Working Hours and Overtime in Albania

What Are The Standard Working Hours In Albania?

An employee whose age is 16 or younger has a maximum of 6 hours per day and 30 hours per week. An employee whose age is 18 or older is allowed to work 40 hours per week. A minimum meal interval of 30 minutes must be observed by employees who work more than 6 hours in a day. In typical working hours, Monday through Friday, the hours are 8:00 to 16:00.

Maximum Working Hours In Albania

Under Albanian labour law, the standard working time for adult employees is 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, calculated over a five-day workweek. You may distribute these hours differently across the week through employment contracts or collective agreements, provided the average does not exceed 40 hours over the agreed reference period. Any schedule that regularly exceeds these limits will generally be treated as overtime and must follow overtime rules.

Collective agreements can introduce flexible or compressed schedules, but they cannot waive statutory health and safety protections. As an employer, you must clearly document working schedules, keep accurate time records, and ensure that employees receive their minimum daily and weekly rest. You should also monitor workloads to avoid systematic overwork that could be considered an abuse of rights or a breach of health and safety obligations.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

Companies hiring in sectors like healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, or hospitality may be subject to special scheduling rules. These rules often allow for longer daily shifts or irregular hours, as long as the average weekly working time remains within the 40-hour standard over a defined reference period. You must check any sectoral collective agreements or specific regulations that apply to your industry.

• Healthcare professionals may work 12-hour shifts with extended rest periods.
• Transport workers must comply with EU-aligned rest and driving limits.
• Manufacturing and security staff often rotate through night or weekend shifts.

Even in these sectors, you must ensure the average weekly limit is respected over a reference period. You should also conduct risk assessments for long or irregular shifts and adapt staffing levels to prevent fatigue-related incidents. Written shift rosters and advance notice of changes are strongly recommended to demonstrate compliance.

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managers and certain high-level decision-makers may enjoy broader flexibility in scheduling and may not track hours in the same way as hourly staff. However, Albanian law does not create a blanket exemption from working-time protections, and you remain responsible for safeguarding their health and safety. Their contracts should clearly define expected working patterns, availability, and any lump-sum compensation that covers overtime.

Where you classify employees as managerial or exempt, you should ensure that their level of autonomy and pay genuinely reflects this status. Misclassifying employees to avoid overtime or rest-period obligations can expose you to back-pay claims and administrative penalties. Regular reviews of job descriptions and actual duties help reduce this risk.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Albania

In Albania, full-time employment is generally defined as 40 hours per week for adult employees. You may agree on shorter contractual hours, such as 35 or 38 hours per week, but these arrangements should be clearly documented in the employment contract. Any work beyond the agreed contractual hours may be treated as overtime, even if it does not exceed the statutory 40-hour ceiling.

Part-time arrangements are permitted and are common in retail, hospitality, and seasonal work. Part-time employees must receive pro-rated rights to pay, leave, and benefits compared with full-time staff working 40 hours per week. You should avoid using successive short-term or part-time contracts to circumvent full-time obligations.

Overtime Regulations In Albania

Overtime in Albania is tightly regulated, and you must obtain employee consent except in narrowly defined urgent situations. You are required to keep accurate records of hours worked, including overtime, and to retain these records for inspection by the labour inspectorate. Failure to document overtime properly can lead to disputes, back-pay liabilities, and administrative fines.

What Counts As Overtime In Albania?

For adult employees, overtime is generally any time worked beyond 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week, unless a different distribution is validly agreed in writing. Work performed beyond the contractual weekly hours, even if below 40 hours, may also be treated as overtime if the contract or collective agreement so provides. You should define overtime triggers clearly in contracts and internal policies to avoid ambiguity.

Work performed on weekly rest days or public holidays is treated as overtime and attracts higher pay rates. If employees agree to work on their weekly rest day, you must both pay the applicable overtime premium and grant a substitute rest day. Night work that exceeds normal daily or weekly limits is also considered overtime and must be compensated at the relevant overtime rate in addition to any night premium where applicable.

Maximum Overtime In Albania

Albanian law limits overtime to a maximum of 8 hours per week for each employee, so total working time should not exceed 48 hours in any given week. In practice, this means you cannot systematically schedule employees for more than 48 hours per week, including overtime, without breaching working-time rules. Overtime must be exceptional and not used as a permanent staffing solution.

