Status on 22 October 2026: voluntary overtime follows the law of 18 May 2026, which applies retroactively from 1 April 2026.
Separately, the law of 15 July 2026 made 180 tax-advantaged overtime hours permanent in every sector from 1 January 2026.
Overtime in Belgium starts above 9 hours a day or 40 hours a week, unless your sector agreement or work rules set a lower limit.
Each ordinary overtime hour earns 50% extra on weekdays, Saturday included, or 100% on Sundays and public holidays. It also gives paid recovery rest, which is when the base pay for that hour is paid.
Since 1 April 2026 a new voluntary overtime scheme applies, where most hours carry no supplement and no recovery rest.
Below: the rules on one screen, then a worked month for one field technician with 12 overtime hours.
The overtime rules in Belgium on one screen
These are the general rules. Sector agreements (joint committees) can differ, so always check your sector.
| Rule | Ordinary overtime | Voluntary overtime |
|---|---|---|
| When it starts | Above 9 hours a day or 40 a week (or lower sector or work-rules limits) | When the worker has signed an agreement in advance |
| Supplement | +50% weekdays and Saturday, +100% Sunday and public holiday | None for the first 240 hours a year, then the normal supplement |
| Recovery rest | Yes, paid, normally within the quarter | No |
| Counts towards the internal limit of 143 hours | Yes | No |
| Yearly maximum | Time off is due before more overtime once the counter hits 143 | 360 hours (horeca 450) |
| Absolute caps | 11 hours a day, 50 hours a week | 11 hours a day, 50 hours a week |
The internal limit of 143 hours works as a counter.
Once a worker reaches it, they must get time off before they work more overtime.
A sector agreement can raise that limit, never lower it.
The absolute caps hold whatever the reason: 11 hours of work a day and 50 hours a week.
A worked month: one technician, 12 overtime hours
Rules are easier to apply on one person. Take a hypothetical field technician at an installation company.
He has a normal week of five 8-hour days, 40 hours in all. His sector sets no lower limit.
He earns EUR 20 an hour. That is a round example, not real pay data.
This month he works 12 hours on top of his normal schedule.
| Week | What happened | Type of hour | Supplement | Recovery rest | Counts towards 143 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuesday: a 10-hour day for an urgent repair, week total 42 hours | 2 h ordinary overtime | +50% | 2 h | Yes |
| 2 | Saturday: 4 hours to finish a job, week total 44 hours | 4 h ordinary overtime | +50% (Saturday counts as a weekday) | 4 h | Yes |
| 3 | Thursday and Friday: 2 extra hours each, under his signed voluntary agreement | 4 h voluntary overtime | None | None | No |
| 4 | Sunday: a 2-hour emergency call-out in a sector that allows it, week total 42 hours | 2 h ordinary overtime | +100% | 2 h, plus Sunday rest | Yes |
What he is paid for those 12 hours
| Hours | Base pay | Supplement | Gross for these hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 h on Tuesday | EUR 40 | +50% = EUR 20 | EUR 60 |
| 4 h on Saturday | EUR 80 | +50% = EUR 40 | EUR 120 |
| 4 h voluntary | EUR 80 | none | EUR 80, gross equals net |
| 2 h on Sunday | EUR 40 | +100% = EUR 40 | EUR 80 |
| 12 hours | EUR 240 | EUR 100 | EUR 340 |
The 4 voluntary hours fall inside his first 240 of the year.
So they carry no supplement, no social security contributions and no withholding tax.
For the 8 ordinary hours, the base pay in this table is not extra money on top of the recovery rest. It is paid when he takes the rest.
What else the month leaves behind
- 8 hours of paid recovery rest to plan, normally within the quarter, extendable to 12 months. The base pay for these 8 ordinary hours (EUR 160 in the table) is paid when he takes the rest, not on top of it.
- 8 hours on his internal-limit counter, out of 143. The voluntary hours stay off this counter.
- A half day of Sunday rest within the 6 days after the call-out, because he worked less than 4 hours that Sunday.
- 4 of his 360 voluntary hours used for the calendar year.
Tip: the hard part is not the arithmetic. It is knowing, per hour, which track it belongs to. Record the type of hour on the day it is worked, not at the end of the month.
On paper, week 2 and week 3 look alike: extra hours late in the week.
On the payslip they differ completely. One earns a supplement and rest, the other earns neither.
That is why the registration must say which hours were voluntary before payroll sees them.
Overtime pay: when 50% and when 100%
The supplement depends on the day.
