# Overtime Calculator for Sri Lanka - Shop and Office Act Rules

Page: https://hirantha.me/tools/overtime-calculator
Part of: Hirantha Sandaruwan Lakshan free tools (https://hirantha.me/tools)
Updated: 2026-10-13

Overtime pay for shop and office employees from monthly, daily or hourly pay: 1.5 times the hourly rate, monthly pay divided by 240, both editable.

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Enter your monthly pay (or a daily wage or hourly rate) and the overtime hours you worked to see what they are worth. The defaults follow the Shop and Office Employees Act regulations: overtime is paid at not less than one and a half times the hourly rate, and the hourly rate of a monthly-paid employee is the month divided by 30 and by 8, which is 240. That Act covers people who work in shops and offices as it defines them. Factory workers and trades with a wages board follow other rules, so check which apply to you. Both numbers are inputs you can change, because your contract or a wages board may set different ones. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Section 3 of the Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act, No. 19 of 1954, sets the normal working period in a shop or office at no more than eight hours in a day and 45 hours in a week, not counting rest and meal intervals. Regulations can vary this for some classes of shop or office. Part I of the Act, which holds section 3, has applied to all shops and offices in Sri Lanka since a 1954 order (the consolidated text notes Gazette No. 10,724 of 15 October 1954). Overtime is work beyond the normal maximum hours (section 68). Regulation 6 allows at most 12 hours of overtime in any one week.

Regulation 7 says overtime must be paid separately for each hour, at not less than one and one-half times the hourly rate of the employee's ordinary pay, with part of an hour paid in proportion. Regulation 8 gives the hourly rate: for a daily rate it is one eighth of the day, and for a monthly rate it is one eighth of the month divided by thirty, which is the monthly pay divided by 240.

Regulation 9 says which pay counts. It is the rate in the wage determination, or the rate in the contract where that is more favourable, and no allowance is added other than a special living allowance fixed according to the cost of living. So use basic pay plus that allowance, and leave out other allowances and overtime itself. Whether a bonus or a particular line on your payslip counts is not settled by the regulation, so ask the Department of Labour.

Work on a Full Moon Poya day and on a declared public holiday is priced separately in the Act. Under section 7B an employee may be employed for a normal period on a Poya day if paid at least one and a half times the normal daily rate. Under section 7(2) an employee who works one of the public holidays the Minister has declared for section 7 (no more than nine days), with the Commissioner's prior sanction, gets another paid holiday by 31 December or is paid double the ordinary rate. The second row of the calculator prices hours at the multiplier you enter. It does not decide whether that pay is on top of, or instead of, your ordinary pay for the day: that depends on your contract, so ask the Department of Labour.

The tool multiplies the hourly rate by the multiplier and the hours, then rounds to the cent. It works from the unrounded hourly rate, so a payroll that rounds the rate first can differ by a few cents. I read these provisions on 13 October 2026, in the Act as consolidated to Act No. 28 of 2024 and in the 1954 regulations as printed in Cap. 129. I did not find a later change to regulations 6 to 9, but I could not rule one out. These are minimums for shop and office employees. A contract, a collective agreement or a wages board decision for your trade may promise more or set other hours, and I did not verify any wages board's overtime rule.

What the Shop and Office Employees Act and its 1954 regulations say about hours and overtime:
| Question | Rule | Where |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Normal hours | No more than 8 hours a day and 45 hours a week, not counting rest and meal intervals | Act, section 3(1) |
| What is overtime | Work beyond the normal maximum hours | Act, definition in section 68 |
| Overtime rate | Not less than 1.5 times the hourly rate, paid separately for each hour, part hours in proportion | Regulation 7 |
| Weekly limit | At most 12 hours of overtime in any one week | Regulation 6 |
| Hourly rate, daily pay | One eighth of the daily rate | Regulation 8(a) |
| Hourly rate, monthly pay | One eighth of the monthly rate divided by 30, which is the month divided by 240 | Regulation 8(b) |
| Pay that counts | The determined or contract rate, plus only a cost-of-living special living allowance | Regulation 9 |
| Full Moon Poya day | May be worked for a normal period if paid at least 1.5 times the normal daily rate | Act, section 7B |
| Declared public holiday | Worked with the Commissioner's prior sanction: another paid holiday by 31 December, or double the ordinary rate | Act, section 7(2) |

Q: What is the overtime rate in Sri Lanka?
A: For shop and office employees, regulation 7 sets a floor of one and one-half times the hourly rate for each hour of overtime. A contract or a collective agreement can promise more. A trade covered by a wages board has its own decision on pay, which can differ.

Q: How do I get the hourly rate from a monthly salary?
A: Divide the monthly pay by 30 days and then by 8 hours, which is dividing by 240 (regulation 8(b)). On Rs. 60,000 a month the hourly rate is Rs. 250.00. If your contract uses another divisor, type it in the box and the pay updates.

Q: When does overtime start, after 8 hours a day or 45 hours a week?
A: Overtime is work beyond the normal maximum in section 3: 8 hours in a day or 45 hours in a week. When the 45 hours are counted for a week, a day of leave or holiday counts as a full normal day (regulation 8A), so taking a day off does not by itself turn the other days into overtime.

Q: Is there a limit on overtime hours?
A: Regulation 6 says the overtime worked in any one week may not exceed an aggregate of twelve hours. The calculator compares your overtime hours with the number of weeks you enter and warns if the average is above 12 a week. The limit applies to each week, so one heavy week is over the limit even if the average is not.

Q: Which pay is used to work out the hourly rate?
A: Regulation 9 uses the rate in the wage determination or the contract, whichever is more favourable, and adds no allowance other than a special living allowance fixed by the cost of living. So basic pay plus that allowance. Check your payslip, and ask the Department of Labour about any specific allowance.

Q: How is work on a Poya day or a public holiday paid?
A: On a Full Moon Poya day an employee may be employed for a normal period if paid at least one and a half times the normal daily rate (section 7B). On a declared public holiday worked with the Commissioner's prior sanction, the employee gets another paid holiday by 31 December or is paid double the ordinary rate (section 7(2)). You can price those hours in the second row with the multiplier that applies, but whether that pay is on top of your ordinary pay for the day depends on your contract.

Q: Does this apply to factories and wages board trades?
A: Not as a general rule. The rules on this page come from the Shop and Office Employees Act, which covers shops and offices as section 68 defines them. An office includes the office or clerical department of a factory, but a factory's production work is not a shop or an office. Section 37 keeps the Act's own pay determinations away from trades under a wages board, so those trades follow the board's decision and the contract, which can set different hours and rates. I did not verify any wages board's overtime rule or the Factories Ordinance, so change the multiplier and the divisor here to match the rule that applies to you.

Sources: Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act, No. 19 of 1954, consolidated to Act No. 28 of 2024 (https://lankalaw.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Shop-and-Office-Employees-Consolidated-2024.pdf); Shop and Office Employees Act, Cap. 129, with the 1954 regulations (regulations 6 to 9 on overtime) (https://most.gov.lk/web/images/pdf/acts/shop_and_office_employees_act.pdf); Department of Labour, Sri Lanka (https://labourdept.gov.lk/)

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