Working Hours and Overtime in Guadeloupe

In Guadeloupe, 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 in Guadeloupe through 2026, you should expect continued enforcement of French working time rules, with particular attention to accurate timekeeping, overtime caps, and protection of vulnerable workers. Regulators are increasingly focused on psychosocial risks and work–life balance, so you should proactively review your shift patterns, remote work practices, and managerial workloads to ensure that daily and weekly rest periods are respected and that overtime is properly authorized, recorded, and compensated.

• 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 Guadeloupe?

An employee whose age is 16 or younger has a maximum of 7 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 Guadeloupe

As Guadeloupe follows French labor law, the statutory full-time working week is 35 hours for adult employees, usually spread over five days. You may not generally schedule more than 10 hours of work per day, except where a collective agreement or labor inspector authorization allows an increase, typically up to 12 hours in narrowly defined circumstances. The absolute legal ceiling, including overtime, is 48 hours in any single week and an average of 44 hours per week over any 12 consecutive weeks, unless a specific derogation is granted by the labor authorities.

For minors aged 16–17, daily and weekly limits are stricter. They are normally limited to 7 hours per day and 35 hours per week, and they cannot work overtime except in very limited, regulated situations. Night work for minors is prohibited, and you must design schedules that respect schooling obligations where applicable.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

• Hospital And Healthcare Services
• Hotels, Restaurants, And Tourism
• Agriculture And Seasonal Harvest Work
• Maritime And Port Operations
• Retail And Extended Opening Hours
• Transportation And Logistics

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Certain managerial and autonomous employees may be engaged under a working time arrangement based on days worked per year rather than hours (for example, a forfait-jours agreement under French law). These employees do not track daily hours in the same way as hourly staff, but you still have a duty to monitor their workload, ensure reasonable working times, and protect their health and safety. Even for exempt or senior managers, you must respect mandatory daily and weekly rest periods and prevent excessive working hours that could be considered an infringement of working time rules.

For other white-collar employees who are not on a days-based arrangement, the standard 35-hour week applies, and any hours beyond that threshold are treated as overtime, subject to the applicable caps and premium pay. Collective bargaining agreements in Guadeloupe may refine which categories of employees can be considered autonomous or exempt and set additional safeguards.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Guadeloupe

Statutory full-time employment in Guadeloupe is based on 35 hours per week for adult employees. This is the reference threshold for calculating overtime and for determining whether a role is full-time or part-time. You may organize these 35 hours over the week in different patterns – such as five 7-hour days or four longer days and one shorter day – provided you comply with daily maximums and rest rules.

Part-time employees must have their contractual weekly or monthly hours clearly stated in writing, along with the distribution of those hours across days of the week. Any hours worked beyond the contractual schedule but below 35 hours are generally treated as complementary hours, which are also regulated and may attract a specific premium. You should always check the applicable sectoral collective agreement in Guadeloupe, as it may set more protective limits or higher premiums than the statutory minimums.

Overtime Regulations In Guadeloupe

What Counts As Overtime In Guadeloupe?

In Guadeloupe, overtime for adult employees is generally any working time performed beyond the statutory 35-hour workweek. For employees whose schedules are organized over a reference period longer than one week – for example, several weeks or a full year – overtime is assessed by comparing actual hours worked with the average weekly hours over that reference period. Hours worked beyond the contractual schedule for part-time employees may be treated as complementary hours up to 35 hours, and as overtime once the 35-hour threshold is exceeded.

Overtime must be expressly requested or at least authorized by you as the employer. You are responsible for implementing reliable systems to record working time, including overtime, and for ensuring that overtime does not breach daily and weekly maximums or rest requirements. Unauthorized overtime that you knowingly accept or fail to prevent can still create an obligation to pay the appropriate overtime premiums.

Maximum Overtime In Guadeloupe

Overtime is subject to strict limits. In principle, total working time – regular hours plus overtime – may not exceed 48 hours in any given week, and the average weekly working time must not exceed 44 hours over any 12 consecutive weeks, unless a specific derogation is granted by the labor authorities. In addition, there is an annual overtime quota per employee, often set at 220 hours per year under French law, though this can be adjusted by collective agreement.

Once the annual overtime quota is exceeded, you may still be able to request additional overtime, but this typically requires consultation with employee representatives and may trigger compensatory rest or other protections. You must also pay close attention to vulnerable categories of workers – such as pregnant employees, employees returning from parental leave, and minors – who benefit from enhanced protections and, in some cases, are not allowed to perform overtime at all.

Overtime Payout Rates In Guadeloupe

Overtime in Guadeloupe is generally compensated with premium pay calculated as a percentage increase over the employee’s normal hourly wage. Under French rules that apply in Guadeloupe, the first tranche of overtime – typically from the 36th to the 43rd hour in a week – is usually paid at a 25 percent premium, while hours beyond that are paid at a 50 percent premium, unless a collective agreement provides for more favorable rates. Some sectoral agreements in Guadeloupe may grant higher premiums or additional compensatory rest.

Instead of or in addition to premium pay, overtime can sometimes be compensated with equivalent or higher paid time off, known as compensatory rest. Any such arrangements must comply with statutory minimums and applicable collective agreements, and they should be clearly documented in your internal policies and in employee communications. You must itemize overtime hours and corresponding premiums or compensatory rest on payslips so employees can verify that they have been correctly compensated.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Guadeloupe

In Guadeloupe, where standard working time for adults is typically organized around 7 hours per day and 35 hours per week, you must structure schedules so that statutory rest periods and breaks are fully respected. Employees who work more than 6 hours in a day are entitled to at least a 20-minute uninterrupted break, and you must also ensure that daily and weekly rest periods are not eroded by overtime or irregular shifts. Proper planning of rosters, including for part-time and shift workers, is essential to align operational needs with these mandatory rest protections.

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