Understand weekly overtime counting, premium bands, pay calculations and annual tracking through practical examples.
Overtime is not simply “hours worked minus scheduled hours”. You first need the applicable counting period and threshold. Only then can the excess hours be split into premium bands and their pay estimated.
For the France-specific scenario used by this calculator, the general statutory full-time duration is 35 hours per week, subject to working-time arrangements and applicable collective provisions.
If a week contains 39 counted hours and the relevant threshold is 35 hours, the excess is 39 − 35 = 4 overtime hours.
Use the work hours calculator first when daily schedules or breaks still need to be reconstructed. The overtime calculator then separates normal and overtime hours.
French official guidance states that a collective agreement may set the applicable rates. In the general fallback rules, the first eight overtime hours of the week are increased by 25%, and subsequent hours by 50%.
These are France-specific reference rules, not universal rates. The calculator therefore keeps thresholds and percentages configurable.
With a 35-hour threshold, 46 hours means 11 overtime hours. Under the illustrative +25% then +50% structure, eight hours fall into the first band and three into the second.
Eight hours: 16 × 1.25 × 8 = €160. Three hours: 16 × 1.50 × 3 = €72. The overtime pay represented by those eleven hours is €232 in this example.
This is not the employee’s complete weekly pay; it isolates the overtime component.
Check three values independently: number of hours, reference hourly rate and premium coefficient. A 25% premium turns €16 into €20 for the relevant hour because 16 × 1.25 = 20.
When source data uses decimal hours, remember that 7 h 30 is 7.5, not 7.30. The decimal hours converter helps verify the conversion.
Under the ordinary weekly model, overtime is assessed week by week. Adding all hours in a month and subtracting a monthly average can produce a different result.
Working-time arrangements can use a longer reference period, so always identify the framework before interpreting the output.
Some arrangements also require an annual overtime total or a reference limit. That question is separate from weekly pay.
The calculator accepts overtime already worked during the year and a configurable annual reference limit, then shows the projected total and remaining amount. The entered limit must come from the applicable rules; the tool does not impose a universal legal quota.
Depending on the applicable arrangement, overtime pay may be replaced wholly or partly by equivalent compensatory rest. For example, an hour otherwise paid at a 50% premium corresponds arithmetically to 1 h 30 of equivalent rest.
See Compensatory rest: converting overtime into time off before treating that arithmetic as an entitlement.
An hour can be both overtime and night work, or fall on a Sunday or public holiday. That does not prove that every premium automatically stacks.
Calculate each component separately, then verify the applicable rules. Continue with night work or Sunday and public-holiday work.
Hours above a part-time contractual schedule are handled separately in the France-specific model. See Part-time work: calculating additional hours.
Calculate actual time first, identify the threshold and counting period, split the excess into the relevant bands and only then apply the appropriate rates.
The calculator performs the arithmetic. The employment rules and agreements applicable to the situation determine which parameters should be entered.
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Learn how to calculate actual working time, handle breaks, split shifts, midnight crossings and decimal hours.
Understand the French distinction between part-time additional hours and overtime, including limits, premium bands and examples.
Understand why Sunday work, ordinary public holidays and 1 May do not follow one universal pay rule, and how to simulate premiums safely.