Overtime pay

For employees with normal working hours, overtime usually means any time worked beyond these hours. Normal working hours are the hours fixed by an employment contract.

Overtime pay is not a statutory entitlement and is only due where there is an express or implied contractual term governing overtime in the employment contract.

Although employers do not have to pay workers for overtime, employees’ average pay for the total hours worked must not fall below the National Minimum Wage.

Employees should only have to work overtime if their contract says so. An employment contract will usually include details of any overtime pay rates and how they are worked out.

Some employment contracts may stipulate that the employee will be required to work additional hours unpaid in certain circumstances (and some contracts do not stipulate working hours at all). In all such cases employees cannot normally be obliged to work more than an average 48- hour week under the Working Time Regulations 1998. Some workers can opt-out of the 48-hour limit. This must be by voluntary agreement with the employer.