Working Hours and Overtime in French Guiana

In French Guiana, your company must comply with working hour and overtime laws – including daily limits, overtime thresholds, and rest requirements – to stay compliant and build a strong employee experience.

As you plan staffing and scheduling, you must respect the 35-hour statutory workweek, correctly identify and compensate overtime, and guarantee daily and weekly rest. This includes tracking actual hours worked, applying the correct premium rates, and honoring collective agreements that may set more protective rules. By 2026, enforcement is expected to focus increasingly on digital timekeeping accuracy, prevention of excessive working hours, and protection of vulnerable workers such as minors and night workers, so investing in robust compliance systems now will reduce legal and reputational risks.

• Standard Working Hours
• Overtime Thresholds
• Overtime Pay Rates
• Daily And Weekly Rest Requirements
• Night Work Restrictions
• Penalties For Non-Compliance

What Are The Standard Working Hours In French Guiana?

An employee whose age is 17 or younger has a maximum of 8 hours per day and 35 hours per week. An employee whose age is 18 or older is allowed to work 35 hours per week. A minimum meal interval of 20 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 17:00.

Maximum Working Hours In French Guiana

French Guiana follows French labor law, which sets the legal full-time working week at 35 hours for most employees. In practice, you may schedule employees up to 10 hours per day, provided you respect weekly limits and obtain any required authorizations for atypical schedules. The absolute legal ceiling is generally 48 hours in a single week and an average of 44 hours per week over any 12 consecutive weeks, including overtime. You should document working-time arrangements in employment contracts or collective agreements and maintain accurate time records for each employee.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

• Healthcare And Hospital Services
• Hospitality, Hotels, Cafés, And Restaurants
• Retail And Seasonal Sales Periods
• Transportation And Logistics Operations
• Agriculture, Fisheries, And Agro-Processing
• Security, Surveillance, And Emergency Services

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Certain managerial and autonomous employees in French Guiana may be placed under a forfait arrangement, where working time is calculated as a fixed number of hours or days over the year rather than by the standard weekly limit. These schemes must be based on a valid collective agreement and an individual written agreement with the employee. Even when employees are exempt from standard hourly tracking, you must still respect health and safety rules, reasonable workloads, and mandatory daily and weekly rest periods. Misclassifying employees as exempt or using forfait arrangements without proper legal basis can expose you to back pay claims and administrative penalties.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In French Guiana

The statutory full-time schedule in French Guiana is 35 hours per week, typically spread over 5 days. Hours worked beyond 35 in a week are generally treated as overtime, subject to premium pay and caps, unless a valid working-time modulation or annualization scheme applies under a collective agreement. When designing work schedules, ensure that you respect the 35-hour reference, comply with any sectoral collective bargaining provisions, and clearly distinguish between full-time and part-time contracts in writing.

Overtime Regulations In French Guiana

What Counts As Overtime In French Guiana?

In French Guiana, overtime is generally any time worked by a full-time employee beyond the statutory 35-hour workweek, unless a specific working-time arrangement or collective agreement defines another reference period. Overtime can also be assessed against daily and weekly ceilings, such as work beyond 10 hours in a day or 48 hours in a week, which typically requires justification and, in some cases, prior authorization from the labor authorities. You must track actual hours worked, including on-call time that qualifies as working time, to correctly identify and compensate overtime.

Maximum Overtime In French Guiana

Under French rules applicable in French Guiana, overtime is capped both weekly and annually. As a rule, total working time, including overtime, must not exceed 48 hours in any given week and must average no more than 44 hours per week over 12 consecutive weeks. In addition, there is an annual overtime quota, often set at 220 hours per employee per year in the absence of a different limit in a collective agreement. Exceeding these thresholds typically requires consultation with employee representatives, justification based on business needs, and may trigger additional rest or compensation obligations.

Overtime Payout Rates In French Guiana

Overtime in French Guiana is usually paid at premium rates calculated on the employee’s regular hourly wage. The standard legal minimum increases are a 25 percent premium for the first tranche of overtime hours (commonly the first 8 hours between 36 and 43 hours in a week) and a 50 percent premium for subsequent overtime hours, unless a collective agreement provides more favorable terms. Some agreements may allow partial compensation in the form of paid time off instead of cash, but this must respect legal minimums and be clearly documented. Always verify applicable sectoral or company-level collective agreements, as they may set higher rates or specific calculation methods.

Rest Periods And Breaks In French Guiana

In French Guiana, employees typically work up to 10 hours per day within a statutory 35-hour workweek, and rest periods and breaks are designed to protect health and safety within these limits. Whenever an employee works more than 6 hours in a day, you must provide at least a 20-minute uninterrupted meal break, and you must also ensure that daily and weekly rest periods are respected even when overtime or atypical schedules are used.

• Meal Break Requirements
• Daily Rest
• Weekly Rest
• Minors
• Employer Duties