Working-time rules

Working-time rules in Croatia

What the law says in Croatia about rest, hours, breaks, night work and workers under 18, with the provision behind each figure, and what helloswap checks when a shift is planned, swapped or taken.

The figures for adults

Each figure is the law's, with the number of its source. The last column says what helloswap does with a shift that breaks it.

RuleWhat the law saysIn helloswap
Rest between two shiftsAt least 12 hours in a row1Blocks the shift
Longest single weekNever more than 50 hours in one week2Blocks the shift
Average working weekAt most 48 hours a week on average over 4 months3Blocks the shift
Weekly restOne day off a week, taken together with the daily rest: 36 hours in a row4Warning
BreakAt least 30 minutes when the working day is 6 hours or longer5Warning
Night period22:00 to 06:006Definition
Night workSomeone who normally works at least 3 hours of the day in the night period is a night worker6Definition
Limit for night workAt most 8 hours on average in every twenty-four hours, over 4 months6Blocks the shift

Workers under 18

Someone who is under 18 on the day of the shift gets these figures. helloswap goes by the date of birth on the person's profile. An empty cell means the law has no figure there that this page can state.

RuleAges 15–17In helloswap
Rest between two shifts12 hours1Blocks the shift
Longest working day8 hours7Blocks the shift
Longest working week40 hours8Blocks the shift
No work between20:00 and 06:006Blocks the shift
Weekly rest48 hours in a row4Blocks the shift
Break30 minutes when the day is 4.5 hours or longer5Warning
  • Nobody under 15 may be employed, apart from narrow exceptions such as performances with a permit. So there are no working-hour figures for them here.9
  • The law draws its line by school as well as by age: a young person who is still in compulsory schooling keeps the stricter figures of the younger group. helloswap knows the age, not the schooling.9
  • Here a young worker's break counts as working time, so it is not taken off before the longest day and week are measured.
  • Weekly rest is measured over the 7 days up to the shift.
  • helloswap does not check whether someone of a given age may be employed at all, or in which kind of work.

What stands out in Croatia

  • A young worker's break counts as working time.

How helloswap applies them

The law's figure is one thing, the check another. Where the two differ, it says so here.

Rest between two shifts
helloswap measures from the end of one shift to the start of the next. A shift that leaves less than 12 hours is not saved.
Longest single week
helloswap adds up the shifts of the company's week, from start to end, and does not save a shift that takes the week over 50 hours.
Average working week
The hours are added up over 4 months and divided by the number of weeks. Shifts on days of approved leave are not counted. A shift that takes the average over 48 hours is not saved.
Weekly rest
helloswap looks at the 7 days up to the shift and gives a warning when they hold no rest of at least 36 hours in a row. A rest that began before those days counts in full.
Break
helloswap compares the 30 minutes with the break length the company has set and gives a warning when a shift longer than 6 hours has a shorter one.
Night period
The hours that count as night for adults, where no agreement sets others. Workers under 18 have hours of their own, in their own table.
Night work
The law speaks of someone who normally works like this. helloswap goes by the shift: every shift that meets it is treated as a night shift.
Limit for night work
The law averages a night worker's working time over all the days of the period. helloswap is stricter: it averages the length of the person's night shifts over the last 4 months and does not save a shift that takes that average over 8 hours.

What blocks a shift, and what only warns

The split is the product's own and the same for every company.

Blocks: the shift is not saved

Nobody can override these, whether a manager plans the shift, someone takes it from the swap board or it is part of a swap.

  • Rest between two shifts
  • Longest single week
  • Average working week
  • Limit for night work
  • The figures for workers under 18, except the break

Warns: the manager decides

The shift can still be saved. The warning names the rule and says why.

  • Weekly rest
  • Break
  • The break for workers under 18

A collective agreement or a sector exception?

These are the figures a company in Croatia starts with, on every plan. On the Enterprise plan a company admin can change each of them in Settings, on the Compliance rules tab, to follow a collective agreement or a sector exception.

