Daily and weekly limits
Article 98 of the Labor Law sets the maximum working time in the private sector:
| Period | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Normal months | 8 hours a day (daily standard) or 48 hours a week (weekly standard) |
| Ramadan, Muslim employees | 6 hours a day or 36 hours a week |
Your employer adopts either the daily or the weekly standard. Some exceptions exist: hours can rise to 9 a day for certain jobs where work isn’t continuous, and fall to 7 a day in some hazardous industries (Article 99).
Breaks
- You shouldn’t work more than 5 hours in a row without a break for rest, prayer and meals.
- Each break must be at least 30 minutes.
- You shouldn’t have to stay at the workplace for more than 12 hours in a day.
- Breaks don’t count as working hours, and during a break you’re not under your employer’s authority.
These rules come from Articles 101 and 102.
The weekly rest day
Every employee has a weekly rest day with full pay, lasting at least 24 hours in a row. It’s normally Friday (Article 104).
Overtime
Work beyond the daily or weekly limit, and all work on the rest day or public holidays, is overtime. It’s paid at the hourly wage plus 50% of the basic hourly wage (Article 107). Since the 2025 amendments, an employer can give time off instead, but only with the employee’s written agreement.
A worked week
Five days from 08:00 to 17:00 with a one-hour break:
- Each day: 9 hours at work − 1 hour break = 8 hours
- The week: 5 × 8 = 40 hours, within both limits
If you stay until 19:00 on two of those days, each becomes 10 hours: 2 hours over the daily limit each day, 4 hours in total, while the week (44 hours) is still under 48. Whether those hours are overtime depends on which standard your employer uses.
Add up your own week with the work hours calculator, and work out what extra hours are worth with the overtime calculator. For Ramadan, see working hours in Ramadan.