Working Hours and Overtime in Benin

What Are The Standard Working Hours In Benin?

An employee whose age is 17 or younger has a maximum of 8 hours per day and 40 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 08:00 to 17:00.

Maximum Working Hours In Benin

Under Beninese labour law, the normal legal working time is 40 hours per week for full-time employees, usually spread over five or six days. Daily working time is commonly limited to about 8 hours, and any schedule that exceeds these limits must be justified and documented in writing. Employers must clearly define working hours in employment contracts or internal regulations and communicate any changes in advance.

Collective agreements or sectoral conventions may organize working time over reference periods, but they cannot reduce statutory protections. When flexible or shift systems are used, you must ensure that the average weekly hours do not exceed 40 hours over the agreed reference period. Accurate timekeeping systems are essential to demonstrate compliance in the event of an inspection or dispute.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

Companies hiring in sectors like healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, or hospitality may be subject to special scheduling rules. These rules can allow for longer daily shifts, split shifts, or irregular hours, provided that weekly averages and mandatory rest periods are respected. You should always verify whether a sectoral collective agreement or decree applies to your activity before designing work schedules.

• 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. Where longer shifts are used, you should provide compensatory rest and monitor fatigue risks to comply with health and safety obligations.

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managerial staff and certain autonomous professionals may be treated as working under a broader time commitment rather than strict hourly tracking. In Benin, however, even managerial employees remain protected by general health and safety rules and should not be required to work excessive hours on a systematic basis. Their contracts should clearly state whether they are subject to the standard 40-hour week or to a forfait arrangement based on days or responsibilities.

Where a forfait or similar arrangement is used, you should document the expected workload and ensure that it is realistically compatible with rest and family life. Courts may recharacterize arrangements that disguise excessive working hours, exposing you to back pay for overtime and penalties.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Benin

Statutory full-time work in Benin is based on a 40-hour workweek for most private-sector employees. This is typically organized as five 8-hour days or six shorter days, depending on the sector and collective agreements. Any schedule that regularly exceeds 40 hours per week is considered to involve overtime and must follow the legal overtime rules.

Part-time arrangements are permitted as long as the reduced hours and pay are clearly defined in the employment contract. You may also use flexible or staggered hours, but you must still respect daily and weekly rest periods and keep reliable records of actual hours worked.

Overtime Regulations In Benin

Overtime in Benin must be carefully controlled, recorded, and compensated according to statutory rules and any applicable collective agreement. You are responsible for authorizing overtime in advance, tracking actual hours worked, and ensuring that employees do not exceed legal limits. Failure to comply can lead to back payment of wages with surcharges, administrative fines, and potential criminal liability in serious cases.

What Counts As Overtime In Benin?

Overtime in Benin is generally any working time performed beyond the statutory 40 hours per week for full-time employees. Work performed on the weekly rest day, typically Sunday, or on a public holiday is also treated as overtime and attracts higher premium rates. Part-time employees generate overtime when they exceed the contractual hours or, in some cases, when they surpass the normal full-time threshold.

Overtime should normally be exceptional and justified by temporary increases in workload or operational needs. You should implement a clear internal policy requiring prior managerial approval before employees work beyond their scheduled hours.

Maximum Overtime In Benin

Beninese labour law limits overtime to 240 hours per year per employee in most sectors, unless a specific decree or collective agreement sets a different ceiling. In practice, this equates to an average of about 4.6 overtime hours per week over a full year, in addition to the 40-hour statutory week. Some sectoral rules also cap overtime at 20 hours per week, meaning total weekly hours should not exceed 60 hours including overtime.

Overtime beyond the standard annual ceiling of 240 hours generally requires prior authorization from the labour inspectorate or must be expressly allowed by a sectoral agreement. You should monitor cumulative overtime per employee and put in place alerts when workers approach 200–220 hours in a year to avoid breaching the cap.

Overtime Payout Rates In Benin

In Benin, overtime is typically paid as a percentage increase over the employee’s normal hourly wage. For the first 8 overtime hours in a week, the statutory minimum premium is 20%, meaning you must pay at least 1.20x the regular hourly rate. Beyond 8 overtime hours in the same week, the premium rises to 40%, or at least 1.40x the regular hourly rate.

Work performed on Sundays or the weekly rest day is usually paid at a 60% premium, or 1.60x the normal hourly rate, while work on public holidays is commonly compensated at 100%, or 2.00x the regular rate. Collective agreements may grant higher percentages, but you cannot go below these statutory minima when calculating overtime pay.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Benin

In Benin, employees typically work up to 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, and rest periods are designed to protect their health within this framework. During the working day, employees who work more than 6 hours are entitled to a meal break, and they must also benefit from daily and weekly rest. You should structure schedules so that these breaks are predictable and clearly communicated to staff.

• Meal Break: Employees who work more than 6 consecutive hours must receive at least a 30-minute unpaid or paid meal break, as defined by contract or collective agreement. You should schedule this break roughly in the middle of the work period to reduce fatigue.
• Daily Rest: Workers are generally entitled to a minimum of 11 consecutive hours of rest between the end of one workday and the start of the next. This daily rest must not be systematically reduced, even when overtime is used to handle peak activity.
• Weekly Rest: Employees must receive at least 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest, usually on Sunday, in addition to the daily rest period. If business needs require Sunday work, you must grant an equivalent compensatory rest day during the week.
• Minors: Workers under 18 benefit from stricter limits on working time and must receive longer rest periods where necessary. You should avoid scheduling minors for late evening work and ensure they have adequate time for education and recovery.
• Employer Duty: Employers must organize work so that legal rest periods are respected and properly recorded. Labour inspectors in Benin may request evidence of schedules and timesheets to verify compliance with rest and break rules.

Night Shifts And Weekend Regulations In Benin

Night and weekend work are legal in Benin but subject to additional employer responsibilities and employee protections. You must pay attention to working-time limits, rest periods, and any applicable premiums when scheduling staff outside normal daytime hours. Particular care is required for vulnerable groups such as minors and pregnant workers.

Night work in Benin is generally defined as work performed between 22:00 and 05:00, although some sectoral agreements may extend this window from 21:00 to 06:00. This definition applies across most roles, including manufacturing, security, hospitality, and healthcare, unless a specific regulation provides otherwise. Employees who regularly work during this period are considered night workers and may be entitled to special protections.

• Premium Pay: In many sectors in Benin, night work attracts a minimum premium of 30%, meaning night hours are paid at least 1.30x the normal hourly rate. Some collective agreements increase this to 40%–50% (1.40x–1.50x) for work performed after midnight or for continuous night shifts.
• Health Monitoring: Regular night workers should receive periodic health assessments to monitor fatigue, sleep disorders, and other risks associated with night work. You should adapt schedules or reassign employees if medical advice indicates that night work endangers their health.
• Workplace Restrictions: Minors are generally prohibited from night work, especially in industrial or hazardous environments, except for narrowly defined training situations. Pregnant workers should not be required to perform night shifts, and you should offer transfer to daytime duties or appropriate adjustments where possible.

Weekend work, particularly on Sunday, is normally treated as work on the weekly rest day and is therefore exceptional. When employees work on Sunday, you must provide a substitute rest day and pay a premium that commonly reaches 60%, or 1.60x the normal hourly rate, unless a more favourable collective agreement applies.