Working Hours and Overtime in Jamaica

In Jamaica, 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 regulations and enforcement expectations evolve toward 2026, employers in Jamaica are under increasing pressure to formalize working-time policies, maintain accurate time and pay records, and align internal practices with collective agreements and sectoral standards. You should review contracts, rosters, and payroll systems to ensure that normal hours, overtime triggers, and rest entitlements are clearly defined, consistently applied, and transparent to employees. Anticipate closer scrutiny of night work, young workers, and high-overtime environments, and be prepared to demonstrate that your scheduling decisions prioritize health, safety, and fair compensation.

• 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 Jamaica?

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 60 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 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Maximum Working Hours In Jamaica

Under Jamaican practice, a standard workweek is generally 40 hours, usually spread over five 8-hour days. Employment contracts or collective agreements may provide for up to 44–48 hours in certain sectors, but you should treat 40 hours as the benchmark for full-time work and for determining when overtime begins, unless a registered collective agreement or specific statute for your industry states otherwise. You should clearly define normal daily and weekly hours in each employee’s contract and ensure that any additional hours are voluntary, recorded, and compensated in line with law and collective agreements.

For minors under 18, you must take particular care not to schedule work that exceeds 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week, and you should avoid night work and hazardous duties in line with occupational safety and child labour protections. Where shift systems are used, you must design rosters so that employees do not exceed the agreed normal hours and receive appropriate rest between shifts.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

• Hospitality And Tourism Establishments
• Security And Guarding Services
• BPO And Call Centre Operations
• Manufacturing And Export Processing Zones
• Healthcare And Emergency Services
• Transportation And Port Operations

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managerial, supervisory, and certain professional employees in Jamaica are often treated as exempt from some of the standard working-time and overtime rules, particularly where they exercise genuine decision-making authority, manage other staff, or can determine their own working schedules. Their remuneration is usually structured on a salary basis that is intended to compensate for the longer or more irregular hours typically associated with such roles.

As an employer, you should not assume that a job title alone makes an employee exempt. Instead, assess the actual duties, level of autonomy, and pay structure. Clearly state in the employment contract whether the role is treated as managerial or exempt, describe expected working hours, and ensure that workloads remain reasonable and consistent with health and safety obligations. Even where overtime premiums are not paid, you still owe these employees adequate rest periods and a safe working environment.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Jamaica

In Jamaica, full-time employment is commonly based on a 40-hour workweek, typically 8 hours per day over 5 days. Many collective agreements and company policies adopt this standard when defining eligibility for benefits such as paid leave, health coverage, and pension contributions. Where a different pattern is used – for example, 10-hour shifts over 4 days – the total weekly hours should still align with the contractual full-time standard and comply with any sectoral rules.

You should document the full-time standard in your internal policies and employment contracts, including the normal working days, daily start and end times, and any flexitime or shift arrangements. This clarity helps you determine when overtime is triggered, how to prorate benefits for part-time staff, and how to manage rest periods and night work in a compliant way.

Overtime Regulations In Jamaica

What Counts As Overtime In Jamaica?

In Jamaica, overtime generally refers to any hours worked in excess of the employee’s normal daily or weekly hours as set out in the employment contract, collective agreement, or applicable wage order. For most full-time employees, this means work beyond 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, unless a different threshold is clearly established by a registered agreement or statute for the sector.

Overtime must be expressly requested or approved by the employer, and you should avoid informal practices where employees work extra hours without written authorization. Time spent on mandatory training, staff meetings, handover at shift change, or required travel between work sites can count as working time and may push an employee over the overtime threshold. You should implement a reliable timekeeping system to capture all hours worked and ensure that overtime is accurately calculated and paid.

Maximum Overtime In Jamaica

Jamaican law and common industrial-relations practice expect employers to limit overtime so that total working hours remain reasonable and do not endanger employees’ health and safety. As a practical guideline, you should avoid scheduling more than 4 hours of overtime on any given day and more than 12–16 hours of overtime in a week, so that total weekly hours do not regularly exceed about 56 hours.

Where collective agreements or sectoral rules specify stricter caps, those limits will prevail and must be followed. You should also ensure that employees receive at least one full day of rest per week and adequate daily rest between shifts. For vulnerable groups – such as young workers, pregnant employees, or those in safety-sensitive roles – you should be even more conservative with overtime and consider medical or risk assessments where appropriate.

Overtime Payout Rates In Jamaica

Overtime in Jamaica is typically paid at a premium rate above the employee’s normal hourly wage. For many categories of workers, the standard practice – often reflected in collective agreements – is to pay at least 150% (time and a half) of the regular rate for overtime hours worked on normal working days. Work performed on rest days or public holidays is commonly paid at 200% (double time) or higher, depending on the applicable agreement or wage order.

As an employer, you should define overtime rates clearly in employment contracts and staff handbooks, ensuring that they meet or exceed any statutory or collectively agreed minimums. The regular hourly rate should include all components that form part of normal pay, such as basic salary and fixed allowances, when calculating overtime. Overtime payments must be itemized on payslips, paid in the same pay period in which the overtime was worked, and supported by accurate time records that can be produced in the event of an inspection or dispute.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Jamaica

In Jamaica, employees typically work around 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, and rest periods and breaks are designed to ensure that these hours are worked safely and sustainably. You are expected to provide a reasonable meal break during the workday – especially where an employee works more than 6 hours – as well as adequate daily rest between shifts and at least one full day of weekly rest. These protections apply alongside any sectoral rules or collective agreements and should be built into your scheduling, timekeeping, and overtime practices.

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