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Practical guide
An overtime hour is paid more than a normal one, is sometimes taken back as time off, and partly escapes contributions and income tax. This guide explains what counts as overtime, how the premium works, how it is paid and exempted, and how to check your payslip.
Overtime is one of the rare cases where one hour of work is worth more than another, and one of the most frequent sources of payslip errors. This guide starts from the rule (what counts and what does not), follows a heavy week through to the month's net pay, then tells you how to get these hours paid or taken back, and how to prove them if they are missing.
An overtime hour is an hour worked at the employer's request, with its agreement, even implicit, or made necessary by the tasks it gave you, beyond the legal working week of 35 hours, or 1,607 hours over the year when working time is organised that way. Hours are counted per calendar week, Monday to Sunday: two light weeks do not make up for a heavy one. Three cases fall outside this rule.
Without a collective agreement, each overtime hour carries a premium of 25% for the first 8 of the week, then 50%. A company or sector agreement can set other rates, never below 10%. Example: a non-cadre employee paid €2,500 gross a month for 35 hours, i.e. €16.48 an hour, works 46 hours in the week.
| Line | Hours | Rate with premium | Gross for the week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overtime at 25% | 8 h | €20.60 | €165 |
| Overtime at 50% | 3 h | €24.73 | €74 |
| Week total | 11 h | — | €239 |
If every week of the month looks like this one, the site's engine counts 47.67 h of overtime in the month, paid €1,036 gross, and monthly net pay that goes from €1,957 to €2,894. For your own hours, the overtime calculator follows the same path, at the legal rate or your agreement's.
Overtime is paid with the salary for the month in which it is worked; a week straddling two months goes on the next payslip. The payslip must show the number of hours, their premium rate and their pay, on lines separate from base salary. An agreement can also replace all or part of the payment with replacement compensatory rest, lasting as long as the hour with its premium.
In the example, the 46-hour week would therefore give 14.5 h off, not 11 h. On top of that comes a volume rule: without an agreement, the annual quota is 220 overtime hours per employee. Each hour beyond it gives, on top of its premium, compulsory rest: 50% of the hour in a company with 20 employees or fewer, 100% above that. For 20 hours beyond the quota, that makes 10 h or 20 h off which, unless an agreement says otherwise, you can take as full or half days once 7 h have built up.
Two reliefs explain why an overtime hour brings more net pay than a normal one. First, a reduction in employee pension contributions, at most 11.31% of the overtime pay: in the example, €117 a month. Net pay thus keeps 90.5% of the overtime gross, against 78.3% on base salary. Second, an income tax exemption, up to €7,500 of taxable net pay a year, including additional hours and rest days sold back.
Above the ceiling, the excess is taxed as normal. For scale: the legal quota of 220 overtime hours a year without an agreement would bring the employee in the example about €4,101 net over the year, below the ceiling: all of it would be exempt. Exempt amounts are pre-filled in your tax return; check them against the year-to-date totals on your payslips, and declare the excess yourself if you have several employers.
Regular overtime also says something about your job: if it lasts, it is an argument for reviewing your base salary, which counts for more in your pension and severance payments. The pay rise simulator gives the net of a gross rise, to compare with the net from your hours.
In principle no: the employer decides on overtime, within the quota and the maximum hours, and refusing can lead to a sanction. An occasional refusal is not misconduct if you were told too late. For part-time staff, additional hours have their own rules on refusal, detailed in the part-time guide.
No, it is worth more: replacement compensatory rest includes the premium. An hour paid at 25% extra gives 1.25 h off, an hour at 50% extra gives 1.5 h. Taking it back “hour for hour” without the premium is not compliant.
A public holiday off is not working time: hours not worked that day do not count towards the overtime threshold, unless a collective agreement or custom is more favourable. A week with a Monday bank holiday therefore triggers overtime later.
The ceiling of €7,500 a year applies to all your overtime and additional hours, across all employers. If the total exceeds it while each employer stays below, the excess is added back to your taxable income in your tax return.
This guide gives you a method, not legal advice: the official rules and amounts are those of the sources above, as at their date.
The site's tools and features that go with this guide: the figures there are calculated by the code, never by the AI.