Astrea / News / Relance hours (overtime without high wage costs...

25-10-2023

Relance hours (overtime without high wage costs): extended until 30/06/2025

Publications | Employment Law Team

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consetetur sadipscing elitr,
sed diam nonumy eirmod
tempor invidunt ut labore et
dolore

The system of relance hours was introduced during the corona crisis to cope with the exceptional increase of work in the crucial sectors. It was later extended to all other sectors.

This system of "relance hours" was extended for the period from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2025 (the Act of 20 July 2023 following the Interprofessional Agreement 2023-2024).

Relance hours have some similarities to voluntary overtime under the Labour Act:

• thus, employer and employee must enter into a written agreement of maximum six months;

• no compensatory rest should be granted for the overtime worked.

The relance hours can be granted on top of the voluntary overtime (in principle 100 per calendar year) with a maximum of:

• in the period from 1 July to 31 December 2023: 120 additional relance hours;

• in 2024: 120 additional relance hours;

• in the period from 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2025: 120 additional relance hours.

No priority mechanism for voluntary overtime has been stipulated. Thus, the employer can first agree on a system of relance hours, and subsequently also agree on voluntary overtime with the same employee, or vice versa.

There are also differences between the voluntary overtime system and relance hours:

• Relance hours do not require overtime pay (50%, or 100% on Sundays or public holidays);

• Unlike voluntary overtime, relance hours are free of social security contributions and withholding tax. Gross is net.

Relance hours may not exceed the limit of 11 hours/day and 50 hours/week.

If you would like more information on this, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Cookie overview

This preference center is intended to inform you about the different categories of cookies we use and to allow you to make a choice.

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies need to be enabled at all times to remember your choice regarding cookies. You cannot disable these cookies.

3rd party cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to provide us with insights regarding the use of the website. You can choose to enable or disable these cookies.