Often in labor law we use concepts that may seem similar or the same, but in reality refer to completely different things. This is the case with the concept of overtime and oversize hours. One of the clients of our PRWT accounting office asked us a question about these two concepts.

Overtime and oversize hours are completely different concepts and relate to completely different situations.

Overtime hours apply to people working full-time or in excess of this full-time job (i.e. 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week). As a consequence, each subsequent hour beyond the indicated number results in overtime and the need to compensate the employee for this working time either by providing a day off or by paying remuneration with an appropriate bonus in accordance with the provisions of the Labor Code.

So what are oversize hours?

Oversize hours apply to people working part-time, e.g. half part-time. In such a case, the work performed in excess of the number of hours specified in the employment contract until the time of reaching full-time work is excessive time. It is worth emphasizing at this point that in the case of part-time work, the content of the employment contract should specify the hour after which the employee work hours becomes overtime, which has further consequences for the correct settlement of working time. For a better understanding of this issue, let’s use an example.

A part-time employee working 4 hours a day from Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. has, as stated in the employment contract, that exceeding 7 hours of work results in overtime. Suppose an employee worked from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on Monday. How should his working time be accounted for this day? The hours from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. are the basic working time of the employee (retains the right to normal remuneration for work), the hours from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. are the time of oversize work (work exceeding the agreed number, but not yet overtime work) therefore, the employee will also retain the right to normal remuneration for these hours. However, for work from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., the employee will retain the right to remuneration for work along with an allowance for overtime work (in accordance with the provisions of the contract that binds him, this working hour is his overtime work time).