Calculation of working hours

The working hours agreement stipulates that a full-time employed teacher must work 1,924 hours in a school year, minus the public holidays in that given year, and five weeks of holiday.

At the end of the school year, the school must calculate your total time worked. The statement shows whether you are entitled to:

• Overtime or additional work pay.
• Extra teaching supplementary pay.
• Net working hours
• Net working hours is the number of hours you must work in a school year. The working hours for full-time employees may vary from year to year, and in 2022-23 the net working hours total 1,687.2 hours.

The ongoing calculation of your working hours

Your working hours are not only calculated at the end of the school year. The school must, at least once every three months, give you a status report on your time worked, i.e. how many hours you have worked in the period. There are no formal requirements regarding the nature of this status report – it must simply fulfil the purpose and give you assurance of how much you have worked.

It is not until the comprehensive calculation at the end of the school year that you will receive information about overtime or additional work pay.

The school’s administrator may require you to register your working hours for use in preparing this status report and the concluding working hours statement. However, the school must provide a registration system for you to use.

Your task overview, for example in Viggo, cannot serve as a status report or your working hours statement. The working hours statement must include a specified count or registration of your actual time worked during the period.

Inclusion of supplementary pay agreements

If the trade union representative and the school’s administrator have reached a piecework agreement for parts of the working hours or for certain tasks, this piecework will be included in the status report and the working hours statement, but the hours that are part of the piecework agreement will not be counted specifically. A piecework agreement is an agreement on how many hours you are allocated to perform a particular task. You will be credited with this number of hours regardless of how many hours you have actually spent working on the task.

If all tasks and all working hours are covered by a piecework agreement, the administrator does not have to count the actual time worked. In such cases, only unforeseen tasks or changes need to be counted. However, you must still be provided with your status report and the final working hours statement.

Net working hours is the number of hours you must work in a school year. The working hours for full-time employees may vary from year to year, and in 2022-23 the net working hours total 1,687.2 hours.

Part-time and “plus-time” employees

Working hours are calculated proportionally.

As a part-time or plus-time employee, your working day does not total 7.4 hours per day, but is calculated according to the agreed employment rate. A holiday, public holiday, working day, etc. is therefore counted proportionally in the calculation.

Your net working hours are calculated as the net working hours times the employment rate.

For plus-time employees, the employment rate must not exceed 42/37ths = 113.5%. 

Only full-time employees can have overtime. They receive overtime when they have worked more than the calculated total hours for the school year.

If, at the end of the school year, you have worked more than full time, you must be compensated for overtime work. Overtime is compensated in one of the following ways:

• Time off in lieu (the actual number of overtime hours + 50%), or
• Overtime pay (the current hourly pay + 50% for each overtime hour).
• The school’s administration decides whether you receive time off in lieu or overtime pay.

If part-time employees work more than they have been hired to work, it is called additional work. Additional work is compensated either in the form of pay (the standard hourly wage plus pension) or by time off in lieu during the following school year.

If the additional work is of a more lasting nature, the employment rate must be adjusted permanently or temporarily, depending on the circumstances.

Rules on time off in lieu

Time off in lieu must be taken during the following school year.

The scheduling of time off in lieu must either be agreed with the school’s administration or planned with at least four hours per day and at least 72 hours advance notice.

Time off in lieu may not be offset against your net working hours for the school year. Time off in lieu hours must be scheduled at a specific time and included in the calculation of your working hours statement once you have used them.

If you fall ill before a scheduled time off in lieu day, you must report sick. You are not required to start using your time off in lieu when you are on sick leave. Any planned time off in lieu that occurs during the time that you are on sick leave must be rescheduled once you return from sick leave. 

If your time off in lieu (including the additional 50% supplement) has not been taken before the end of the following school year/expiration of the norm period, you are entitled to receive payment of wages for the unused hours.