Working Hours and Overtime in Isle of Man

In Isle of Man, 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 workforce needs through 2026, you should expect continued emphasis on accurate time recording, protection of young and night workers, and enforcement of reasonable working hours. Regulators and courts are likely to scrutinise patterns of excessive overtime, inadequate rest, and misclassification of staff, so robust policies, training for managers, and regular audits of working-time data will be essential to demonstrate compliance.

• 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 Isle of Man?

An employee whose age is 15 or younger has a maximum of 5 hours per day and 25 hours per week. An employee whose age is 16 or older is allowed to work 48 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 17:30.

Maximum Working Hours In Isle of Man

Isle of Man employment law is closely aligned with UK working time standards. For most adult employees, the reference point is an average limit of 48 hours per week, calculated over a reference period (commonly 17 weeks) rather than as a strict cap every single week. This means you may schedule some weeks above 48 hours, provided the average over the reference period does not exceed 48 hours and you respect daily and weekly rest requirements.

In practice, many employers set standard full-time hours at around 37.5–40 hours per week, spread over five days, and treat any hours above the contractual norm as overtime. You should clearly define in contracts and policies what constitutes normal working hours, how you will record working time, and how you will manage peaks in workload to avoid systematic overwork.

Special protections apply to young workers. Employees under 18 are subject to stricter limits on daily and weekly hours, night work, and the type of work they can perform. You should carry out risk assessments for young workers and ensure rotas and shift patterns comply with youth employment rules, including enhanced rest and education-related protections where applicable.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

• Emergency And Essential Services
• Health And Social Care Facilities
• Hospitality, Tourism, And Catering
• Transport, Ports, And Logistics
• Agriculture, Fisheries, And Seasonal Work
• Security, Surveillance, And On-Call Roles

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managers and certain high-level professionals often have broader flexibility in their working patterns. Their contracts may specify that they are required to work the hours necessary to fulfil their duties, without a strict daily cap. However, you still have a duty of care to protect their health and safety, and you should monitor workloads to ensure that excessive hours do not become the norm.

Where you classify employees as exempt from particular working time rules, you should base this on the actual nature of their role – such as genuine autonomy over working time, decision-making authority, and high-level responsibility – rather than job title alone. Misclassifying staff to avoid overtime or rest obligations can expose your organisation to legal and reputational risk.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Isle of Man

There is no single statutory definition of full-time hours in Isle of Man, but full-time roles are commonly set between 35 and 40 hours per week in employment contracts. For working time compliance, you must ensure that the average weekly hours – including overtime – do not exceed 48 hours over the relevant reference period, unless a lawful opt-out or specific exemption applies.

To manage compliance, you should document standard hours in contracts, maintain accurate time records for all staff (including salaried employees), and implement clear policies on overtime approval, shift scheduling, and rest breaks. Transparent communication of expected hours and regular review of working patterns will help you remain compliant and support employee wellbeing.

Overtime Regulations In Isle of Man

What Counts As Overtime In Isle of Man?

Overtime in Isle of Man is generally understood as any time an employee works beyond their normal contractual hours. For many full-time employees, this means hours worked above 37.5–40 hours per week, depending on the contract. You should define overtime clearly in employment contracts and staff handbooks, including whether it is calculated on a daily basis, a weekly basis, or both.

From a working time perspective, you must also monitor when total hours – including overtime – approach the 48-hour average weekly limit. Even if your contracts allow for additional hours, you remain responsible for ensuring that employees do not routinely exceed safe working limits and that they receive the required daily and weekly rest.

Maximum Overtime In Isle of Man

There is no fixed statutory cap on the number of overtime hours an adult employee may work in a single week, but the overall average working time – normal hours plus overtime – must not exceed 48 hours per week over the applicable reference period, unless a valid exemption or opt-out applies. In practice, this functions as an indirect limit on overtime.

You should implement internal controls on overtime, such as pre-approval requirements, rota planning, and periodic reviews of time records. Particular care is needed for night workers, shift workers, and employees in safety-critical roles, where fatigue can create significant health and safety risks. For young workers, overtime is heavily restricted and must not cause them to exceed youth-specific daily and weekly limits.

Overtime Payout Rates In Isle of Man

Isle of Man law does not prescribe a universal statutory overtime premium rate for all employees. Instead, overtime pay is typically governed by the employment contract, collective agreements, or company policy. Common practice is to pay a premium – for example, 1.25x or 1.5x the basic hourly rate – for hours worked beyond normal contractual hours, and higher rates for work on Sundays, public holidays, or at night.

Whatever structure you adopt, you must ensure that an employee’s average pay for all hours worked does not fall below the applicable minimum wage. You should also state clearly in writing whether overtime is compulsory or voluntary, how it is authorised, the applicable rates, and whether you offer time off in lieu instead of cash payments. Transparent, consistently applied rules reduce disputes and support compliance.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Isle of Man

In Isle of Man, employees commonly work around 7.5–8 hours per day and approximately 37.5–40 hours per week, within an overall average limit of 48 hours per week. Within these working hours, you must schedule appropriate rest periods and breaks – including meal breaks during the working day, daily rest between shifts, and weekly rest days – to protect employee health and ensure that total working time remains within legal and contractual limits.

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