Overtime ban

An overtime ban is one form of industrial action. During the ban employees do not work overtime. A trade union (PAM) declares the overtime ban.

Overtime is always voluntary to the employee. When PAM imposes an overtime ban, its members in the concerned workplaces use this right and refuse overtime work offered by the employer.

As a rule, all work exceeding 40 hours a week is overtime. If the sector organises work in, for example, 3-week periods, all work exceeding 120 hours in any 3-week period is generally overtime.

The same hourly limits apply to part-time employees. They can accept extra work up to the overtime limit.

A workplace may use a working hours adjustment system in which the working time of a 3-week period is not limited to the above-mentioned maximum working hours but the working time may be flexible within the system’s pre-defined adjustment periods. In these situations, overtime is determined on a case-by-case basis.

During the overtime ban, no work may be accumulated to a working time bank or a corresponding system. The use of outside labour, such as on-call workers or agency staff, is not accepted during the ban as it provides the employer a possibility to bypass the legal overtime ban.

Please check the sector-specific overtime rules here or in your sector’s collective agreement.

The ban can apply to a single company, one agreement sector or all PAM sectors. When imposing the ban, PAM will announce where it will be applied.

Overtime ban may be used when negotiating on a collective agreement, trying to influence political decision-making or supporting another sector’s industrial action.