Construction sector: up to 7.5 cheaper overtime per week thanks to KB 213

How many additional hours can your employees work? 

You can have your employees work an extra 1 hour and 30 minutes per day. This adds up to 7 hours and 30 minutes extra per week:

• You can have them work weeks of 47 hours and 30 minutes, instead of 40 hours
• You can have them work workdays of 9 hours and 30 minutes, instead of 8 hours

On an annual basis, you can have a total of 180 overtime hours worked in this way. You must then follow three steps to implement the first 130 overtime hours. After that, you can add another 50 overtime hours through a similar procedure.

Don’t worry, Securex will guide you through all these steps! Below you will find our step-by-step plan to implement overtime hours in your company.

Three steps to implement the first 130 overtime hours 

Step 1. Draw up a time schedule

From 1 June 2026, you have the choice:

• Either include all time schedules in the labour regulation;
• Or include a framework in the labour regulation within which time schedules can be drawn up.

When doing this, you must follow the procedure for the drawing up or amending of the labour regulation:

• Follow here the procedure for companies without a Company Council
• Follow here the procedure for companies with a Company Council

Step 2. Agreement of the trade union delegation, or inform the chairman of the joint committee

► My company does not have a trade union delegation

In that case, you must inform the chairman of the joint committee in advance.

► My company does have a trade union delegation

Then the majority of your trade union delegation must agree to the implementation of RD 213 in your company.

Step 3. Post the time schedule at least 24 hours in advance

Are the possible time schedules included in your labour regulation? Excellent! But to actually use one of those time schedules, you must also announce the chosen time schedule at least 24 hours in advance to the workers involved.

You do this by posting a message containing the individual work schedules and indicating the date of the message. Post this message in a room of your company, specifically where your employees can consult the labour regulation.

How to implement the 50 additional overtime hours? 

Do you think that 130 overtime hours will not be enough in your company? Then you can choose to extend them with 50 additional overtime hours.

To implement these 50 extra hours, a similar procedure as described above applies. Steps 1 and 3 are the same; only Step 2 sometimes differs.

Step 2. Agreement of the trade union delegation, or accession protocol

► My company does not have a trade union delegation

In that case, Step 2 is different. You do not have to inform the chairman of the JC, but you must sign an accession protocol together with at least one worker. This protocol must also be signed by the regional trade union secretaries. They have fourteen days to sign the protocol or to indicate their refusal.

► My company does have a trade union delegation

In that case, Step 2 is exactly the same as when you only implement 130 overtime hours under RD 213. The majority of the trade union delegation must agree to the implementation of 180 overtime hours in your company based on RD 213.

If you already have an existing agreement on 130 overtime hours, then you conclude an additional agreement with your trade union delegation regarding those 50 extra hours.

How much do these overtime hours cost? 

Your employee has the choice between:

• Compensatory rest for the overtime hours worked at 100% of the pay (without surcharge)
• Payment of the overtime hours worked at 120% (without compensatory rest)

Your employees must communicate their choice, preferably in writing, before the payment of their salary for the relevant period. When an employee chooses to take compensatory rest, they must do so within 12 months after working those overtime hours. 

The ‘RD 213 overtime hours’ are therefore cheaper than ‘ordinary overtime hours’. As an employer, you must pay a surcharge of 50% on ordinary overtime hours and also compensate them with compensatory rest (compensatory rest is paid at 100%).

	RD 213 Overtime Hours		Ordinary Overtime Hours*
	Choice 1: compensatory rest	Choice 2: payment
Overtime surcharge?	No overtime surcharge	Overtime surcharge of 20%	Overtime surcharge of 50%
Compensatory rest?	Yes. When the employee takes compensatory rest, the related overtime hours are paid at 100%	No compensatory rest	Yes. When the employee takes compensatory rest, the related overtime hours are paid at 100%

* Please note, there are also options to pay ‘ordinary’ overtime hours, e.g. with voluntary overtime or net overtime hours. In those cases, you pay either at 150% or at 100%. See also further ‘Need even more overtime hours?’.

Tax benefit regime: reduction of advance tax levy

When the employee chooses payment of the RD 213 overtime hours with an overtime surcharge of 20%, both your employee and you benefit from a favourable tax rate.

• Benefit for you as employer: an exemption from remittance of the advance tax levy amounting to 32.19% of the gross salary that serves as the basis for calculating the overtime surcharge
• Benefit for your employee: a reduction of the advance tax levy of 66.81% on the gross salary at 100% that serves as the basis for calculating the overtime surcharge

This favourable tax regime can be applied for 180 overtime hours. The law of 15 July 2026 on the reform of personal income tax permanently sets this quota for all sectors at 180 overtime hours per year and per employee, and this retroactively from 1 January 2026.

In the construction sector (and related sectors), the general limit was already raised on 1 January 2014 to 180 hours on condition that it concerned construction sites where an attendance registration system is effectively used.

Important:

Due to the increase of the quota to 180 overtime hours per year for all sectors, this condition no longer needs to be met.

View here a worked-out example of what the favourable tax rate can yield.

Need even more overtime hours? 

If the 180 overtime hours you can have worked via RD 213 are still not enough, you can combine them with the following options:

Name	Limits?	What?	Formalities?
Net overtime hours	Your employees can work up to 11 hours per day and/or 50 hours per week	► Up to 240 overtime hours ► Gross = net ► No compensatory rest ► To be paid at 100%	Only formality: written agreement, to be renewed every 6 months
Voluntary overtime hours		► Up to 120 overtime hours annually ► No compensatory rest ► To be paid at 150%
Ordinary overtime hours		► 100% paid compensatory rest ► 50% overtime surcharge	Multiple formalities: e.g. valid reason, posting of time schedules 24 hours in advance
High flexibility	Your employees can work up to 10 hours per day, without a weekly limit	► No overtime surcharge ► Grant compensatory rest to respect average working hours on an annual basis	Many formalities to comply with

What does Securex do for you?

We offer you a package with the following documents:

• Annex labour regulation to implement RD 213 (you only need to fill in the time schedules)
• Model letter to inform the chairman of the joint committee of your intention to use RD 213
• Model document with which the employee can indicate their choice to take compensatory rest or to have the hours paid out
• Model accession protocol for the 50 additional hours

Of course, you can always rely on your Securex Legal Advisor to assist you in implementing these changes.

Sources

• Royal Decree no. 213
• Law of 12 December 2021 amending Royal Decree no. 213 of 26 September 1983 concerning working hours in companies falling under the Joint Committee for the construction industry, Moniteur belge of 10 January 2022 (second edition)