All Categories > Compliance > Austrian working time law
Austrian working time law
Austrian working time law
This article provides an overview of the Austrian working time law.
The most important laws and rules are summarised for you here. However, we assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the legal information. We recommend you consult a legal expert if you have any legal questions or need more detailed information.
You can read the exact regulations and exceptions here.
Maximum working hours for employees
The Austrian working time law protects employees by stipulating maximum working hours and prohibitions for specific days.
The normal weekly working time can be extended to up to 60 hours and the normal daily working time to 12 hours if a collective agreement or a company agreement permits this. Employees must be regularly and extensively available for on-call duty.
Rest break
All employees have the right to breaks during their working hours. These are mainly for rest and refreshment.
If the total working time in a day is longer than 6 hours, a rest break of at least 30 minutes must be taken.
Under certain conditions, for example, in the interests of employees or for operational reasons, two 15-minute breaks or three 10-minute breaks may be granted instead.
Rest period
Rest periods are important to maintain employees' health, safety and performance.
After finishing work for the day, employees are entitled to an uninterrupted rest period of at least 11 hours. Employees must have a continuous rest period of 36 hours within a week.
A collective agreement may reduce this rest period to at least 8 hours. However, such shortened rest periods must be compensated within 10 days by extending other rest periods. A reduction to less than 10 hours is only permitted if the collective agreement provides for additional measures to ensure employees' rest.
Was this Article useful for you?
Yes, this was useful
No, this was not useful