Hours from Monday to Saturday earn 50% extra; hours on a Sunday or public holiday earn 100% extra.
Overtime is checked per day and per week, and the higher rate applies.
A 4-hour Saturday after a full week is typical for crews catching up on a delayed job.
Under the general rules it is ordinary overtime at 50%, not a weekend premium. Your sector may add its own Saturday rules.
Recovery rest: when the worker gets time off
Ordinary overtime gives paid time off in lieu on top of the supplement.
That rest is paid at the normal wage when it is taken: it is the base pay for the overtime hours, so base pay and paid rest are never both due.
The rest is normally taken within the quarter, and that period can be extended to 12 months.
For field teams this is where errors pile up.
A foreman agrees a day off by phone, nobody writes it down, and three months later the counter is wrong.
Keep three numbers per worker visible at all times:
- overtime hours worked this quarter
- recovery rest taken
- hours left on the internal-limit counter
A time tracking system for field teams gives a planner these numbers before another Saturday goes on the schedule.
The voluntary overtime scheme since 1 April 2026
Voluntary overtime is not new: it existed before 2026 at 120 hours a year, and the 2026 law raised it to 360.
The new scheme also replaced the relance hours, which ran until 31 March 2026.
It allows up to 360 voluntary overtime hours per calendar year in every sector, and 450 in horeca.
The rules that matter for your planning:
- The first 240 hours (horeca 360) are free of social security contributions and withholding tax, and carry no overtime pay.
- The other 120 hours do carry overtime pay. They are free of social security contributions but not of withholding tax.
- No recovery rest and no place in the internal limit of 143 hours.
- A prior written agreement from the worker, valid for one year and tacitly renewed. It ends with one month’s notice.
- Refusing is allowed: a worker who says no may not be penalised for it.
Note: do not confuse the 360 voluntary hours with the 180 tax-advantaged overtime hours. They are two separate regimes, and only the first 240 voluntary hours are fully net.
Part-time workers, parental leave and horeca
Part-time workers can do voluntary overtime only after 3 years part-time and with a temporary rise in work.
Workers on time credit or thematic leave, such as parental leave, cannot use the voluntary scheme.
A 4/5 schedule can be time credit or parental leave rather than an ordinary part-time contract. Check why the worker works part-time before you plan voluntary hours.
Horeca has higher ceilings: 450 voluntary hours, of which the first 360 are fully net.
Horeca also gets 360 tax-advantaged overtime hours instead of 180.
For the registration side, see our guide to time registration for horeca flexi-jobs.
Construction and other sectors: check your joint committee
Sector agreements can set lower limits or other rules than the general ones above.
Construction is the clearest case.
Under joint committee 124, royal decree no. 213 allows up to 1.5 extra hours a day and 130 hours a calendar year.
That rises to 180 hours in the summer period or a period of intense activity.
The worker then chooses: payment with a 20% supplement (Saturday always 50%), or time off.
So the worked month above does not apply as is to a site crew under joint committee 124.
For the wider picture on site, read our guide to time registration in construction.
How to record overtime so every hour is counted
Most overtime disputes start with a missing record, not a wrong rate.
For each extra hour, keep four things on file:
- The date and the actual start and end time.
- The type: ordinary, voluntary, or a sector scheme.
- For voluntary hours, a signed agreement that was valid on that day.
- The recovery rest given against it, with the date.
A general duty for every employer to register working time is still a preliminary draft bill, not law.
It has not been voted and can still change. You do not need to wait for it: the overtime rules already require you to know these hours.
Where the plan stands is tracked in our guide to time registration in Belgium for employers.
A common objection: "our foremen will never fill in an app."
If your crews note hours on paper and one person types them over, that can work for a small team.
It breaks once you have several sites, Saturday work and voluntary agreements to keep apart.
New to the topic? Start with what time tracking is and why to automate it.
FAQ
Is it legal to work 50 hours a week in Belgium?
50 hours a week is the absolute cap, so it is a maximum, not a normal week.
Hours above 40 a week, or your sector’s lower limit, are overtime.
Can a part-time worker do voluntary overtime?
Only after 3 years of part-time work and with a temporary rise in work.
What changed for overtime in 2026?
From 1 April 2026 a new voluntary overtime scheme replaced the relance hours and raised the voluntary maximum from 120 to 360 hours a year.
And 180 tax-advantaged overtime hours became permanent for all sectors from 1 January 2026.
Next step: register field hours where they are worked
Overtime is only as right as the hours behind it.
See how Suivo’s workforce management for field teams registers working time on site, so payroll gets hours it can trust.