Over a longer reference period, you should ensure that average weekly working time, including overtime, does not exceed 48 hours. In urgent cases such as force majeure or unexpected operational needs, temporary deviations may be allowed, but you must still respect health and safety obligations and compensate employees correctly. Internal approval thresholds, such as requiring managerial sign-off for more than 4 hours of overtime per week, are recommended to maintain control.

Overtime Payout Rates In Albania

Under Albanian labour law, overtime must be paid at a premium of at least 25% above the employee’s regular hourly rate, meaning a minimum of 1.25x pay for each overtime hour. If overtime is performed at night, the 1.25x overtime rate applies in addition to any contractual night premium, unless a collective agreement provides a higher combined rate. You may always choose to pay more generous rates, but you cannot go below the statutory minimum.

For work performed on weekly rest days or public holidays, the minimum premium is typically 50% above the regular hourly rate, equivalent to at least 1.5x pay for those hours. Some collective agreements in Albania provide even higher rates, such as 2.0x pay for work on key public holidays. You should specify all overtime and holiday rates in writing and ensure payroll systems apply the correct multipliers.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Albania

In Albania, employees typically work 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, and rest periods are designed to protect their health within this framework. During a standard workday, employees are entitled to a meal break once they work more than 6 hours, and they must also receive minimum daily and weekly rest. As an employer, you must schedule and document these breaks so they align with the actual working hours in your business.

• Meal Break: Employees who work more than 6 consecutive hours in a day must receive a meal break of at least 30 minutes, which should be scheduled so that it meaningfully interrupts the working period. In many Albanian workplaces this break is unpaid, but the arrangement must be clearly stated in the employment contract or internal rules.
• Daily Rest: Adult employees are entitled to a minimum uninterrupted daily rest of 11 consecutive hours between shifts in any 24-hour period. You should design shift patterns so that employees are not called back to work in a way that reduces this 11-hour rest window.
• Weekly Rest: Employees must receive at least 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest, typically on Sunday, in addition to the 11-hour daily rest. If business needs require Sunday work, you must provide an alternative continuous rest day during the same week.
• Minors: Employees under 18 benefit from stricter protections, including shorter maximum daily hours and longer rest periods. You must not schedule minors for night work and should ensure their breaks are long enough to support schooling and development.
• Employer Duty: Employers in Albania are responsible for organizing work so that statutory breaks and rest periods are actually taken, not just theoretically available. Labour inspectors may review schedules and time records, so you should keep clear documentation showing compliance with daily and weekly rest rules.

Night Shifts And Weekend Regulations In Albania

Night and weekend work are legal in Albania but subject to additional employer responsibilities and employee protections. You must pay attention to working-time limits, rest periods, and any applicable premium rates when scheduling staff outside normal daytime hours. Proper planning and documentation are essential to demonstrate compliance during inspections.

Night work in Albania is generally defined as work performed between 22:00 and 06:00, although collective agreements may refine this window for specific sectors. Employees who regularly perform a substantial part of their hours during this period are considered night workers and benefit from additional safeguards. You should identify night workers in your records and monitor their schedules closely.

• Premium Pay: Albanian law does not set a specific statutory percentage for night work premiums, so there is no mandatory numerical night supplement such as 25% or 1.25x. In practice, many employers and collective agreements grant night premiums in the range of 20%–30% above the base hourly rate, and you should specify the exact percentage or multiplier in employment contracts or internal policies.
• Health Monitoring: Regular night workers should be offered periodic health assessments to identify any adverse effects of night schedules. Where medical advice indicates that night work is unsuitable, you should consider transferring the employee to day work where reasonably possible.
• Workplace Restrictions: Minors under 18 are prohibited from night work in Albania, with only very narrow exceptions in specific supervised training contexts. Pregnant workers and new mothers must not be required to perform night work, and you should adjust their schedules or duties to comply with medical recommendations.

Weekend work, particularly on Sunday, is treated as an exception to the normal weekly rest pattern in Albania. If employees work on their weekly rest day, you must provide a substitute continuous rest period of at least 24 hours and pay a premium that is typically at least 50% above the regular hourly rate, equivalent to 1.5x pay, unless a collective agreement grants a higher rate.