Overtime

:For overtime in sports, see Overtime (sport).

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Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours; these may be determined in several ways, by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), by practices of a given trade or profession, by legislation, or by agreement between employers and workers or their representatives. Most nations have overtime laws designed to prevent and/or dissuade employers from working their employees excessively. Such laws may take into account other considerations, such as increasing the overall level of employment in the economy. One common approach to regulating overtime is to require employers to pay a higher wage to their workers for any overtime worked. In certain cases, a company may choose to pay its workers a higher wage for overtime worked even without a law, particularly if it believes that it faces a backward bending supply curve of labour. In that situation, overtime wages can cause workers to work greater hours than they would under any flat wage rate. Overtime laws vary greatly from country to country, as do attitudes to overtime and hours of work in different economic sectors.

Related Topics:
Laws - Backward bending supply curve of labour - Hours of work

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