Overtime Pay Singapore: Worked Examples for Employers

Overtime pay in Singapore is at least 1.5 times the hourly basic rate of pay, for work beyond contractual hours, says the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). MOM’s overtime FAQ calls it compulsory for non-workmen earning a monthly basic salary of S$2,600 or less and for workmen earning S$4,500 or less. For a monthly-rated employee the hourly basic rate is (12 × monthly basic) ÷ (52 × 44), so S$2,400 a month gives about S$12.59 an hour and S$18.88 for each overtime hour.

The sums below are ours; we did not run MOM’s online calculators.

Who is entitled to overtime pay in Singapore?

MOM’s coverage page (last updated 24 July 2025) and its overtime FAQ (14 March 2024) set the test for Part 4 of the Employment Act, and the hours-of-work page (24 July 2025) states the same two limits:

• Non-workman: overtime pay is compulsory at a monthly basic salary of S$2,600 or less.
• Workman: compulsory at S$4,500 or less. Generally, a workman’s work involves mainly manual labour; MOM’s list includes cleaners, construction workers and van drivers.
• Manager or executive: Part 4 does not cover them, so overtime follows the employment contract.
• Seafarers, domestic workers, statutory board employees and civil servants: outside the Act.

The tests use basic salary only. MOM says it excludes overtime, bonus, annual wage supplement, productivity incentive payments, reimbursement of special expenses and all allowances. In an illustrative case, a non-workman on S$2,500 basic plus S$300 of allowances is tested at S$2,500, within the S$2,600 limit.

Two MOM FAQs add rules. Time off cannot replace overtime pay for staff covered by Part 4 (24 July 2025). And overtime pay only applies if the employer requires work beyond normal working hours (14 March 2024), so MOM says employers should clearly communicate their overtime policies. Our suggestion: write the approval rule down.

How do you calculate overtime pay for a monthly-rated employee?

MOM’s hours-of-work page prints two lines:

• Overtime pay = hourly basic rate of pay × 1.5 × overtime hours.
• Hourly basic rate of pay, monthly-rated = (12 × monthly basic rate of pay) ÷ (52 × 44).

Overtime is work beyond the contractual hours in the contract of service. MOM says contractual hours can go up to 9 hours a day or 44 hours a week on a five-day week or less, and up to 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week on a week of more than five days. The divisor stays 52 × 44 in the formula as printed.

Example 1 (illustrative). An operations assistant, a non-workman, is paid S$2,400 basic plus a S$150 transport allowance. The contract is five days of 8 hours, and the assistant works 7 hours beyond contract hours in the month.

1. Coverage: S$2,400 is under S$2,600, and the allowance is ignored, so overtime is compulsory.
2. Hourly basic rate: 12 × 2,400 = 28,800; 52 × 44 = 2,288; 28,800 ÷ 2,288 = 12.5874, shown as S$12.59.
3. Overtime rate: 12.5874 × 1.5 = 18.8811, shown as S$18.88.
4. Overtime pay: 18.8811 × 7 = S$132.17.

MOM’s current web pages state no rounding rule. Rounding the overtime rate to S$18.88 first gives S$132.16, and rounding the hourly rate to S$12.59 first gives S$132.195, or S$132.20. Our suggestion, not an MOM rule: keep full precision, round the total and note the method on the calculation sheet.

Example 2 (MOM’s printed case). MOM’s page says the overtime rate for non-workmen is capped at the S$2,600 salary level, or S$13.60 an hour, and works it as S$13.60 × 1.5 × 2 hours = S$40.80. Our unrounded sum gives S$13.64 an hour (31,200 ÷ 2,288 = 13.6364) and S$40.91, which is 11 cents more. The cap sentence names non-workmen and does not say how a workman between S$2,600 and S$4,500 is treated, so we work no example for that case. Near S$2,600, and for any workman earning between S$2,600 and S$4,500, ask MOM which figure applies and note the answer. MOM’s overtime calculator is a form we did not run. Our free overtime pay calculator shows each step for monthly-paid full-time and part-time staff, and near the S$2,600 limit it shows both the formula figure and MOM’s S$13.60 figure.

How is overtime worked out for daily-rated and part-time staff?

For a daily-rated employee MOM gives the hourly basic rate as daily pay at the basic rate ÷ working hours per day.

Example 3 (illustrative). A daily-rated warehouse packer does manual work, so is a workman, and earns S$104 a day basic on an 8-hour contract day. We assume the packer is covered: even 26 working days at S$104 is S$2,704, under the S$4,500 workman limit. The hourly basic rate is 104 ÷ 8 = S$13.00, the overtime rate is S$19.50, and 3 hours of overtime pay S$58.50.

Part-timers, who work fewer than 35 hours a week per MOM’s coverage page, have their own rule. Under MOM’s part-time overtime page (25 July 2025), hours beyond the employee’s daily hours but short of a similar full-timer’s normal hours are paid at the hourly basic rate. Hours beyond the full-timer’s normal hours are paid at 1.5 times.

Example 4 (MOM’s printed case, explained). MOM’s page has a part-timer working 4 hours a day at an hourly basic rate of S$5, with a full-timer on 8 hours. For a 9-hour day it gives overtime pay of (4 hours × S$5) + (1 hour × S$5 × 1.5) = S$27.50. On our reading of MOM’s table, the four hours at S$5 are hours 5 to 8 and the hour at 1.5 times is hour 9, so the S$27.50 is overtime pay for the five hours beyond the 4-hour day, not the contract hours. If the four contracted hours are also paid at S$5 (our assumption), they add S$20 and the whole day comes to S$47.50. The S$5 rate is MOM’s illustration, not a view on pay; wage floors can apply (see our Progressive Wage Model checklist).

