Colombia overtime pay under the 42-hour workweek: how to recalculate the hourly rate

An overtime hour is paid on the value of the ordinary hour, and that value changed on July 15, 2026 even though the monthly salary did not. A company that still divides by 220 hours underpays every overtime hour, every surcharge and, over time, every final settlement.

At Soulbit Academy we explain Colombian payroll for foreign companies that employ people there. This article covers overtime under the 42-hour week: the reduction timeline, the new divisor, the surcharge for each type of hour and the legal cap. Night and Sunday surcharges have their own guide in Colombia night and Sunday surcharges in 2026, and the full reform picture is in Colombia's Law 2466 labor reform: an employer checklist.

Colombia's 42-hour workweek: the reduction timeline under Law 2101

Colombia's maximum workweek fell from 48 to 42 hours in four steps, and the last one took effect on July 15, 2026. Law 2101 of 2021 set the gradual reduction and barred salary cuts because of it.

Each step applies on July 15 of its year. The 2023 step went from 48 to 47 hours, 2024 to 46, 2025 to 44 and 2026 to 42. The last two cut two hours each. Law 2466 of 2025 confirms the 42 hours, spread over five or six days with daily shifts of four to nine hours.

Table 1 applies each step to one assumed monthly salary of 2,400,000 pesos. It shows the monthly divisor, the ordinary hourly value and the daytime and nighttime overtime values.

In force	Weekly hours	Monthly divisor	Ordinary hour	Daytime overtime (125%)	Nighttime overtime (175%)
Until July 14, 2023	48	240	10,000	12,500	17,500
From July 15, 2023	47	235	10,213	12,766	17,872
From July 15, 2024	46	230	10,435	13,043	18,261
From July 15, 2025	44	220	10,909	13,636	19,091
From July 15, 2026	42	210	11,429	14,286	20,000

The 235 and 230 divisors of the intermediate steps are the same method applied mechanically. Industry sources report them; no official circular does. They matter today only if you must recalculate an earlier period because of a claim.

How to recalculate the hourly rate and the monthly divisor at 42 hours

The ordinary hourly rate is the monthly salary divided by the monthly hours of the workweek, and at 42 weekly hours that divisor is 210. The formula is salary ÷ 210. The six-day method multiplies weekly hours by 30 and divides by six, so 42 ÷ 6 × 30 = 210.

Industry sources report the 210-hour divisor as the method in use. We found no Ministry of Labor circular that fixes it, and the law speaks of a weekly workweek, not a monthly divisor. Confirm it with your labor adviser before configuring the payroll system, and keep the decision in writing.

The consequence is arithmetic. The same salary is divided by fewer hours, so each hour is worth more: at 2,400,000 pesos the hour goes from 10,909 with divisor 220 to 11,429 with divisor 210. That is an increase of 4.8%, which is the ratio 220 ÷ 210. The monthly salary does not change and must not change. The aggregate budget effect is in the cost of employing in Colombia after the labor reform.

Three clarifications prevent configuration errors:

1. The divisor depends on the agreed workweek. An employee contracted for fewer than 42 hours has their own divisor.
2. A five-day week does not change the divisor of the usual method: the same weekly hours are spread over fewer days.
3. The new divisor applies from July 15, 2026. Overtime worked before that date is settled with the divisor then in force.

What happens to fixed salaries when the workweek shrinks?

A fixed monthly salary stays identical, because Law 2101 bars cutting it because of fewer hours. The employee earns the same for less work, and that difference is what raises the hourly value. If a salary is agreed by the hour or by the day, ask your lawyer to check that the schedule change does not reduce monthly income.

Colombia overtime pay: the 25% and 75% surcharges and the legal cap

Daytime overtime is paid with a 25% surcharge over the ordinary hour and nighttime overtime with a 75% surcharge. Article 168 of the Substantive Labor Code sets them. An overtime hour is one that exceeds the agreed or legal ordinary workweek; the percentage did not change, the base did.

The calculation has three steps. First, the ordinary hourly value: salary ÷ 210. Second, the factor for the hour: 1.25 for daytime overtime and 1.75 for nighttime overtime. Third, the monthly total: that value times the overtime hours worked. With the assumed salary, a daytime overtime hour is worth 11,429 × 1.25 = 14,286 pesos.

The reform also moved the edge of the night. Since December 25, 2025 the night shift runs from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., under article 10 of Law 2466 of 2025. An overtime hour between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. stopped being daytime overtime and became nighttime overtime. With the same salary, that hour costs 20,000 pesos instead of 14,286.

The cap is the other control. Article 22 of Law 50 of 1990 limits supplementary work to two hours a day and twelve a week, daytime or nighttime. The law excepts the security and health sectors. Ordinary shifts do not exceed nine hours; confirm with your labor adviser the total daily cap once overtime is added.

