Overtime: see how to calculate (even at home office)

Extending the journey, working more a day is not a problem, as long as this extra hour get paid. The company produces and the worker certainly wins. If he works harder, he gets more. Nobody loses, right? Wrong!

How does overtime work?

Overtime hours you work beyond the amount agreed with the company in your employment contract. The law that mandates the payment of overtime exists to prevent abuse by employers and also to protect the physical and mental health of the employee.

When you work non-stop – and without rest – you work a lot of overtime and, consequently, earn more at the end of the month. What we don’t realize, at least not so soon, is that we put aside leisure, family life, study, sports practice and even food and hygiene. Sooner or later, our health will pay the bill for all of this. It is in this sense that the law protects the worker, including himself.

What does the law say?

For the common eight-hour day, for six from Monday to Friday (for the bank employee) or for five hours from Monday to Saturday (for the journalist), the law provides for the possibility of carrying out overtime, as long as they are contingent and paid with an additional of at least 50%. The law further states that overtime may not exceed two hours per day.

It is important to understand that “eventuality” is an important requirement for overtime. If you have to work extra hours every day, that stops being overtime and becomes a work break. Overtime should be the exception, not the rule.

How to calculate the value of overtime?

And how do you calculate the value of your overtime? You need to consider your gross pay (which includes tips and commissions, for example) and divide by the number of hours in the month, known as the “work breaker”. This divisor is equivalent to five times a week.

For example, the 30-hour worker, like the bank employee or the journalist, uses the divisor 150; the 36-hour employee, like the telemarketing operator, uses divisor 180; the 40-hour one, as the teacher, divisor 200; and the 44-hour worker, like the domestic worker, divisor 220. This division will give the value of the hour worked.

To find out the amount of overtime, you need to add the extra to the amount of your hour worked. Under the Constitution, the minimum surcharge is 50%. Less than that is illegal, but nothing prevents conditions or rules more beneficial to the worker. Thus, if your individual contract, the company’s agreement with the union, or the agreement between employees ‘and employers’ unions provides for a larger additional, the agreement is valid, because it is more protective to the worker.

Take the example of a bank employee who earns R $ 4,500 a month. Divisor 150 is applied. This results in an amount equal to R $ 30 / hour. With an additional 50%, the amount of overtime results in R $ 45.

For a joiner with an equal salary, overtime reaches R $ 32.73, because the divider to be used is 220, and the additional is 60%, provided for in the collective agreement of the category.

How to account for overtime in the home office

The work in home office does not require control of working hours as it happens in the face-to-face work. Thus, those who are working at home because of the pandemic with more flexible hours and without this type of control, usually do not have the right to receive overtime because there is no law that requires companies to pay for them in case of telework. CLT even claims that it is not possible to fix and measure the working hours of an employee who fulfills his duties in the home office mode.

There are, however, some ways for companies to control the journey of professionals who are in the home office and occupy certain functions. A virtual point system is an option. In such cases, employees may be entitled to receive overtime when they exceed the contracted workday, but the decision, for now, depends mainly on an agreement between the company and the employee.

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