Working Time Records and the Legal Overtime Caps
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The Swedish Working Hours Act requires you to keep records of each employee's overtime and extra hours (mertid), and it caps how much may be worked. Vendion calculates both from the punched time.
Where to find them
Go to Personal ▸ Tider ▸ Arbetstidsanteckningar and choose the year and month. The table shows per person:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Worked | Punched time in the month, net of breaks |
| General overtime | Overtime within the first 200 hours of the year |
| Extra overtime | Overtime after the first 200 hours of the year |
| General and extra extra hours | The same split for part-timers' extra hours |
| Overtime this year and extra hours this year | The total from January up to the chosen month |
Below the table, everything that passed the legal caps during the year is listed. Ladda ner (download) gives the whole year's records as a CSV file.
How overtime and extra hours are counted
- Per week (Monday to Sunday), hours above 40 are overtime.
- Extra hours are the time between the person's contracted weekly hours and 40 hours. A full-timer has no extra hours.
- The limit is the law's 40 hours, even if your own overtime limit in payroll is different.
- Time is placed on the days in order, so a week split by a month end lands in the right month.
- Voided shifts and guest shifts do not count.
The records are based on punched time. Payroll calculates overtime pay with the collective agreement's rules and may therefore show other figures, for example for salaried staff with contracted hours per month.
The legal caps
| Cap | Limit | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Overtime per month | 50 hours per calendar month | Working Hours Act §8 |
| General overtime per year | 200 hours | §8 |
| Extra overtime | at most 150 more hours, for special reasons | §8 a |
| Extra hours | the same caps: 50 hours a month, 200 plus 150 a year | §10 a |
| Average | at most 48 hours a week on average over four months, holiday and sick leave included | §10 b |
The law lets the employer choose between 48 hours per four weeks and 50 hours per calendar month. Vendion measures per calendar month. Breaching the caps can lead to a penalty fee of 1 per cent of the price base amount per hour and employee (SEK 592 in 2026).
The schedule already warns while you plan. Read Schedule Warnings – Labour Law and Clashes.
Who sees the records
Whoever plans the schedule or handles payroll. The employee and the union have the right to see the records, and they must be kept for the current year plus two (AFS 2023:2 chapter 9). Download the file and hand it over when someone asks.
This feature is part of Vendion Staff.
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