NepalHRM
Attendance & time

Working Hoursकामको समय

Definition

Nepal's Labour Act 2074 sets working hours at eight a day and forty-eight a week, with at least one day of rest each week. Time worked beyond that is overtime and carries the higher rate.

Also called: work hours Nepal, 48 hour week Nepal, office hours Nepal

Key facts

Daily
8 hoursExcluding the rest interval.
Weekly
48 hoursAcross six working days.
Weekly rest
At least one dayPer the Labour Act 2074.
Beyond that
OvertimeAt one and a half times basic.

The standard and the exceptions

Eight hours a day and forty-eight a week is the standard, with at least one rest day in each week. Shift operations and continuous processes are organised around the same weekly total rather than being exempt from it.

Anything beyond the standard is overtime, which is capped and paid at a higher rate, so the boundary is not a formality.

Why the boundary needs to be recorded, not assumed

In practice most disputes about overtime are disputes about what time somebody actually started and finished. If attendance is a signature in a register, the boundary is whatever the two parties remember. If it is a timestamped punch, it is a fact.

That is the real argument for recording attendance properly: not surveillance, but having an answer that does not depend on anyone's memory.

Common questions

Working Hours, answered

Eight hours a day and forty-eight hours a week under the Labour Act 2074, with at least one day of rest each week.

Yes, provided the total stays within forty-eight hours and the employee gets at least one rest day each week.

Last reviewed 2026-07-29
  • Labour Act 2074, provisions on working hours and the weekly day of rest.

This page explains general practice in Nepal. It is not legal or tax advice, and statutory figures are revised from time to time. Check the current Act, rule or notice before acting on it.

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