Is any hour above 42 weekly always overtime?

Yes: work beyond the maximum or the agreed workweek is supplementary and is paid with a surcharge. Law 2101 lets employers spread hours unevenly across the week without a surcharge if the average does not exceed 42. That flexibility needs a clear agreement and a shift log; without them, the company will struggle to prove the arrangement in a later dispute.

What overtime costs now: before and after examples

Under the 42-hour week each overtime hour costs about 4.8% more at the same salary, and the larger effect hits companies that kept a 44-hour schedule. Table 2 compares the scheme until July 14, 2026 (44 hours, divisor 220) with the one in force at October 2026 (42 hours, divisor 210).

Item (assumed salary of 2,400,000)	Before (44 h, divisor 220)	After (42 h, divisor 210)	Change
Ordinary hour	10,909	11,429	+4.8%
Daytime overtime hour (1.25)	13,636	14,286	+4.8%
Nighttime overtime hour (1.75)	19,091	20,000	+4.8%
One employee: 6 daytime and 3 nighttime overtime hours a month	139,091	145,714	+4.8%
Ten employees with the same pattern	1,390,909	1,457,143	+4.8%
One employee still on 44 h: 2 weekly hours become overtime (8.67 a month)	0	123,810	New cost

The middle rows are plain arithmetic. An employee with 6 daytime and 3 nighttime overtime hours a month used to earn 6 × 13,636 + 3 × 19,091 = 139,091 pesos and now earns 6 × 14,286 + 3 × 20,000 = 145,714. The difference is 6,623 pesos a month per person and 66,234 for ten employees. The pattern respects the cap: nine hours a month is about two a week and never more than two a day.

The last row is the surprising one. A company that left the schedule alone and kept 44 weekly hours now has two weekly hours above the maximum. That is 2 × 52 ÷ 12 = 8.67 hours a month per employee, paid as overtime: 8.67 × 14,286 = 123,810 pesos a month per person, or 1,238,095 for ten employees. Those two hours sit inside the twelve-hour weekly cap, but they are a recurring cost.

The alternative is to adjust shifts to 42 hours or accept the cost. Which is better depends on the operation and no formula settles it. What cannot be defended is keeping 44 hours without recording and paying the two extra hours.

For a foreign company there is also a method risk. Habits from the home country, such as a different divisor or a different overtime scale, tend to be copied into the Colombian payroll by analogy. Colombian payroll has its own divisor, surcharge and cap rules, and they should be configured from local law.

The effect continues into benefits, because overtime is salary. Overtime paid regularly makes pay variable and enters the average used for severance and the service bonus. The details are in vacation pay and payroll accruals in Colombia. We do not fix here which items enter each base: confirm it with your accountant.

Checklist for HR and finance after the 42-hour change

An orderly eight-point review covers what usually fails after a workweek change. It works for a ten-person team as well as for a hundred.

1. Confirm the real schedule of each team. Compare weekly hours actually worked with 42 and find who is still on 44.
2. Configure the 210-hour divisor in the payroll system, effective July 15, 2026, and record the criterion.
3. Recalculate the hourly rate of each salary and compare it with what was paid in the July, August and September payrolls.
4. If you find differences owed to employees, settle them and document the correction. A difference that surfaces in a final settlement costs more than one fixed on time.
5. Review the night band. Overtime between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. is now paid as nighttime.
6. Check the two-hour daily and twelve-hour weekly cap in each employee's log.
7. Make sure electronic payroll reports overtime and surcharges under their own concept, as explained in electronic payroll in Colombia.
8. Update the monthly overtime accrual with the new hourly value and give finance the gap against budget.

How do you budget the effect without waiting for month-end?

Multiply the 4.8% increase by monthly overtime spend and add the cost of the hours that moved from ordinary to overtime. On the Table 2 basis, ten employees with that pattern add 66,234 pesos a month before contributions and benefits. The real figure must come from your own shifts, not from this assumption.

What Soulbit does today for overtime payments, and what it does not

Soulbit does not calculate overtime, surcharges, contributions or benefits, and it does not run payroll. That calculation remains with the employer, its accountant or its payroll software. Soulbit also does not give labor, tax or accounting advice.

What Soulbit delivers today is the step after the calculation. With Soulbit Salaries, a company holds a balance in stablecoins such as USDC and USDT or in fiat, and disburses payroll that has already been calculated, in batch or on a recurring schedule, to Colombian bank accounts, with a local bank rail, institutional custody, KYB and AML/KYT monitoring. Each payment keeps its traceability and the team provides human support. The flow is in how to pay payroll with stablecoins in Colombia.

The mobile apps and the card are not available yet. And a fast disbursement does not fix a badly calculated overtime hour: if the net amount leaves the payroll system wrong, the payment goes out wrong.