In brief
Under the Labour Law, overtime is work exceeding 45 hours a week and cannot exceed 270 hours a year for any one worker; daily working time cannot exceed 11 hours in any case, and the worker’s written consent is required for overtime. Overtime cannot be required in work whose duration has been shortened for health reasons, in night work, or from employees under 18, pregnant and breastfeeding employees and employees whose unfitness is documented by a medical report. Longer hours increase fatigue and chemical and noise exposure, so overtime must be planned separately in the risk assessment.
What is overtime, and what is the overtime limit?
When orders pile up, the first solution that comes to mind is to have the existing team work a few more hours. This is common in Bursa’s automotive supply chain, in seasonal food production and in year-end shipments. Although overtime may look like a payroll matter, it is directly related to occupational safety: tired employees, longer exposure and reduced attention at the end of a shift all increase the risk of accidents. Let us first clarify the legal framework.
Under Article 41 of Labour Law No. 4857, overtime is work exceeding 45 hours a week. In workplaces applying averaging, time exceeding 45 hours in some weeks does not count as overtime provided the worker’s average weekly working time does not exceed normal hours. The overtime limit and the related basic rules are:
| Rule | Limit | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Normal weekly working time | At most 45 hours | Law No. 4857 Art. 63 |
| Daily working time | Cannot exceed 11 hours in any case | Regulation on Working Hours Art. 4 |
| Annual overtime | 270 hours in total; the limit applies to the individual worker, not the workplace | Law No. 4857 Art. 41, Regulation on Overtime Art. 5 |
| Night work | At most 7.5 hours (exception with written consent in some sectors) | Law No. 4857 Art. 69 |
| Shift change | No moving to the next shift without at least 11 hours of uninterrupted rest | Law No. 4857 Art. 69 |
| Overtime pay | 50 per cent above the hourly wage, or 1 hour 30 minutes of time off for each hour | Law No. 4857 Art. 41 |
The Regulation on Working Hours also requires rest breaks to be arranged taking into account an uninterrupted rest period of 12 hours within 24 hours. When planning overtime, taking the daily upper limit of 11 hours, including overtime, as the basis is the soundest approach from both a legal and a safety point of view.
Overtime consent and prohibited cases
Under Art. 9 of the Regulation on Overtime and Extended Hours under the Labour Law, the worker’s written consent is obtained in order to require overtime. Overtime consent is obtained when the employment contract is concluded or when the need arises, and is kept in the worker’s personnel file. A worker who no longer wishes to work overtime can withdraw consent by giving 30 days’ written notice. Consent is not required for overtime worked for compelling reasons such as breakdowns, urgent repairs or force majeure, or in extraordinary circumstances; however, workers who work overtime for compelling reasons must be given an appropriate rest period (Law No. 4857 Art. 42).
Two items on this list directly concern the OHS team. The first is work whose daily duration has been shortened for health reasons; foundries, some chemical work and similar work fall within this scope. For details, see our article on work limited to 7.5 hours a day. The second is employees whose unfitness is documented by a medical report: a restriction given by the workplace physician at an examination must also be entered on the overtime list. For special groups, see our articles on pregnant and breastfeeding employees and child and young workers.
How do long working hours affect accident risk?
Long working hours increase accident risk in several ways:
- Fatigue and attention: In the last hours of a shift, attention span shortens, reactions slow down and people start to underestimate risk. Short sleep and consecutive long days magnify this effect.
- Combination with night work: When hours added to a day shift run into the night period, work is done at the hours when the sleep rhythm is at its lowest. For the effects of night work, see our article on night shifts.
- Longer exposure: Chemical limit values are given as an 8-hour time-weighted average; for an employee exposed at the same level for 10 hours, the average may exceed the limit even if every measurement is below it. For a calculation example, see our article on occupational exposure limit values. With noise, too, daily exposure increases with duration.
