Working Hours and Overtime in Armenia

What Are The Standard Working Hours In Armenia?

An employee whose age is 16 or younger has a maximum of 5 hours per day and 24 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 9:00 to 18:00.

Maximum Working Hours In Armenia

Under Armenian labour law, the standard working time for adult employees is 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week in a five‑day working week. Employers may introduce a six‑day working week, but the total weekly duration must still not exceed 40 hours. Any schedule that would regularly exceed these limits must be agreed in writing and structured as summarized or aggregated working time.

Collective agreements or internal work rules can distribute working hours unevenly across days, provided that the average does not exceed 40 hours per week over the applicable reference period. You must clearly communicate work schedules in advance and keep accurate time records for each employee. Changes to established schedules should be notified in writing within a reasonable period before they take effect.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

Companies hiring in sectors like healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, or hospitality may be subject to special scheduling rules. Armenian law allows summarized working time accounting in such sectors, enabling longer shifts on particular days as long as the average weekly hours over the reference period remain within the 40‑hour standard. You must document the reference period, which is typically up to 3 months but may be extended by collective agreement.

• 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 are also required to assess fatigue risks and adjust staffing levels or shift patterns where long or irregular hours are used.

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managers and certain highly autonomous employees may have more flexible schedules, but Armenian law does not fully exempt them from working‑time protections. Their employment contracts should clearly state that their role involves irregular or extended hours and specify how their remuneration covers such time. You should avoid assuming that a managerial title alone removes the need to track hours or respect daily and weekly rest.

Where managers are paid a fixed salary intended to cover reasonable overtime, this must still be compatible with the 40‑hour weekly standard and health and safety obligations. If managers are required to work beyond normal limits on a regular basis, you should either adjust staffing or provide additional paid rest or overtime compensation according to internal policies or collective agreements.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Armenia

Statutory full‑time work in Armenia is generally defined as 40 hours per week for adult employees. Most employers implement this as 8 hours per day over a five‑day working week, with Saturday and Sunday as rest days. Alternative patterns, such as six‑day weeks or compressed hours, are permitted if the 40‑hour weekly average is maintained.

Part‑time arrangements are allowed where the contracted hours are below the 40‑hour standard, and these must be clearly reflected in the employment contract. You may also introduce flexible or shift‑based schedules, but you must ensure that full‑time employees do not systematically exceed the statutory norm without proper overtime treatment and rest periods.

Overtime Regulations In Armenia

Overtime in Armenia is tightly regulated, and employers are responsible for ensuring that work beyond the normal 40‑hour week is both justified and properly compensated. You must obtain the employee’s consent in most cases, except in narrowly defined emergency situations. Accurate recording of all hours worked is essential to demonstrate compliance and to calculate overtime pay correctly.

Failure to manage overtime lawfully can lead to administrative fines, back‑pay liabilities, and potential disputes with labour inspectors. You should adopt clear internal policies on when overtime is allowed, how it is approved, and how it is paid or compensated with time off. These policies should be communicated to employees and consistently applied across your workforce.

What Counts As Overtime In Armenia?

In Armenia, overtime is generally any working time performed beyond the employee’s established daily schedule or beyond 40 hours in a standard week. When summarized working time is used, overtime is calculated at the end of the reference period as hours exceeding the normal total for that period. Work performed at the employer’s request outside the posted schedule, including staying late or starting early, is treated as overtime if it increases total hours beyond the norm.

Work on weekly rest days or public holidays is also considered overtime unless those days are part of a lawful shift pattern. Such hours must be compensated at enhanced rates, typically at least 1.5x of the regular hourly wage for rest days and 2x for public holidays. You should obtain written consent for planned overtime and keep signed records of hours worked on rest days and holidays.

Maximum Overtime In Armenia

Armenian legislation limits the use of overtime to protect employee health and safety. As a general guideline applied in practice, overtime should not exceed 4 hours on any given day and 8 hours in any given week, meaning total weekly hours should not normally exceed 48 hours. Over a longer reference period, you should ensure that average weekly hours, including overtime, do not exceed 48 hours when calculated over up to 4 months.

