CalcKitIf you work in Qatar's private sector and stay past your normal hours, your employer owes you more than your usual pay for those extra hours. Article 74 of Qatar Labour Law No. 14 of 2004 sets a fixed legal formula: every overtime hour must be paid at your normal hourly rate plus a premium โ 25% for daytime hours and 50% for night hours. These are minimums, not suggestions, and they apply to any hours worked beyond your normal schedule.
The short answer
Daytime overtime: hourly rate ร 1.25. Night overtime (9 PM to 6 AM): hourly rate ร 1.5. Your hourly rate is your monthly basic salary รท 240 (30 days ร 8 working hours). Once you know those two facts, the whole calculation is a few lines of arithmetic โ and you can verify any payslip in minutes.
Step 1 โ find your real hourly rate
The standard monthly salary cycle in Qatar assumes 30 days at 8 hours a day, which is 240 working hours a month. So:
Hourly rate = monthly basic salary รท 240
Two things people get wrong here. First, the base is your basic salary only โ housing, transport and food allowances are excluded from overtime calculations. Second, some contracts simply use a higher monthly divisor for "overtime rate" clauses, but whatever your contract says, it cannot pay you less than the legal minimum.
Step 2 โ apply the legal premium
Qatar's law splits overtime into two bands. Any extra hours worked in the daytime are paid at your hourly rate plus a premium of at least 25% โ that is, a minimum of 125% of your normal hourly rate. Any overtime hours falling between 9 PM and 6 AM carry a premium of at least 50% โ a minimum of 150% of your normal hourly rate.
Two important exceptions. The night premium does not apply to workers on a regular shift schedule โ their shift rate already covers the unsocial hours. And the law as a whole does not cover domestic workers, government and public-sector employees, or people in key managerial positions who exercise the employer's powers.
Worked example
Take an employee with a monthly basic salary of QAR 3,000. Hourly rate = 3,000 รท 240 = QAR 12.50 per hour. Suppose in one month he works 10 extra daytime hours and 4 extra night hours. Daytime overtime = 10 ร 12.50 ร 1.25 = QAR 156.25. Night overtime = 4 ร 12.50 ร 1.5 = QAR 75.00. Total overtime pay = QAR 231.25. Run your own numbers in our free Overtime Calculator Qatar โ it applies the same Article 74 formula instantly.
Working on Friday โ the weekly rest day
Friday is the statutory weekly rest day in Qatar (except for shift workers). If your employer asks you to work on a Friday, the law requires either another day off in lieu, or payment of your basic wage for the day plus an extra premium of at least 150% of the wage โ so effectively two and a half times the normal rate. Your employer also cannot make you work more than two Fridays in a row, unless you are on a shift schedule.
The 10-hour daily cap and Ramadan hours
Standard hours are 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week; during Ramadan they drop to 6 hours a day and 36 hours a week. Including overtime, your total working time cannot exceed 10 hours per day โ the only exception is genuine emergency work needed to prevent a serious loss or accident. Rest breaks of at least one hour are mandatory after five consecutive hours of work, and those breaks do not count as working hours.
Common mistakes to avoid
1. Basing overtime on total salary. Overtime is always calculated on basic salary. If your payslip silently uses a figure close to your total package, the hourly rate looks right โ but it is not the legal base.
2. Ignoring the night premium. Overtime after 9 PM is paid 20 percentage points higher than daytime overtime. Employees who log "extra hours" as a single lump often get underpaid for the night portion.
3. Assuming shift workers are exempt from everything. The night premium and the Friday rest-day rules have shift-schedule exceptions, but shift workers are still entitled to the 25% daytime overtime premium for extra hours worked.
4. Accepting verbal promises instead of a schedule. Article 77 requires employers to post the working-day, rest-day and hours schedule at the workplace gates and notify the Labour Department โ if there is no written schedule, check what hours were actually worked against the WPS payroll records.