- Journey home: Driving or travelling on a staff bus after a long shift is a separate risk area; our article on staff transport safety gives guidance on transport arrangements.
Make the questions “which hour of their shift was the person in, and how many hours had they worked on the previous days?” standard in accident investigations. When this information is not asked for, fatigue never shows up as a root cause; for investigation methods, see our article on root cause analysis methods.
How is overtime planned from an occupational safety perspective?
The overtime safety plan should be made before the payroll plan. In practice, these steps work:
- Add it to the risk assessment. If it is known that overtime will be worked during busy periods, the departments and tasks in which it will be worked are addressed separately in the risk assessment.
- Do not leave critical tasks to the end of the shift. Tasks such as forklift and crane operation, press setting, electrical work and work at height are not scheduled for the last hours of overtime; where possible, a separate, rested crew is used for these tasks.
- Track per person. The 270 hours a year, 11 hours a day and 11 hours of rest between shifts are monitored per person; the same people constantly staying on for overtime is a warning sign.
- Enter the physician’s restrictions on the list. Employees whose unfitness is documented by a report, pregnant employees and employees under 18 are not put on the overtime list.
- Check the emergency teams. It is determined which first aiders and firefighting team members are present during overtime or weekend shifts. Our article on emergency teams on night shifts gives guidance on this.
- Consider a permanent solution. If overtime becomes permanent, an additional shift or additional staff is a safer solution. For shift patterns and fatigue, see our article on shift systems and fatigue management.
Example calculation: how quickly do 270 hours of overtime a year run out?
Let us compare three scenarios in a workplace working 5 days a week, 9 hours a day (45 hours):
| Scenario | Weekly overtime | In how many weeks are 270 hours used up? | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturdays only, 5 hours | 5 hours | 54 weeks | Not used up within the year |
| 2 extra hours every weekday | 10 hours | 27 weeks | Daily time reaches 11 hours |
| 2 extra hours every weekday plus 8 hours on Saturday | 18 hours | 15 weeks | The annual limit is reached in about three and a half months |
Do not forget the regulation’s rounding rule in the calculation: periods of less than half an hour count as half an hour, and periods exceeding half an hour count as one hour (Art. 5). In the third scenario, the employee cannot legally work overtime for the rest of the year; moreover, they will have worked 63 hours a week for 15 weeks. This table also shows why the busy-period plan should be made together with the OHS team.
Overtime records must also be kept: Art. 10 of the regulation requires the employer to prepare a document showing overtime hours and to keep a signed copy in the worker’s personnel file. These records are also data that can be used in accident investigations and fatigue analysis. For how time is treated when training is given outside working hours, see our article on OHS training, working hours and shifts.
Within our OHS specialist service, we work with the business on busy-period planning and on reflecting overtime in the risk assessment. You can see your minimum OHS hours with the OHS obligation calculator tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the annual overtime limit?
Total overtime cannot exceed 270 hours in a year. This limit applies not to the workplace or the job but to each individual worker.
Is the worker’s consent required for overtime?
Yes, written consent is required. Consent is obtained when the contract is concluded or when the need arises; the worker can withdraw consent with 30 days’ written notice. Consent is not required for compelling reasons and in extraordinary circumstances.
Can overtime be worked on the night shift?
Workers’ night work cannot exceed 7.5 hours, and overtime cannot be required in work carried out during the period counted as night. In tourism, private security, healthcare services and oil exploration, work beyond 7.5 hours at night is possible with the worker’s written consent.
What is the maximum daily working time?
Under the Regulation on Working Hours, daily working time cannot exceed 11 hours in any case. The overtime plan must be made with this limit in mind.
A certified specialist matched to your hazard class: site inspections, approved logbook, training plan, annual plan and report follow-up.
Bursa SİSTEMER OSGB Technical Team — written from the field experience of our OHS specialists and workplace physicians. Legal information is valid as of the publication/update date; contact us for an assessment specific to your business.