Working Hours Calculator

Commonly 35 to 40 depending on country and sector, and it is usually a contractual definition rather than a legal one. Some benefits and protections attach to a threshold, which varies by jurisdiction.

In many countries yes — a 48-hour average over a reference period is common in Europe, often with an individual opt-out. Rules on rest breaks and daily rest periods usually sit alongside it.

Unpaid meal breaks generally do not. Short rest breaks often do, and time spent on call at the workplace usually does. The distinction turns on whether you are free to use the time as your own.

Travel between work sites during the day generally does. The ordinary commute between home and a fixed workplace generally does not, though for workers with no fixed base the first and last journey may count.

Add the two weekly totals. Where a limit is expressed as an average over a reference period, it is the average across the whole period that matters rather than any single week.

Add twenty-four hours to the end time before subtracting, so 22:00 to 06:00 comes out at eight hours rather than minus sixteen. This page does that automatically.

The window over which an average weekly hours limit is measured — commonly 17 weeks, sometimes extended by agreement. It means a single long week is not itself a breach if the average holds.

In some jurisdictions yes, individually and in writing, and the opt-out must be genuinely voluntary and revocable. In others the limit is absolute.

Commonly a break during a shift above a threshold length, a minimum daily rest between shifts, and a weekly rest period. The specific durations vary and young workers usually have enhanced entitlements.

It depends on how restricted you are. Being required to remain at the workplace generally counts; being contactable at home generally does not, with a large grey area between that has been repeatedly litigated.

In systems with a statutory limit, hours across all employments generally aggregate. It is the employee's responsibility to inform employers, and it is routinely overlooked.

Working time limits usually apply regardless of how you are paid, even where overtime pay does not. The two are separate regimes and being exempt from one does not exempt you from the other.