The legal working week in France is 35 hours. A collective agreement can modify this working week, which is not the case for the Syntec collective bargaining agreement, apart from the special arrangements provided for in this agreement.
Hours worked in excess of this are referred to as overtime. In this case, they are subject to special rules concerning their execution and remuneration, which may be set by collective agreement.
The Syntec collective bargaining agreement sets out the framework applicable to these hours for the employees it governs.
⚠ Please note: these provisions do not apply to employees covered by a fixed annual number of days. The working hours of these employees are calculated in days, over the year, without taking into account the number of hours worked.
Overtime is worked at the employer’s request, or with the employer’s agreement, or when it is made necessary by the tasks entrusted to the employee.
⏰ There is a limit to the amount of overtime an employee can work. An annual quota sets the number of hours an employee can work over and above his or her statutory or contractual working hours. To set this quota, the Syntec collective bargaining agreement distinguishes between :
- ETAM (Employees, Technicians and Supervisors), for whom the annual overtime quota is 130 hours.
- Managers, for whom the legal overtime quota of 220 hours applies.
Overtime pay is subject to a premium. A distinction must therefore be made between :
- The first 8 hours of overtime worked in a single week (i.e. between the 36th and 43rd hour of overtime for a 35-hour working week), which are increased by 25%.
- For subsequent hours, 50% extra.
Therefore, if a collective agreement so provides, the payment of these hours may be replaced, in whole or in part, by an equivalent compensatory rest period. As the Syntec collective bargaining agreement does not contain any such provision, this possibility must be covered by a company agreement.
If you wish to make changes to your overtime arrangements, we recommend that you adopt an agreement within your company to set different arrangements to those provided for by law. DESRUMAUX AVOCATS is at your disposal to help you set up such an agreement, and more generally to answer any questions you may have about overtime under the SYNTEC agreement.
