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Working Hours Act

The Working Hours Act (1982:673) governs how much and when you may work in Sweden. It sets ordinary working time at no more than forty hours a week, caps overtime at two hundred hours a year, and requires daily and weekly rest.

Updated

  • Category

    Working time and pay

  • Also known as

    ATL · ATL · arbetstidslagen · arbetstidslagen 1982:673

  • Sources

    Arbetstidslagen (1982:673), the Working Hours ActArbetsmiljöverket, the Swedish Work Environment Authority, which supervises it

The Act governs when work is placed and how much of it there is, not what it is paid. Working at inconvenient times is permitted within the Act's limits, but what those hours are worth is set by a collective agreement or an employment contract.

The limits that come up most often:

  • Section 5: ordinary working time, no more than 40 hours a week.
  • Section 8: general overtime, no more than 200 hours a calendar year.
  • Section 10: additional hours for part-time employees, no more than 200 hours a year.
  • Section 13: daily rest, at least 11 hours.
  • Section 14: weekly rest, at least 36 hours.
  • Section 15: breaks during the working day.

Large parts of the Act are semi-optional, which means a collective agreement may depart from them.

How Timply handles it

Timply keeps actual clock times per day and per person, and the reports total hours worked, overtime and additional hours for any period. That is the basis the Act's limits are followed up against.

Related terms

  • Daily rest

    Daily rest is the unbroken time off an employee is entitled to in every twenty-four hour period. The Swedish Working Hours Act requires at least eleven hours, and the hours between midnight and five in the morning should normally fall inside the rest.

  • Weekly rest

    Weekly rest is the longer unbroken time off an employee is entitled to in every seven-day period. The Swedish Working Hours Act requires at least thirty-six hours, and the rest should fall at the weekend as far as possible.

  • Overtime

    Overtime is working time beyond ordinary working time, meaning beyond the full-time measure. The Swedish Working Hours Act caps how much overtime may be taken in a year, while what it is paid is set by a collective agreement or an employment contract.

  • Collective agreement

    A collective agreement is a written agreement between an employers' organisation or employer and a trade union on pay and terms of employment. In practice it decides premium levels, overtime pay, the number of holiday days and departures from the Working Hours Act.

Every term in the glossary

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