Overtime pay in Ireland
No statutory premium — but there are statutory limits.
Two facts sit oddly together: Irish law does not require your employer to pay extra for overtime, and Irish law does limit how much overtime you can work.
No statutory premium
The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 regulates working hours and rest, not overtime rates. Any premium — time and a half, double time, a flat rate for certain days — comes from your contract, a company policy or a collective agreement.
What the law does require is that all hours worked are paid at least at the national minimum wage.
The 48-hour limit
Your average working week must not exceed 48 hours, averaged over a four-month reference period for most employees. Individual weeks can exceed it as long as the average holds. Some sectors have longer reference periods.
The daily rest entitlement of 11 consecutive hours and the weekly 24-hour rest period apply regardless of how much overtime is on offer.
How overtime is taxed
Overtime is ordinary pay for tax purposes — there is no separate overtime tax. It feels heavily taxed because it sits on top of your normal income and is therefore taxed at your marginal rate. For someone already above the standard rate band, that is 40% income tax plus USC plus PRSI on that slice.
If a single large overtime week pushes your cumulative pay unusually high, the deduction in that period can look severe and correct itself later in the year.
Getting it right on the payslip
Overtime should appear as its own line with its own rate. A blended total makes it impossible to check. Keep your own record of the hours and the rate you were promised.