For vulnerable categories such as pregnant employees, employees with children under one year old, and minors, overtime is either prohibited or allowed only with strict consent and medical clearance. You should also set internal caps, for example limiting overtime to 120 hours per year per employee, and require higher‑level managerial approval when an employee approaches this threshold. If operational needs require exceeding these internal caps, you should reassess staffing levels rather than relying on continuous overtime.

Overtime Payout Rates In Armenia

Armenian law requires that overtime be paid at a premium above the employee’s regular hourly rate. A common statutory benchmark is at least 1.5x the normal hourly wage for overtime hours worked on regular working days. For work performed on weekly rest days, many employers apply a minimum of 1.5x to 1.75x, while work on official public holidays is typically paid at no less than 2x the regular hourly rate.

Collective agreements or company policies may provide higher multipliers, such as 2x for all overtime beyond 48 hours per week or for night‑time overtime. You should clearly specify in employment contracts or internal regulations the exact multipliers used for weekday overtime, weekend overtime, and public holiday work, ensuring that none fall below 1.5x for overtime and 2x for public holidays. Where time off in lieu is granted, it should be at least equivalent in value to the monetary premium, for example 1.5 hours of paid time off for each 1 hour of overtime paid at a 1.5x rate.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Armenia

In Armenia, employees typically work 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, and rest periods are structured around these standard hours to protect health and productivity. During a standard shift, workers are entitled to a meal break and must also receive minimum daily and weekly rest. As an employer, you must organize schedules so that these breaks and rest periods are actually taken, not just theoretically provided on paper.

• Meal Break: Employees who work more than 6 hours in a day must receive a meal break of at least 30 minutes, which is usually unpaid but must be free from work duties. You should schedule this break roughly in the middle of the shift and ensure employees can leave their workstation.
• Daily Rest: Armenian practice follows a minimum daily rest of 11 consecutive hours between shifts for adult employees. You should avoid scheduling back‑to‑back shifts that would reduce this rest period.
• Weekly Rest: Employees are entitled to at least 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest, typically on Sunday, in addition to daily rest. Many employers provide a 42‑hour continuous rest period by combining weekly and daily rest.
• Minors: Employees under 18 benefit from shorter working days and enhanced rest protections, including longer daily rest and additional breaks. You must not schedule minors for night work or extended shifts that could compromise their education or health.
• Employer Duty: Employers must design work schedules that respect statutory rest periods and clearly communicate break times to staff. You should monitor actual practice, adjust staffing where breaks are routinely skipped, and document compliance for inspection purposes.

Night Shifts And Weekend Regulations In Armenia

Night and weekend work are legal in Armenia but subject to additional employer responsibilities and employee protections. You must pay particular attention to health and safety, rest periods, and any applicable premium pay when organizing such schedules. Certain categories of workers, such as pregnant employees and minors, enjoy special protection and may not be assigned to night or weekend work.

Night work in Armenia is generally understood as work performed between 22:00 and 06:00, and this definition applies across most roles and sectors that operate around the clock. Employees who regularly work a substantial portion of their hours within this window are considered night workers and must receive appropriate compensation and health safeguards. You should clearly indicate in contracts or internal rules when a position is classified as night work.

• Premium Pay: Armenian law does not set a single fixed statutory night work premium, but common practice is to pay at least 20%–30% extra, equivalent to 1.2x–1.3x of the regular hourly rate for hours worked between 22:00 and 06:00. You should define your exact night premium in internal regulations, ensuring that combined night and overtime work is paid at no less than 1.5x and often up to 2x the base rate.
• Health Monitoring: Regular night workers should be offered periodic medical examinations to monitor fatigue, sleep disorders, and other health impacts. Where health issues are identified, you should consider transferring the employee to day work or adjusting their schedule.
• Workplace Restrictions: Minors under 18 are generally prohibited from night work and should not be scheduled between 22:00 and 06:00. Pregnant employees and employees with young children are also protected and may refuse night shifts without adverse consequences.

Weekend work, particularly on Sunday, is allowed where the nature of the business requires continuous or shift‑based operations, but employees should normally receive at least one uninterrupted rest day per week. When employees are required to work on their weekly rest day, you must provide either a substitute rest day within the same week or pay a premium, commonly at least 1.5x the regular hourly rate, and for work on public holidays often 2x.