Overtime pay in Jordan: rates, limits and the hourly wage

Normal working hours in Jordan's Labour Law

Article 56 sets the limit: a worker may not be employed for more than eight hours a day or 48 hours a week, except in the cases the law provides, and time for meals and rest doesn't count. The employer may spread the weekly maximum and the rest periods across the week, as long as work and breaks together don't exceed eleven hours in a day.

Friday is the weekly rest day unless the nature of the work requires otherwise, and a monthly-paid worker is paid for it in full (Article 60). Every employer with ten or more workers must set out working hours and rest periods in an internal regulation approved by the ministry (Article 55), which is also the natural home for your overtime rules.

Who the hours rules don't cover, or cover more strictly

• People who run or generally supervise the business, and staff whose work requires travel inside or outside Jordan: the working-hours provisions don't apply to them (Article 58).
• Workers under 18 may not work more than six hours a day, between 8 pm and 6 am, or on the weekly rest day, religious feasts and official holidays (Article 75).

Ramadan hours in the private sector

The Labour Law has no Ramadan schedule. The government's shorter Ramadan hours cover the public sector; the Ministry of Labour has said private-sector hours in Ramadan are left to each business and its internal regulation (Ministry of Labour, 2023). Whether hours beyond a shortened Ramadan day, but within eight, count as overtime isn't settled by the text, so state your rule in the internal regulation.

When overtime is allowed, and when the employee's consent is needed

The general rule is consent: Article 59 allows work beyond the daily or weekly hours with the worker's agreement. Article 57 sets out the only two cases in which the employer may require it, and even then the overtime is paid:

1. Annual stocktaking, preparing the budget and accounts, and getting ready for sales at reduced prices: no more than 30 days a year, and no more than ten hours of actual work on each of those days.
2. Preventing the loss of goods or other material that may spoil, avoiding the risks of technical work, or receiving, delivering or transporting particular materials: no more than 30 days a year.

Outside those cases, overtime isn't part of the job. The Ministry of Labour's guide to the law treats making a worker do overtime beyond the agreed hours, or work a rest day or holiday, without consent as forced labour under Article 77, which carries a fine of 500 to 1,000 JOD, doubled for a repeat (Ministry of Labour guide, 2018).

Overtime rates in Jordan: 125% and 150%

Article 59 sets two minimums. Each overtime hour is paid at no less than 125% of the worker's usual wage. A worker who works on the weekly rest day, a religious feast or an official holiday receives, for that day's work, additional pay of no less than 150% of the usual wage.

These are floors. Article 4 keeps any better term in a contract, agreement or decision, so a company that pays more must keep doing so. The law sets no separate night-work premium, and the claim in some summaries that the first two overtime hours earn 125% and later hours 150% isn't in the text.

How to calculate the hourly wage for overtime: divisor conventions

The rates apply to the worker's usual wage, and the Labour Law defines neither that term nor a way to turn a monthly salary into an hourly figure. The Ministry's guide simply multiplies the actual hourly wage by the rate and the hours. That leaves two choices to the employer, and both change the result.

Which pay goes in

Article 2 defines the wage as everything earned for the work plus the allowances and entitlements the contract, internal regulation or settled practice provide for, excluding overtime pay itself. Using that full wage is the cautious reading. Some employers use basic salary only; take advice before you do, because the law doesn't say the usual wage means basic salary.

The divisor

These conventions are practice, not law. The table applies each to a total monthly wage of 720 JOD.

A smaller divisor gives a higher hourly wage, so it is the safer side if a claim reaches the wage authority or a court. Whichever you choose, write it into the contract or internal regulation and use it for everyone in the same position.

Limits on overtime in Jordan

The Labour Law sets no overall daily, monthly or yearly cap on overtime a worker agrees to. The limits it does set are specific:

• Required overtime under Article 57: 30 days a year for each case, and ten hours of actual work on stocktaking days.
• A distributed working week can't put more than eleven hours of work and breaks into one day (Article 56).
• Workers under 18 can't work more than six hours a day, at night, or on rest days and holidays (Article 75), which rules out overtime for them.

No cap isn't the same as no risk: Article 78 obliges employers to protect workers from the hazards of work, and long hours raise fatigue and accidents. A monthly ceiling in the internal regulation and prior manager approval keep hours and cost in check.

Worked examples of overtime pay

One employee on a total monthly wage of 720 JOD, using the 30 × 8 convention, so the hourly wage is 3.000 JOD. Amounts are in JOD.

The Friday and holiday amounts are added to the 720 JOD salary, which already pays for those days. Change only the divisor and the first case moves: the same ten hours come to 43.269 JOD at 208 and 51.136 JOD at 176.

Recording overtime and paying it through payroll

Article 46 requires the wage and overtime pay to be paid within seven days of falling due, and a worker's signature on a payroll sheet or receipt doesn't waive a claim to anything more the law provides. Overtime disputes go to the wage authority or the magistrates' court (Articles 54 and 137), and Article 138 bars claims for overtime pay two years after they arise, so keep records at least that long.

• The date, the start and end times, and whether each hour fell on a working day, the rest day or a holiday.
• The employee's consent, or the Article 57 case that applied.
• Who approved it, and the payroll month it was paid in.

Overtime pay is excluded from the wage used for end-of-service gratuity (Article 2); our end-of-service guide explains that calculation.

In Link HR, overtime comes from attendance or an employee's request, goes through your approval chain, is priced at the rate set on each overtime type (125% for working days and 150% for rest days and holidays by default), and flows into the month's payroll run.