Working Hours and Overtime in Niger

In Niger, 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.

Looking ahead to 2026, you should expect closer scrutiny from labour authorities on accurate timekeeping, overtime authorization, and protection of vulnerable workers such as minors and night workers. Strengthening your internal policies, training managers on scheduling rules, and aligning collective agreements or company practices with the Labour Code will help you anticipate regulatory updates, avoid disputes, and maintain a sustainable workload for your teams.

• 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 Niger?

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 8:00 to 16:00.

Maximum Working Hours In Niger

Under Niger’s Labour Code, the general statutory limit for full-time work is 40 hours per week, usually spread over five or six days. In practice, this often means 8 hours per day for a 5-day week or slightly shorter days over 6 days, provided the weekly total does not exceed 40 hours. As an employer, you should clearly define working schedules in employment contracts or internal regulations and ensure that any variation – such as shift work or compressed weeks – still respects the weekly cap and applicable rest periods.

Daily working time should be organized so that employees have sufficient rest between shifts and do not work excessive hours that could endanger their health or safety. You should also monitor actual hours worked through reliable timekeeping systems to ensure that the legal weekly limit is not exceeded without properly authorized and compensated overtime.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

• Agriculture And Livestock Operations
• Mining, Oil, And Extractive Industries
• Transport, Logistics, And Road Haulage
• Hotels, Restaurants, And Tourism Services
• Security, Guarding, And Surveillance Services
• Healthcare And Emergency Services
• Seasonal And Campaign Work (Such As Harvests)

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managers and certain categories of highly autonomous employees may be treated differently from standard hourly staff. In Niger, these employees are often engaged on a fixed-salary basis that assumes a broader availability and a higher level of responsibility. While they are still protected by health and safety rules, they may not benefit from the same strict hourly tracking or overtime compensation rules as non-managerial employees, depending on their classification under the Labour Code and any applicable collective agreement.

To minimize risk, you should define managerial or exempt status narrowly and in writing, specifying decision-making authority, independence in organizing work, and remuneration structure. Misclassifying employees as exempt when they effectively work like regular staff – with fixed schedules and limited autonomy – can expose you to back-pay claims for overtime, penalties, and social security adjustments.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Niger

Statutory full-time employment in Niger is generally based on a 40-hour workweek. Collective bargaining agreements or sectoral regulations may refine how these 40 hours are distributed across the week, but they cannot usually increase the legal maximum without treating the excess as overtime. When you design work schedules, you should align them with the 40-hour benchmark and clearly distinguish between standard hours and overtime hours in payslips and internal policies.

Part-time arrangements should be documented with the agreed reduced weekly hours, and any work beyond the agreed schedule may trigger overtime or premium pay according to law or collective agreements. Maintaining clear written terms and accurate records is essential for demonstrating compliance during inspections or disputes.

Overtime Regulations In Niger

What Counts As Overtime In Niger?

In Niger, overtime is generally any working time performed beyond the statutory 40-hour workweek or beyond the normal daily schedule set in the employment contract or collective agreement. Once an employee exceeds these standard hours at your request or with your knowledge, those additional hours are typically treated as overtime and must be compensated at enhanced rates.

Overtime should be exceptional, justified by business needs, and properly authorized in advance by a manager. You should implement a clear written policy explaining when overtime is allowed, how it is requested and approved, and how it is recorded. Time worked during weekly rest days or public holidays is usually treated as overtime or special work and attracts higher premiums or compensatory rest.

Maximum Overtime In Niger

Nigerian labour rules generally limit the amount of overtime that can be imposed on employees to protect their health and safety. While specific caps can vary by sector or collective agreement, a common framework is that overtime should not cause the total weekly hours to become excessive over a reference period, and annual overtime is often subject to a maximum ceiling that may require labour inspector approval if exceeded.

As an employer, you should track overtime cumulatively – weekly, monthly, and annually – to ensure you remain within the applicable limits. Where sectoral rules or collective agreements specify a maximum number of overtime hours per week, month, or year, you must respect those caps and obtain any required authorizations from the labour authorities before asking employees to exceed them.

Overtime Payout Rates In Niger

Overtime in Niger is typically paid at a premium over the employee’s normal hourly wage. Common practice, reflected in many collective agreements, is to apply higher rates for the first block of overtime hours and even higher rates for work performed at night, on weekly rest days, or on public holidays. For example, overtime on ordinary working days may attract a surcharge in the range of 15–50 percent, while work on rest days or holidays may be compensated at 50–100 percent above the base rate or with equivalent paid time off.

You should verify the exact rates that apply to your sector and workforce, taking into account any collective agreements, company policies, or individual contracts that provide more favourable terms than the statutory minimum. Payslips should clearly show the number of overtime hours worked, the applicable premium rates, and the resulting amounts paid, so employees can easily understand how their overtime pay was calculated.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Niger

In Niger, employees typically work up to 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, and rest periods and breaks are designed to protect their health and safety within these limits. As an employer, you must integrate meal breaks, daily rest, and weekly rest into your scheduling so that employees do not work long stretches without adequate recovery time, especially when overtime, shift work, or night work is involved.

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