How to Calculate Overtime in Myanmar (2026 Guide with Worked Examples)

Why overtime calculation trips up so many Myanmar HR teams

Most Myanmar HR teams get overtime wrong in at least one of three ways:

1. They use the wrong base hourly rate — dividing monthly salary by 30 instead of by actual working days and hours.
2. They apply the wrong multiplier — paying 1.5× (common overseas) when Myanmar statute requires 2×.
3. They apply the wrong law — using Factories Act hours for a retail business or vice versa.

Each mistake either underpays employees (triggering grievances and Labour Exchange Office complaints) or overpays them (quietly eating margin). Both destroy trust.

Here is the current playbook.

Which law applies to your workplace?

Myanmar has two main statutes that govern working hours and overtime:

• Factories Act (1951, amended 2016) — applies if your workplace is a factory or manufacturing site (with 10+ workers using power machinery, or 20+ without power).
• Shops and Establishments Law (2016) — applies to shops, offices, restaurants, and most service-oriented workplaces that aren't factories.

If you are unsure, err toward the Shops and Establishments Law — it is the catch-all for the service economy.

Both laws use the same 2× multiplier for overtime. The main difference is standard working hours per week (which affects when overtime kicks in).

Standard working hours in Myanmar

Any time worked beyond these limits is overtime.

Overtime cap: Myanmar law limits overtime to a reasonable amount per week — commonly interpreted as up to 12 hours per week above the statutory standard. Excessive mandated overtime can trigger labour inspections and worker complaints.

The overtime multipliers every Myanmar HR team must know

Important: The Myanmar rate is on the ordinary hourly base rate — not "time and a half" or "double time-and-a-half" as in some other jurisdictions. The "ordinary wage" means basic salary, not including allowances or bonuses.

Step-by-step: how to calculate overtime

Step 1 — Calculate the ordinary hourly rate

Formula:

Hourly rate = Monthly basic salary ÷ (Working days per month × Daily working hours)

For a Shops and Establishments workplace running 6 days × 8 hours:

Hourly rate = Monthly salary ÷ (26 × 8) = Monthly salary ÷ 208

For a Factories Act workplace running 5.5 days × 8 hours:

Hourly rate = Monthly salary ÷ (24 × 8) = Monthly salary ÷ 192

Some employers use a simpler formula derived directly from the Factories Act:

Hourly rate = (Monthly salary × 12) ÷ (52 × 44 hours)  [Factories Act]
Hourly rate = (Monthly salary × 12) ÷ (52 × 48 hours)  [Shops & Establishments]

Both methods produce almost identical results. Use whichever your Standing Order specifies.

Step 2 — Identify the type of overtime worked

Ask three questions:

1. Was it on a gazetted public holiday? → Apply the public-holiday premium (confirm with your SO / labor counsel).
2. Was it on the employee's weekly rest day? → 2× (or compensatory day off).
3. Was it extra hours on a normal working day, or beyond the weekly cap? → 2×.

Step 3 — Multiply OT hours × hourly rate × multiplier

Formula:

OT pay = OT hours × Hourly rate × Multiplier

That's it. Now three real-world examples.

Worked Example 1 — Retail shop assistant with normal overtime

Aye Aye works at a Yangon retail store (Shops and Establishments). Her basic monthly salary is MMK 400,000. She worked 20 hours of overtime this month on normal working days.

Hourly rate = 400,000 ÷ 208 = 1,923 MMK/hour
OT pay     = 20 × 1,923 × 2 = 76,920 MMK

Total pay for the month: 400,000 + 76,920 = MMK 476,920.

Worked Example 2 — Factory worker with weekly rest day work

Maung Maung works at a Mandalay garment factory (Factories Act). His basic monthly salary is MMK 350,000. He worked 8 hours on his weekly rest day plus 12 hours of normal overtime.

Hourly rate   = 350,000 ÷ 192 = 1,823 MMK/hour

Rest-day OT = 8 × 1,823 × 2 = 29,168 MMK
Normal OT   = 12 × 1,823 × 2 = 43,752 MMK

Total OT    = 72,920 MMK

Total pay for the month: 350,000 + 72,920 = MMK 422,920.

