It is more common than we think that certain sectors take advantage of the hours that their worker is available to the company. Of course, an employee can work more hours than those stipulated by the contract, but both the number of hours and their remuneration are regulated and can be legally claimed if certain requirements are not being met.
Overtime hours are those that are worked beyond the time stipulated by contract. For example, if an employee is working full time, his workday will consist of 40 hours per week, any additional hour that he works, effectively for the company, will be considered an extra hour.
Each of these hours that are worked beyond the contract must be voluntary and must be compensated with free hours or paid with, at least, the same amount with which ordinary hours are paid.
Unless we are dealing with a case of force majeure, no worker can be forced to work overtime and, furthermore, they cannot work more than 80 overtime hours per year.
It must always be taken into account that since most of the overtime that is carried out in a company is of a structural nature, it is therefore voluntary. In addition, these hours that are carried out must be reflected in the company’s hours record and, of course, they must be compensated, as we have already pointed out.
These are who cannot perform them:
In order to carry out this claim, it is necessary to check the record and obtain a copy that can demonstrate the completion of the hours. It is essential to have the necessary evidence that demonstrates that excessive working hours have been carried out and that there are irregularities in their performance. In the event that the company is not carrying out the registration of the hours in a correct way, the testimonial evidence of people such as colleagues will be essential to be able to demonstrate that overtime has been done.
There is a maximum term to be able to claim overtime, it is one year and based on article 35 of the Workers’ Statute, which states that the term to be able to receive remuneration for hours is four months, we could extend the time of claim up to one year and four months.
The first of the recommended steps to claim overtime is to contact the human resources department of the company for which you work or the person in charge of these matters in the event that said department does not exist.
If, with a claim of this type, compensation for the overtime hours performed is not obtained, the next step would be to present it to the Mediation, Arbitration and Conciliation Service (SMAC) as a prior mandatory step before going to the Labor Court.
In order to claim remuneration for the overtime hours that have been worked before a judge, it must be demonstrated that the hours have been carried out and that the payment or days off corresponding to overtime worked have not been received.
The worker can denounce the company if they have worked overtime for which they have not received compensation or if the legally stipulated limit of 80 annual hours has been exceeded. In the same way, the employee could denounce the completion of these hours, if they were in any of the aforementioned groups.
In the event that a company does not comply with the regulations related to overtime, it could be penalized with fines of up to €90,000 depending on the type of irregularity it is committing.
