and aggregated.

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

Frequently asked questions

Can an employer refuse to pay for hours not explicitly requested? Rarely. Tacit agreement is enough: if the employer knew about the hours worked and did not object, they are owed. A blanket ban 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 sets different rates, which cannot go below 10%.

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

What happens beyond 220 hours per year? The hours remain due and are paid at the premium rate, and a mandatory compensatory rest entitlement is added, at 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 contributions and an income tax exemption, 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 flat arrangement claim overtime? Yes, if the flat-rate agreement is deprived of effect — due to the absence of an authorizing collective agreement, a signed individual agreement, or effective workload monitoring. The employee then reverts to hourly tracking, retroactively.

Key takeaways

Premium rates are the easy part of the topic, 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 cure, and above all keeping an enforceable record of working time.

On this last point, the issue is not formal compliance but evidentiary standing. In the event of a dispute, the employer who produces a dated record, validated by the employee and unalterable after the fact, argues the facts on the merits. One who produces none is at the mercy of the other side's version.