Working time

The Working Time Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz) applies to almost all private-sector employees over the age of 18.

Regular working hours

Regular working hours are:

• an eight-hour working day (working hours within a 24-hour period)
• a 40-hour working week (working hours from Monday to Sunday)

Exceptions:

• Collective agreements in many industries have shortened the regular weekly working hours, for example to 38 hours.
• A collective agreement may extend the regular daily working hours to ten hours.
• To obtain a longer continuous period off work (e.g. long weekend), the normal working day can be extended from eight hours to the maximum of nine hours/day.
• Under certain conditions, a 4-day week (4 x 10 hours) is possible.
• In the case of flexible working hours (Gleitzeit), the regular daily working hours may be extended to up to ten hours.
• Many collective agreements stipulate that the normal working week must be achieved on average over a specific period (up to one year, but longer in individual cases), but may be higher or lower in certain weeks (e.g. tourism, the hotel and catering trade, trade).

Overtime

Overtime is accumulated if the regular working hours (eight hours per day or 40 hours per week) are exceeded and none of the above-mentioned exceptions apply.

Employees may only be subjected to overtime if this does not conflict with their own considerable interests (e.g. child care, urgent doctor’s appointment).

Overtime must be remunerated with an additional bonus of 50% in money or time balance.

Flexible Working Time

Flexible working time means that it is possible, within the time frame agreed upon, to decide the beginning and the end of the daily regular working hours by oneself. During a certain “core time”, the employee’s presence is obligatory. The flexible working time must be regulated by a company agreement or a flexible working time agreement.

Part-time work

Part-time work (Teilzeitarbeit) means that the agreed-upon weekly working hours on average fall below the legal regular working hours (40 hours) or the shorter regular working hours regulated by a collective agreement. Part-time employees must not be disadvantaged in comparison to full-time employees because of the part-time employment.

Extra work (Mehrarbeit) means those working hours between the working hours stipulated in the work contract (e.g. 25 hours) and the legal regular working hours or the shorter regular working hours regulated by a collective agreement. Employees may only be subjected to overtime if this does not conflict with their own considerable interests (e.g. child care, urgent doctor’s appointment).

Extra work must be remunerated with a legal additional bonus of 25%, but there are a number of exceptions, e.g. if the extra hours are balanced within the same quarter or within another agreed upon time-frame of three months.

Shift work

For shift work, the job is performed by several different workers over the course of a set period. Under certain conditions, a shift of up to twelve hours is possible.

Night work

Since 2002 both men and women are allowed to work nights on equal terms. Only pregnant women, nursing mothers and young people below the age of 18 are not permitted to work nights.

Breaks and Rest Periods

If the total working time exceeds six hours, it must be interceded by a rest period of at least half an hour. This break is not remunerated and it is not part of the working time.

After the end of the daily working time, the employee is entitled to an uninterrupted rest period of at least eleven hours.

The weekly resting time is regulated by the Act on Work Resting (Arbeitsruhegesetz). Basically an employee is entitled to an uninterrupted resting period of 36 hours, starting on Saturday 1 p.m. and including Sunday (weekend rest). Again, there are a number of exceptional regulations. An employee working during the weekend rest is entitled to an uninterrupted weekly rest of 36 hours beyond the weekend.

Further information and useful links

Links

• Information on working time (German)
• Collective agreements (Chamber of Labour) (German)
• Chamber of Labour (German)