GCC Overtime Pay Calculator
Work out overtime pay for Kuwait, the UAE or Saudi Arabia — each under its own statute. Kuwait pays +25% on a working day, Saudi Arabia a flat +50% on every hour, and the UAE +50% between 10pm and 4am. Free, no signup needed.
Calculate overtime pay
Overtime rates differ sharply by country — pick where the employee works.
Basic wage only — housing, transport and other allowances are excluded from overtime in all three countries.
Enter the salary to see the rates.
Covers Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Qatar, Bahrain and Oman are left out on purpose: their night-work and rest-day premiums could not be confirmed against the primary text, and a plausible-looking wrong rate is worse here than no rate at all.
Overtime is one of the few payroll figures where the GCC states genuinely diverge, and the gap is large enough to matter every month. Kuwait pays a 25% premium on an ordinary working day, rising to 50% on the weekly rest day and double on a public holiday. Saudi Arabia has no such ladder — Article 107 is a flat 50% on every overtime hour, including hours worked on a Friday or an official holiday. The UAE sits between the two, at 25% by day and 50% for hours falling between 10pm and 4am.
The hourly rate underneath those premiums differs too. Kuwaiti practice divides a monthly wage by 26 working days; the UAE and Saudi Arabia divide by 30. That alone moves the answer by about 15% before any premium applies, which is why a spreadsheet built for one country quietly misprices the next. All three compute on the basic wage, not the gross package.
Frequently asked questions
How is the overtime hourly rate calculated?
Monthly basic salary ÷ the country’s working-month divisor ÷ 8 hours. Kuwait uses 26 days; the UAE and Saudi Arabia use 30. The result is then multiplied by that country’s premium for the kind of day the hours fell on.
What are the overtime rates in Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia?
Kuwait: +25% on working days, +50% on the weekly rest day, double on public holidays. The UAE: +25% by day, +50% between 10pm and 4am, and +50% or a substitute day for rest-day and holiday work. Saudi Arabia: a flat +50% on every overtime hour, whatever the day.
Is there a limit on overtime?
Kuwait requires a written employer order and caps overtime at 2 hours a day and 180 hours a year. The UAE caps it at 2 hours a day except where the work prevents substantial loss or a serious accident. Saudi Arabia sets no equivalent hourly ceiling, but caps total time in the workplace at 11 hours a day.
Why is a day off owed as well as the money?
In Kuwait it is an additional obligation: rest-day work earns the premium and a substitute day, holiday work the premium and a compensatory day. In the UAE it is an alternative — the employer owes either the 50% premium or a day off, not both. Saudi Arabia has no separate day-off rule, because the hours are simply paid as overtime.
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