Working hours and rest:daily, weekly, and Ramadan

Standard working hours

Under Article 98, an employee cannot actually work more than eight hours a day if the employer uses the daily standard, or more than forty-eight hours a week if it uses the weekly standard.

The employer chooses one standard and states it in its work regulations. The choice matters: the weekly standard lets hours vary from day to day, as long as the weekly total stays within the limit.

The words «actually worked» are there for a reason. What counts is time spent working, not time spent at the workplace.

Ramadan hours

In Ramadan, actual working hours for Muslim employees drop to six a day or thirty-six a week. This is a legal right, not a favour from the employer.

The reduction applies to Muslim employees. Others keep the standard hours, though the employer can give everyone the reduction if it wants to. Giving more than the legal minimum is allowed; giving less is not.

Work beyond six hours in Ramadan is overtime and must be paid under Article 107. Ramadan payroll often gets this wrong.

Daily rest

Under Article 101, an employee cannot work more than five hours in a row without a break for rest, prayer, and meals of at least half an hour. They also cannot stay at the workplace for more than twelve hours a day.

Under Article 102, breaks for rest, prayer, and meals are not counted as working hours. The employee is not under the employer's authority during them, and the employer cannot require them to stay at the workplace. A shift from eight to five with a one-hour break is eight working hours, not nine.

The twelve-hour limit matters for split shifts. The morning period, the evening period, and the gap between them all count towards it.

Weekly rest

An employee is entitled to a paid weekly rest day of at least twenty-four hours in a row, normally Friday. For certain categories, another day can be substituted where this is stated (Article 104).

An employee cannot give up their weekly rest in exchange for pay. The rest day exists to protect them, and it cannot be sold.

An employee who works on their rest day must be compensated for it, normally with extra pay. If they agree, they can instead be given paid time off of at least one and a half hours for each overtime hour worked.

When the limits may be exceeded

Under Article 106, the employer can set aside the rules on working hours, daily rest, and weekly rest in certain cases, such as annual stocktaking, preparing the budget, liquidation, closing accounts, and preparing for discount sales. This is allowed for no more than thirty days a year.

Even then, actual working hours cannot go above ten a day or sixty a week. The limit is raised, not removed.

The extra hours worked on those days are paid as overtime. The exception relaxes the time limit, not the obligation to pay.

Recurring errors in counting hours

1. 01Counting breaks as working hours. The shift then looks longer than it is, so overtime is either missed or paid when it was not earned.
2. 02Keeping a Muslim employee on eight hours in Ramadan, which breaches Article 98.
3. 03Stating the daily standard in the work regulations but using the weekly one in practice, or the other way round. This throws off every overtime calculation.
4. 04Having an employee work on their weekly rest day without paying them or giving them a day off in return.
5. 05Going over the twelve-hour limit on a split shift because the gap between periods was not counted, or making an employee stay at the workplace during their break, which Article 102 forbids.

Automating it

Knowing the rules is the easy part. The hard part is applying them to every employee on every day, and manual calculation rarely survives the first unusual shift or the first Ramadan.

An attendance system that knows each employee's shift, takes off the break, reduces hours in Ramadan, and counts extra hours as overtime at the legal rate gives you a figure ready for payroll, not a report someone still has to check.