Alternative compliance option: give Maung Maung a compensatory day off within 3 days of the rest day worked, in place of the rest-day overtime pay (but he keeps the 12 hours of normal OT at 2×).

Worked Example 3 — Office employee working during Thingyan

Thida is an accountant at a Yangon services firm (Shops and Establishments). Her basic monthly salary is MMK 800,000. During Thingyan, she was required to work 6 hours on a gazetted public holiday plus 4 hours of normal overtime on another day.

Hourly rate        = 800,000 ÷ 208 = 3,846 MMK/hour

Public holiday OT  = 6 × 3,846 × 2 = 46,152 MMK    [at 2× baseline; verify your SO]
Normal OT          = 4 × 3,846 × 2 = 30,768 MMK

Total OT           = 76,920 MMK

Total pay for the month: 800,000 + 76,920 = MMK 876,920.

[VERIFY: If your Standing Order or collective agreement specifies 2.5× or 3× for gazetted public holidays, recalculate at that rate. Some multinationals apply a higher multiplier than the statutory minimum to reduce grievance risk.]

The 5 mistakes Myanmar HR teams make — and how to avoid them

1. Dividing monthly salary by 30. A Myanmar working month has 20–26 working days, not 30. Use actual working days per the Factories Act / SEL formula.
2. Paying 1.5× instead of 2×. 1.5× is common in other countries (Singapore, Philippines). Myanmar's standard overtime multiplier is 2×.
3. Treating public holidays like rest days. Public holidays carry their own rules — at minimum 2×, potentially more depending on sector. Never use the normal OT rate.
4. Including allowances in the "base rate." The ordinary wage is basic salary only, not transport, housing, or meal allowances.
5. Not tracking OT to the minute. Rounding up creates grievances; rounding down creates lawsuits. A biometric or app-based attendance system is no longer optional for Myanmar factories above 50 employees.

How to stop calculating overtime manually

Every example above took 30–60 seconds of math. Multiplied across 50 or 500 employees, that is 2–20 hours of HR time every month — time spent on arithmetic your team is overqualified for.

This is exactly what QHRM automates. Every overtime scenario — normal, rest day, public holiday, combinations — is pre-configured for Myanmar labor law. Our customers run monthly overtime calculations in under 5 minutes for their entire workforce.

If you are still calculating OT in spreadsheets, book a 20-minute demo and see your monthly payroll run in real time.

Frequently asked questions

Q: What is the minimum overtime rate in Myanmar? 2× the ordinary hourly base rate for normal overtime and work on a weekly rest day. Work on a gazetted public holiday is also compensated at 2× at minimum; check your Standing Order for any higher sector-specific rate.

Q: Are managers entitled to overtime pay in Myanmar? The Factories Act and Shops and Establishments Law exclude certain managerial, supervisory, and confidential positions from overtime eligibility. Check each role against the statute — when in doubt, pay OT rather than risk a labor complaint.

Q: Can we offer compensatory time off instead of overtime pay? For work on a weekly rest day, yes — the law allows a substitute day off within 3 days preceding or following the rest day worked. For normal weekday overtime and public-holiday work, cash payment at the statutory multiplier is the default.

Q: Does overtime pay count toward SSB contributions? Yes — overtime is part of monthly wages and is included in the SSB contribution base (up to the current wage cap of MMK 300,000/month). It does not, however, count toward the base used in severance calculation, which excludes overtime.

Q: What is the maximum overtime an employee can work per week in Myanmar? Commonly cited as 12 hours per week above the statutory standard, though some sector practices allow more. Excessive mandated overtime can trigger a Labour Inspection and worker complaints.

Next steps

About the author

Shankar Ojha is the founder of QHRM, Myanmar's leading cloud HR and payroll platform. He has worked with 350+ Myanmar companies to modernize their HR operations since 2019.

Sources

• ILO Myanmar Labour Law FAQs for Workersilo.org
• ILO Myanmar Labour Law FAQs for Employersilo.org
• PwC Myanmar Tax Summaries — Other Taxestaxsummaries.pwc.com
• Rivermate Myanmar Working Hours Guiderivermate.com
• Luther Law Firm Myanmar Employment Memoluther-lawfirm.com