Qatar Working Hours and Overtime: How to Set Up Your Time Attendance System
Article references are to Qatar Labor Law No. 14 of 2004, in its English translation. The official Arabic text on Al Meezan prevails. This is a configuration guide, not legal advice.The short answer
A time attendance system in Qatar should be built around the limits in Articles 73 to 75 of the Labor Law. Ordinary hours are capped at 48 a week and 8 a day, falling to 36 a week and 6 a day in Ramadan. Total work, including overtime, may not exceed 10 hours a day, and every worker gets at least 24 consecutive hours of paid weekly rest. Overtime is paid at the basic wage plus at least 25%. Between 9 pm and 6 am the uplift is at least 50%, except for shift workers. If your system only records clock-ins, someone is doing these calculations by hand.The limits your system should enforce
| Rule | Limit | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary working hours | 48 a week, 8 a day | 73 |
| Ramadan working hours | 36 a week, 6 a day | 73 |
| Continuous work | No more than 5 hours in a row without a break | 73 |
| Breaks for prayer, meals and rest | 1 to 3 hours in total, not counted as working time | 73 |
| Total daily hours including overtime | 10, except to prevent serious loss or a dangerous accident, or to limit their effects | 74 |
| Overtime pay | Basic wage plus at least 25% | 74 |
| Overtime between 9 pm and 6 am | Basic wage plus at least 50%, except shift workers | 74 |
| Weekly rest | At least 24 consecutive paid hours; Friday for workers not on shifts | 75 |
Ramadan: switching to the 36-hour schedule
During Ramadan, Article 73 lowers the ordinary limit to 36 hours a week and 6 hours a day. In an attendance system, that should be a separate shift template with its own start date, end date and daily threshold, not a manual edit to every employee’s roster. Build and test the Ramadan template before the official dates are announced. Once they are, you change two dates rather than reconfiguring hundreds of employees. The overtime threshold moves with the schedule. In Ramadan, the sixth hour of the day is ordinary time and the seventh is overtime. A system that keeps an 8-hour threshold all year will not count Ramadan overtime.Overtime rules the system must flag
The 10-hour daily cap
Article 74 allows overtime but caps total daily work at 10 hours. The exception is work needed to prevent serious losses or dangerous accidents, or to limit their effects. Set an alert at 10 hours so supervisors see a breach the same day, and give the exception its own reason code so you can show why it happened.Day versus night overtime
Overtime is paid at the basic hourly wage plus at least 25%. Between 9 pm and 6 am the uplift rises to at least 50%, except for workers on shift schedules. Your system needs a defined night window from 21:00 to 06:00. It also needs a flag on each employee record marking shift workers, so the correct rate applies automatically.Breaks are not working time
Article 73 excludes prayer, meal and rest breaks of 1 to 3 hours a day from working time, and bars more than 5 consecutive hours of work without a break. If staff do not clock out for breaks, configure an automatic deduction that matches your policy, and alert supervisors when someone passes 5 hours without one.Rest days and Friday work
Article 75 gives every worker at least 24 consecutive hours of paid weekly rest, with Friday as the rest day for workers not on shifts. If someone works on their rest day, the employer must give another rest day or pay a rest-day premium. The English translation sets that premium at the basic wage plus at least 150%. Check the exact wording in the Arabic text with your HR adviser. The same article stops workers who are not on shifts being required to work two Fridays in a row. A roster rule that blocks consecutive Friday assignments prevents this before it happens.From attendance data to WPS payroll
Qatar’s Wage Protection System (WPS) has been in force since November 2015. It requires employers to pay salaries through banks so the labor ministry can monitor that wages are paid on time. WPS salary files come from payroll, and payroll depends on the hours, overtime and rest-day work recorded in your attendance system. Exporting approved attendance totals directly to payroll removes manual re-keying between the two.Setup checklist
- Standard shift templates at 8 hours a day and 48 a week.
- A Ramadan template at 6 hours a day and 36 a week, built before the dates are announced.
- Break rules that exclude 1 to 3 hours and flag 5 hours without a break.
- A 10-hour daily alert with an exception reason code.
- A night window from 21:00 to 06:00 and a shift-worker flag on each employee.
- Separate overtime categories for day, night and rest-day work.
- A roster rule against consecutive Fridays for workers not on shifts.
- Supervisor approval before overtime reaches payroll.
- A direct export of approved totals to payroll.
- An audit log of every manual edit to a time record.
FAQs
Q. What are normal working hours in Qatar?
A. Under Article 73 of the Labor Law, ordinary working hours are capped at 48 a week and 8 a day.Q. What are the working hours during Ramadan?
A. Article 73 caps ordinary hours at 36 a week and 6 a day during Ramadan.Q. Does travel time to work count as working time?
A. No. Article 73 excludes time spent traveling between home and the workplace.Q. Is a worker on a rotating shift paid the night overtime rate?
A. The 50%-night uplift in Article 74 excludes workers on shift schedules. Check how your employment contracts define shift work.Get your attendance rules checked
Axle Systems supplies and configures time attendance systems in Qatar, including the 360TNA Workforce Suite for shifts, overtime and payroll integration. Contact us to review how your current system calculates hours before the next Ramadan schedule begins.Sources
- Qatar Labour Law No. 14 of 2004, English text (ICNL) (unofficial translation; official text on Al Meezan)
- Lega500 | Introduction Of The Wage Protection System In Qatar