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What you need to know to build a restaurant schedule in Chile: the law, the planning and the control, explained with examples and with the source in view.

The law

Working hours, rest days and overtime, with the exact article that says so.

  1. Chile's 40-hour law: what changes for a restaurant, and whenThe weekly maximum fell to 44 hours in April 2024 and to 42 in April 2026, and falls to 40 on 26 April 2028. Pay cannot be cut. Without agreement, the cut is applied by ending the day earlier on different days; for a team of 20 full-time contracts, the last step equals one person's shifts.
  2. How many Sundays off does a restaurant worker get in Chile?At least two of the rest days in each calendar month must fall on a Sunday, plus seven more Sundays a year. It does not apply to contracts of 30 days or less, of 20 weekly hours or less, or for weekends only. With a written agreement, a restaurant can replace the monthly rule with 29 Sundays a year.
  3. Weekly rest in a Chilean restaurant: the compensatory day and the 33 hoursWhoever works on Sunday gets one rest day a week in compensation, plus one for each holiday worked. In restaurants, the shift before a rest day must end by 00:00 (up to 03:00 in justified cases, with those hours paid at 100% extra), and the rest must last at least 33 continuous hours.
  4. Overtime in a Chilean restaurant: how it is calculated and paidOvertime is every hour beyond the agreed weekly schedule, counted at the end of each week. Up to two a day can be agreed, in writing and only for temporary needs, and they are paid with a 50% surcharge. On a 42-hour week, one overtime hour is worth the monthly salary × 0.0083333.
  5. Meal breaks in a Chilean restaurant: do they count as working time?The working day is split by a meal break of at least half an hour, which does not count as working time unless agreed otherwise. That is why a 12:00–21:00 shift is eight and a half hours of work. It cannot be stretched to follow the restaurant's pace; long breaks require the article 34 bis agreement.
  6. Part-time work in a Chilean restaurant: what changes under 30 hoursPart-time means no more than 30 hours a week. The working day is continuous, up to 10 hours, with a meal break of between half an hour and an hour, and overtime and alternative schedules notified a week ahead can be agreed. The exemption from the two Sundays off applies only to 20 hours or less.
  7. How long can a restaurant shift be in Chile?Up to ten ordinary hours a day, with the week spread over five or six days and within the weekly maximum, currently 42 hours. The meal break of at least half an hour does not count as working time, and up to two overtime hours a day can be agreed on top, only for temporary needs.

Planning

How to go from the law and the demand to shifts that work.

  1. How to design a restaurant's shift catalogueA catalogue is the short, stable list of the restaurant's shifts, each with a code, hours, paid hours and valid days. Good shifts start before the peak, never start or end in the middle of one, span lunch and dinner where they can, and open and close with just enough people.
  2. How many people each service needs: restaurant staffing coverageCoverage is defined per service: each peak, such as lunch from 13:00 to 16:00, has a minimum number of people for each day of the week, plus opening and closing. Whoever is present for the whole peak counts towards it, and reviewing the day in 30-minute slots shows exactly where people are missing.
  3. The closing shift: who closes a restaurant, and until whenWhoever closes stays until the restaurant is closed, not until the kitchen closes, and each closing time needs its own shift. The night before a day off, restaurant work must end by 00:00, or up to 03:00 in justified cases with those hours paid at 100% extra, followed by at least 33 hours of rest.
  4. Hire or pay overtime? The maths for a restaurantFor a short, bounded gap, overtime. For a permanent one, hire or redesign shifts: an overtime hour costs 50% more than the same hour under contract, and the law caps it at two a day, in writing and only for temporary needs. Before either, check whether contracted hours are going unused.
  5. How to publish the shift schedule to your teamThe law sets no number of days for publishing the schedule, but it requires certainty: a few defined shifts, a clear way of assigning them, and the week known with enough notice. Changing someone's start time unilaterally, by up to 60 minutes, requires 30 days' notice.

Control

What was planned against what happened, and what inspectors look at.

  1. Planned versus clocked: attendance control in ChileThe employer must keep an attendance record: a book, a time clock or an electronic system authorised by the Labour Directorate, only one type per employer. Comparing that record with the plan, person by person and week by week, reveals the overtime nobody decided before an inspection does.
  2. Scheduling mistakes that end in a fine in ChileFines range from 1–5 UTM for a micro company to 3–60 UTM for a large one, depending on severity. The most common working-time ones: exceeding 42 weekly or 10 daily hours, more than 2 overtime hours a day, overtime without an agreement or unpaid, missing the two Sundays off or the 33-hour rest, and no attendance record.

Want to see this with your own restaurant's data?.

Batuta builds the month's schedule within these rules and lets you review and adjust it before publishing. We'll show it to you with your own staff and shifts.

Prefer email? hola@usebatuta.com