Overtime is the hours worked beyond 35 hours a week. It is uplifted by 25% for the first eight, then by 50% beyond that. An agreement may set a different rate, but not below 10%. Back-pay covers the hours worked and not paid, within a three-year limit.
The count is done weekly, beyond the statutory working week of 35 hours. Hours 36 to 43 (the first eight) are uplifted by 25%, and from the 44th hour the premium rises to 50%. These rates apply unless a collective agreement provides for a different rate, which may not be lower than 10%.
| Hours in the week | Statutory premium |
|---|---|
| Up to 35h | standard rate |
| 36th to 43rd hour (first eight) | + 25% |
| From the 44th hour | + 50% |
Note (2025 reversal). By a ruling of 10 September 2025 (Cour de cassation, social division, no. 23-14.455, published), paid-leave days must be taken into account when assessing whether the overtime triggering threshold has been crossed. A week that includes paid leave may therefore give rise to premiums even if fewer than 35 hours were actually worked. Paid leave does not thereby become effective working time within the meaning of article L.3121-1.
The back-pay is calculated in four steps:
To this amount are added the related paid leave and the social security contributions due on the wage sums.
An example. An employee paid 15 euros gross an hour works 4 hours of overtime a week, unpaid, in the 25% band. The uplifted hour is worth 18.75 euros (15 euros × 1.25). Over one week, the back-pay is 75 euros (4 × 18.75 euros); over 45 weeks worked, about 3,375 euros, excluding the related paid leave and contributions. Repeated over three years, the order of magnitude reaches several thousand euros, which explains the weight of this litigation.
An employee under a fixed-hours or fixed-days annual working-time agreement (forfait-jours) is subject to different rules: overtime premiums do not apply in the same way. But a forfait-jours agreement with no effective monitoring of the workload may be declared to have no effect, which reopens the right to count the hours and, where applicable, to back-pay. The validity of the agreement is therefore a precondition of the calculation.
The claim for payment of back wages, overtime included, is time-barred after three years from the day the employee knew or should have known the facts. If the contract has ended, the claim may cover the three years preceding the termination.
The burden of proof is shared. The employee produces sufficiently precise evidence of the hours they claim to have worked, and the employer, who must ensure the monitoring of working time, produces its own evidence. The judge decides in light of the whole. In practice, the absence of any monitoring system on the employer's side often weighs in the employee's favour, provided their claim is supported.
Beyond a certain annual volume, overtime gives entitlement, on top of the premiums, to mandatory compensatory rest. This annual overtime quota (contingent annuel) is set by collective agreement and, failing that, at 220 hours per year per employee. Hours worked beyond it trigger compensatory rest equal to 50% of the hours for firms of no more than twenty employees, and 100% above that. A well-built claim therefore does not stop at the premiums: it also checks whether the quota has been exceeded and whether the compensatory rest has been honoured.
Where the employer has intentionally recorded on the payslips fewer hours than those actually worked, the employee may, upon termination of the employment relationship and on top of the back-pay, claim the fixed indemnity for concealed employment (travail dissimulé), equal to six months of salary. In a published judgment of 6 February 2013 (no. 11-23.738), the Cour de cassation (France's supreme civil court) allows it to be combined with indemnities of any kind due on termination: see how to calculate the indemnity for concealed employment. The back wages remain due separately.
Reconstructing back-pay over three years, week by week, with the premiums and contributions, is slow and error-prone on a spreadsheet. Plato calculates this back-pay and the associated contributions from the elements of the file. See also our article on the barème Macron in 2026.
What is the overtime premium?
25% for the first eight hours beyond 35 weekly hours, then 50% beyond. A collective agreement may set a different rate, at least 10%.
Over how many years can back-pay be claimed?
Three years. Where the contract has ended, the claim may cover the three years preceding the end of the contract.
Does the employee have to prove their overtime?
The burden is shared: the employee supports their claim with precise evidence, the employer produces its own. The judge decides in light of the whole.
Does overtime give rise to contributions and paid leave?
Yes. The back-pay entails social security contributions and gives rise to the related paid leave, both to be included in the total valuation.
Can an employee on a forfait-jours claim overtime?
Not as a rule, unless the forfait agreement is deprived of effect for lack of workload monitoring. Counting the hours then becomes possible again.
What is the annual overtime quota?
It is the annual volume beyond which hours give entitlement, on top of the premiums, to mandatory compensatory rest. Set by collective agreement, it is 220 hours failing that.
What does concealed employment change in the valuation?
If the employer has intentionally recorded on the payslips fewer hours than those actually worked, the employee may, on termination of the contract, claim a fixed indemnity of six months of salary, which adds to the back-pay.
Does paid leave count towards triggering overtime?
Yes. Since the ruling of 10 September 2025 (no. 23-14.455), paid-leave days are taken into account when assessing whether the 35-hour threshold has been crossed, without thereby becoming effective working time.
How do you make this calculation reliable?
A vertical tool like Plato reconstructs the back-pay period by period with the premiums and contributions, which limits the errors of a manual calculation.