Some employers choose to pay employees and workers for working more hours than the employment contract says. This is usually called overtime pay.
Although some employers offer overtime pay, there's no automatic legal right to it.
Employers must state in the written terms (written statement of particulars):
- what hours are classed as overtime
- what the rate of pay is for overtime
What some employers might offer
Some employers might offer:
- a higher rate of pay for overtime than for normal working hours
- time off instead of overtime pay
National Minimum Wage
If an employee works more hours than their employment contract says, the employer must make sure the hourly pay rate does not fall below the National Minimum Wage.
Holiday pay
Overtime pay may be included when calculating holiday pay.
Find out more about calculating holiday pay
If an employee or worker is part time
A part-time employee or worker is someone who works fewer hours than a full-time employee or worker in the same organisation. There are no set numbers of hours that count as full-time or part-time work.
By law, employers must not treat part-time workers and employees less favourably than full-time ones.
Part-time staff are not entitled to get overtime pay until they have worked more than the normal hours of full-time staff. Your organisation might have a different policy about overtime, so you should check the contract.