Overtime, night shifts and Sundays: the extra pay Croatian law gives you, and how to check it

Croatian law guarantees at least 50% extra for every hour you work on a Sunday. Overtime, night and public-holiday work must also be paid more, but the rate is set by your contract, your employer's work rules or a collective agreement. Here is how to find your rate and check it on your payslip.

Published 2026-10-11 · Source checked 2026-02-06

Many Nepali workers in construction, hotels, restaurants, shops and delivery work long weeks, night shifts or Sundays. That extra time should show up as extra money. Under Article 94 of the Labour Act (Zakon o radu), you have the right to higher pay for overtime, night work, work on Sundays and public holidays, and for difficult working conditions. These supplements come on top of the minimum wage: the Minimum Wage Act says they cannot be counted inside it.

Only one rate is fixed in the law itself: every hour worked on a Sunday must be paid at least 50% more. This rule has applied since 1 January 2023; before that, Index.hr reported at the time, Sunday work was paid at least 30% extra and on average 37%. For overtime, night work and public holidays, the law sets no percentage. The rate must be written in a collective agreement (kolektivni ugovor), your employer's work rules (pravilnik o radu) or your employment contract. If none of them sets it, you are entitled to an 'appropriate' increase – what is normally paid for such work, or, if that cannot be found, what a court decides. Dnevnik.hr reports that most collective agreements and work rules pay overtime at least 50% extra.

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In some sectors the government has extended a collective agreement to every employer in that sector, and the Minimum Wage Act says its supplements are then the minimum for all workers it covers. The specialist publisher TEB names construction, trade and hospitality as such sectors – where many Nepali workers are employed – so ask your employer which agreement applies to you.

The law also limits how much you can be made to work. Overtime is allowed only in urgent cases and on the employer's written request; if there is no time for that, an oral request must be confirmed in writing within seven days. With overtime, you may not work more than 50 hours a week, and overtime may not exceed 180 hours a year (250 if a collective agreement allows it). Night work means work between 22:00 and 06:00 (in agriculture, 22:00 to 05:00). You are entitled to at least 24 hours of weekly rest in a row, normally on Sunday plus the day before or after; if you could not take it, you must get replacement rest.

A simple example, using our own arithmetic: if your basic gross hourly rate is €7, each Sunday hour must be paid at least €10.50 gross, so an eight-hour Sunday shift brings at least €28 gross extra. Dnevnik.hr also warns that labour inspectors find employers who give days off instead of paying overtime, which is not always lawful, especially without the worker's agreement. The employer must keep records of working time, including overtime. Dnevnik.hr reports fines of €1,300 to €13,270 for employers who keep no records or do not pay overtime.

What to do: keep your own record of dates and start and finish times, and photograph the work schedule. Read your contract or the work rules to find your rates. Your employer must give you a payslip (obračun plaće) within 15 days of paying you, showing how the amounts were calculated – look for separate lines with hours and amounts for overtime (prekovremeni rad), night work (noćni rad), Sunday (rad nedjeljom) and holiday work (rad blagdanom). If your wage is not paid in full on time, the employer must give you, by the end of that month, a statement of what was owed, and that statement can be used directly for enforcement (ovršna isprava). If talking to the accountant does not help, you can report the problem to the State Inspectorate's labour inspection (Državni inspektorat), anonymously if you prefer, or ask a union or the free Legal Clinic of the Zagreb Law Faculty (Pravna klinika) for help.

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