What must you pay when staff work on a rest day?

A rest day is one whole day, midnight to midnight, and is not a paid day. Under MOM’s rest-day FAQ (24 July 2025), an employer can require rest-day work only in exceptional circumstances and cannot give time off instead of rest-day pay to staff covered by Part 4. Pay depends on who asked and how long the work lasts.

At the employer’s request:

• Up to half the normal daily hours: 1 day’s salary.
• More than half: 2 days’ salary.
• Beyond normal daily hours: 2 days’ salary plus overtime pay.

At the employee’s request:

• Up to half the normal daily hours: half a day’s salary.
• More than half: 1 day’s salary.
• Beyond normal daily hours: 1 day’s salary plus overtime pay.

MOM’s table says “1 day’s salary”. MOM’s salary definitions page (8 December 2025) says daily wages for work on rest days use the basic rate, which for a monthly-rated employee is (12 × monthly basic) ÷ (52 × average number of days required to work in a week).

Example 5 (illustrative). Take the Example 1 assistant, on a five-day week with a Sunday rest day. A day’s salary is 12 × 2,400 ÷ (52 × 5) = 28,800 ÷ 260 = S$110.77. For an 8-hour normal day:

• Employer asks for 4 hours: S$110.77.
• Employer asks for 7 hours: 2 × S$110.77 = S$221.54.
• Employer asks for 10 hours: S$221.54 plus 2 overtime hours at S$18.8811 (S$37.76) = S$259.30.
• Employee asks to work 10 hours: S$110.77 plus S$37.76 = S$148.53.

Public holiday pay follows different rules, which we cover in our guide to public holiday pay and rest days.

How many overtime hours can staff work, and when must you pay?

On the hours-of-work page, MOM sets these limits for employees covered by Part 4:

• An employee can work up to 72 overtime hours a month. An employer who needs more can apply to MOM for an exemption, though MOM lists work activities that will not be granted one.
• An employee is not allowed to work more than 12 hours a day. An employer who requires more, up to a maximum of 14 hours, must apply for an overtime exemption. The page also lists circumstances in which an employer can ask for more than 12 hours, such as an accident or threat of accident.
• Rest-day and public-holiday hours are left out of the 72, except hours beyond the usual daily working hours on those days.

This illustrative tracker for one employee in November 2026 follows MOM’s Monday-to-Sunday weeks, assumes no overtime on Sunday 1 November and splits the last week at month-end:

• Mon 2 – Sun 8 Nov: 8 hours. Running total 8, room left 64.
• Mon 9 – Sun 15 Nov: 12 hours. Running total 20, room left 52.
• Mon 16 – Sun 22 Nov: 15 hours. Running total 35, room left 37.
• Mon 23 – Sun 29 Nov: 9 hours. Running total 44, room left 28.
• Mon 30 Nov: 3 hours. Running total 47, room left 25. Hours from 1 December go in December’s tally.

The hours-of-work page says “a month” without defining it. MOM’s salary definitions page calls any of the calendar-year months a “month” for calculating salary, but the pages we read do not say whether the 72-hour limit follows that or your salary period. Choose one, apply it consistently and ask MOM if they differ.

Payment has its own clock. MOM’s paying-salary page (30 January 2026) says salary is due within 7 days after the salary period ends and overtime within 14 days, and that salary should be paid on a working day. For a 1 to 31 October 2026 period, those dates are Saturday 7 November and Saturday 14 November (our calendar check). On our reading of the working-day rule, a Monday-to-Friday office should plan to pay overtime by Friday 13 November. Our month-end close checklist puts this into a dated routine.

What to check before you run overtime payroll

Copy this list into your payroll sheet. If an employee disputes unpaid overtime, our employment claims guide explains the TADM route. Other employer routines are collected under operations.

1. For each person, record the category (non-workman, workman, manager or executive, part-timer), the monthly basic without allowances, and the contract’s daily hours, working days and rest day (our first-employee checklist shows where these sit in the employment terms).
2. Compare basic salary with S$2,600 (non-workmen) and S$4,500 (workmen). For part-timers near a limit, ask MOM; its part-time overtime page does not restate the limits.
3. Pick the formula by pay type (monthly, daily, piece-rated or part-time), compute at full precision, round the total and record the method.
4. Keep a dated hours log approved by the manager, under your written overtime approval rule.
5. Mark rest-day and public-holiday work and apply MOM’s table; count only hours beyond usual daily hours towards the 72.
6. Flag anyone nearing 72 hours a month or 12 hours a day early, because going past either generally needs an MOM exemption.
7. Pay overtime within 14 days after the salary period ends, show items 9 to 11 on the pay slip (overtime hours worked, overtime pay and the overtime payment period if it differs from the salary period, per MOM’s pay slip page, 14 March 2024), and keep the calculation with the pay slip copy.
8. Recheck MOM’s “Last updated” lines and prefer web pages to old PDFs. MOM’s older employer guide (PDF) says it is correct as of January 2016 and gives S$2,500 for “other non-PME employees”, against S$2,600 for non-workmen on the current web pages.

Common questions