Over-hours and overtime

Over-​hours are defined as hours worked in excess of the set weekly number of hours for full-​ or part-​time employees, but that do not exceed the legal maximum of 45 hours a week. Overtime is defined as time worked in excess of the legal maximum of 45 hours per week. 

Employees should balance any over-hours worked by taking free time of the same duration – if possible – on an ongoing basis over the course of the year. ETH Zurich uses the annual working time model for its employees. This means that accrued time off accumulated during times with higher workloads generally can and should be balanced out by taking free time of the same duration.

If it is not possible to compensate hours in the current year for operational reasons, personnel regulations allow for 100 hours to be carried over into the following year and 100 hours to be paid out. Any higher amount of hours cannot be carried over and will instead expire.

ETH Zurich is granting a grace period to employees with high time credits. These employees must reduce their time balances as follows:

• 31 December 2021: Over-hours, overtime – maximum 200 hours
• 31 December 2022: Over-hours, overtime – 100 hours
  
  

More information on handling and reducing high levels of accrued time off can be found here.

Executive staff (function level 10 and higher) are not entitled to receive payment for over-hours and overtime.