Reduction of working time (RTT)

Verified 18 February 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Working time reduction (RTT) is a scheme which provides for the allocation of days or half-days of rest to an employee whose working time is more than 35 hours per week. We'll give you the information you need to remember.

The benefit of RTT days is set by a collective agreement or by a company agreement.

If the employee works 35 hours a week, he does not have RTT days.

If sound actual working time is 39 hours a week, it benefits from 4 hours of RTT per week, or half a day of RTT.

The Convention or Agreement shall provide for the following:

  • Conditions for taking days or half-days of rest (partly at the choice of the employee and partly at the choice of the employer)
  • Maximum time limits within which such breaks are taken (within the year).

The employees concerned are determined by the RTT agreement applicable in the company.

A part-time employee cannot normally benefit from RTT days. However, a particular company agreement may provide for this.

Warning  

It is no longer possible to sign new RTT agreements since 22 August 2008, but the agreements signed before that date and not terminated remain applicable. A company set up after that date may therefore no longer conclude a specific agreement, but may apply the collective agreement or the branch agreement in force.

The number of RTT days is fixed by collective agreement or company agreement.

The agreement or arrangement shall also lay down the conditions for their aggregation:

  • Either as part of a package (e.g. 10 RTT days per year),
  • Or as the hours of work are completed (for example, if the employee works 37 hours per week instead of 35 hours, he is entitled to 2 hours of RTT per week).

An employee who benefits from a day or half of RTT is paid.

His salary is kept under the usual conditions, regardless of the size of his company.

Hours worked in excess of the 39-hour weekly limit are considered and paid as overtime.

An employee who so wishes may obtain the redemption by his employer of the days earned by RTT, but not taken. The employee shall then receive a pay increase at least equal to the first overtime pay increase applicable in the company. This salary increase is exempt from income tax up to €7,500 per year and payroll contributions basic and supplementary old-age insurance.

This RTT day buy-back scheme applies for RTT days between on 1er january 2022 and december 31, 2026. One company agreement or the collective agreement specify the terms of application.