Sources

Every figure on this page carries the number of the provision it was read in. The links go to the official text.

  1. Zakon o radu (Narodne novine 93/14, 127/17, 98/19, 151/22, 46/23, 64/23), pročišćeni tekst on zakon.hr, marked 'na snazi od 14.06.2023.', database 'ažurirana 11.10.2026. zaključno sa NN 107/26' (unofficial consolidation of the official gazette texts; the gazette issues themselves were not opened one by one)čl. 74. st. 1.-2.
  2. Zakon o radu (Narodne novine 93/14, 127/17, 98/19, 151/22, 46/23, 64/23), pročišćeni tekst on zakon.hr, marked 'na snazi od 14.06.2023.', database 'ažurirana 11.10.2026. zaključno sa NN 107/26' (unofficial consolidation of the official gazette texts; the gazette issues themselves were not opened one by one)čl. 61. st. 1.; čl. 65. st. 3.-5.
  3. Zakon o radu (Narodne novine 93/14, 127/17, 98/19, 151/22, 46/23, 64/23), pročišćeni tekst on zakon.hr, marked 'na snazi od 14.06.2023.', database 'ažurirana 11.10.2026. zaključno sa NN 107/26' (unofficial consolidation of the official gazette texts; the gazette issues themselves were not opened one by one)čl. 66. st. 2.-4., 6., 10.
  4. Zakon o radu (Narodne novine 93/14, 127/17, 98/19, 151/22, 46/23, 64/23), pročišćeni tekst on zakon.hr, marked 'na snazi od 14.06.2023.', database 'ažurirana 11.10.2026. zaključno sa NN 107/26' (unofficial consolidation of the official gazette texts; the gazette issues themselves were not opened one by one)čl. 75. st. 1.-5.
  5. Zakon o radu (Narodne novine 93/14, 127/17, 98/19, 151/22, 46/23, 64/23), pročišćeni tekst on zakon.hr, marked 'na snazi od 14.06.2023.', database 'ažurirana 11.10.2026. zaključno sa NN 107/26' (unofficial consolidation of the official gazette texts; the gazette issues themselves were not opened one by one)čl. 73. st. 1., 2., 4.
  6. Zakon o radu (Narodne novine 93/14, 127/17, 98/19, 151/22, 46/23, 64/23), pročišćeni tekst on zakon.hr, marked 'na snazi od 14.06.2023.', database 'ažurirana 11.10.2026. zaključno sa NN 107/26' (unofficial consolidation of the official gazette texts; the gazette issues themselves were not opened one by one)čl. 69. st. 1.-3., 5.-6.
  7. Zakon o radu (Narodne novine 93/14, 127/17, 98/19, 151/22, 46/23, 64/23), pročišćeni tekst on zakon.hr, marked 'na snazi od 14.06.2023.', database 'ažurirana 11.10.2026. zaključno sa NN 107/26' (unofficial consolidation of the official gazette texts; the gazette issues themselves were not opened one by one)čl. 68. st. 1.
  8. Zakon o radu (Narodne novine 93/14, 127/17, 98/19, 151/22, 46/23, 64/23), pročišćeni tekst on zakon.hr, marked 'na snazi od 14.06.2023.', database 'ažurirana 11.10.2026. zaključno sa NN 107/26' (unofficial consolidation of the official gazette texts; the gazette issues themselves were not opened one by one)čl. 68.a st. 1.-6.
  9. Zakon o radu (Narodne novine 93/14, 127/17, 98/19, 151/22, 46/23, 64/23), pročišćeni tekst on zakon.hr, marked 'na snazi od 14.06.2023.', database 'ažurirana 11.10.2026. zaključno sa NN 107/26' (unofficial consolidation of the official gazette texts; the gazette issues themselves were not opened one by one)čl. 19.; čl. 19.a st. 1.-5.
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