Working Time Act 2025: everything about the rules of working hours

The Working Time Act sets rules about working hours, breaks and rest to ensure a healthy work-life balance. In this blog, you can read exactly what the law means and which groups of employees fall under specific rules.

What is the Working Time Act?

The Working Time Act is a law designed to protect your work-life balance. The rules ensure that you don't get overworked and provide clear guidelines on how much you can work and how long you can rest. In addition, this law contains specific rules for groups such as young people, elderly people, pregnant women and employees in certain sectors.

Why does the Working Time Act exist?

This law exists to protect the health, safety and well-being of employees. By setting limits on working hours and obligations for rest periods, employees can be prevented from working too long in a row. This can cause physical and mental exhaustion.

Benefits for employers

Happy employees are the driving force behind a successful company. As an employee, if you pay attention to the work-life balance of your employees, you will quickly reap the benefits:
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• Less absenteeism due to a healthy work culture
• Higher productivity through better motivation
• A strong reputation as an attractive employer
• Loyal employees, which reduces staff turnover

Obligations for employers

As an employer, you have a number of obligations what you must comply with under the Working Time Act:
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• The hours worked must be kept track of
• The schedule must be set in writing and every employee must be able to view it.
• The personal circumstances of the employees must be taken into account.
• Changes in the schedule must be notified on time, at least 28 days in advance if no other arrangements have been made about this.

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Working hours under the Working Time Act

The Working Time Act sets clear limits on the working hours of employees aged 18 or over. These rules provide guidance for both employers and employees and are intended to improve working conditions.

The most important guidelines are:
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• A maximum of 12 hours per shift.
• Up to 60 hours per week.
• Over a period of 4 weeks, an average of no more than 55 hours per week.
• Over a period of 16 weeks, an average of no more than 48 hours per week.
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Depending on their sector, employees can also make specific working hours agreements through a collective agreement or collective arrangement.

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Breaks in the Working Time Act

The breaks are also included in the Working Time Act. Breaks are important for recovery and concentration. These rules are:
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• After 5.5 hours of work, you are entitled to a minimum of 30 minutes of break, possibly split into 2 times fifteen minutes.
• For working days longer than 10 hours, you are entitled to a minimum of 45 minutes of break, possibly split into 3 quarters.
• As an employee, you are not allowed to start or end your working day with a break; breaks are meant to interrupt your working time.
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💡 Breaks are not counted as working time, unless it has been agreed in the collective labor agreement that wages will continue to be paid during breaks.

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Rest periods under the Working Time Act

The Rest and Working Time Act ensure that employees have enough time to recover after their working day.
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• After a working day, there is a minimum rest period of 11 hours. Once every 7 days, it can be shortened to 8 hours.
• Employees are entitled to 36 hours of continuous rest per week.
• This weekly rest may also be spread over 14 days, provided that there is at least 72 hours of rest in that 14-day period, divided into at least two periods of at least 32 hours each.

Night Shift and Working Time Act

Working at night comes with extra challenges. In order to protect the health of employees, there are strict rules for night shifts in the Working Time Act.

‍When is there a night shift?

‍A night shift is specifically defined on the basis of working hours. Here are the most important criteria:

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• If an employee works at least one hour between midnight and 6 a.m., this is night work.
• A night shift may last a maximum of 10 hours, in exceptional cases it may take 12 hours.

Number of night shifts per year

‍There are limits on the number of night shifts that an employee can work per year. The rules are as follows:
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• Employees are allowed to work a maximum of 117 night shifts per year.
• In special cases, this may amount to 140 night shifts.
• Do your employees always work at night? Then ask a Permanent night work exemption on. This allows them to work a maximum of 260 night shifts per year.

Rest after a night shift

‍In order to reduce physical and mental strain, there are mandatory rest periods after a night shift. Here are the most important rules:
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• After a 10 hour night shift, a minimum rest period of 14 hours applies. Exceptionally, this may be shortened to 8 hours once a week.
• After a 12 hour night shift, a minimum of 12 hours of rest is required.
• After 3 consecutive night shifts, a mandatory rest period of at least 46 hours applies.

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Exceptions for night shifts

‍Not everyone is allowed or should work night shifts. Here are the main exceptions:
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• Pregnant employees should not be required to work night shifts.
• Young people under 18 are not allowed to work night shifts.
• These rules also apply to freelancers.

Exceptions to the Working Time Act

For some professional groups and situations, different rules apply to working hours. For employees of a number of occupations and sectors, the general rules for working and rest times may be broken. Consider, for example, people who work in healthcare, mining or the transport sector.

The National government provides more information about this.

Young people under 18

The rules of the Working Time Act for young people under 15 are very strict:
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• The work should only be light and not burdensome, such as filling courses or babysitting.
• Young people are allowed to work a maximum of 2 hours on a school day and 12 hours during school weeks.
• Work is not allowed on Sundays or after 19:00.
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The following rules apply to young people from the age of 15:
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• Up to 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week during holidays.
• No night shifts or heavy physical work.

Employees aged 55 or over

The Working Time Act does not contain specific rules for employees aged 55 or over. However, it is possible that agreements have been made here in the collective labor agreement or your contract about, for example, the obligation to work night shifts.

The CNV provides an overview of collective agreements that have made specific agreements regarding the Working Time Act and night shifts if you are 55 or older.

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How a time tracker tool can help

One time registration tool makes it easy to accurately track hours worked, breaks and rest periods. This ensures that:
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• You always comply with the rules of the Working Time Act.
• Employees get insights into their own working hours.
• You contribute to a better work-life balance.

Breaking the Working Time Act

If you notice that your employer is not following the rules of the Working Time Act, there are a number of steps you can take:
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• Talk about it: Discuss it with your employer. Sometimes it's a misunderstanding that can be easily resolved.
• Report it internally: Contact the HR department or staff representative. They can see what is going wrong and whether a solution can be reached together.
• Get help: If you are unable to resolve the issue yourself, contact a trade union or legal advisor.
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By taking action, you not only help yourself, but also your colleagues and ensure a better work environment.

Conclusion

The Working Time Act provides clear rules about working hours, breaks and rest. This prevents overload and ensures a healthy work-life balance. Whether you're young or experienced, this law protects your rights and contributes to a better work environment.

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