Statutory working hours per week
The base the whole overtime structure is built on, and the number people skip past on their way to '52'. It also fixes what counts as working time in the first place: time spent on standby under the employer's direction is working time, so an employer cannot reclassify pre-shift, training and waiting time as breaks and reach a lawful figure that way.
- Applies to
- Employees at workplaces with five or more ordinary employees
- Review cadence
- Checked once a year
What we have recorded
- 2026-09-2040 hours
Excluding break time, working hours may not exceed 40 a week or 8 a day. Break time only counts as break time if the employee is genuinely free to use it; standby under the employer's direction and supervision is working time.
Labor Standards Act, art. 50
One reading so far. This becomes a history the first time the figure moves while we are watching — which is the part that cannot be reconstructed later.
Guides that depend on this figure
When this figure moves, every guide above needs the same edit. That is why it is tracked here rather than copied into each one.