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German working time law
German working time law
This article provides an overview of the German 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 German working time law protects employees by stipulating maximum working hours and prohibitions for certain days.
It states that working days must not usually last longer than 8 hours and that working on Sundays is generally prohibited unless exceptions exist. This means that the total weekly working time may be at most 48 hours.
An exception rule states that the daily working time can be extended to up to 10 hours. This means the working week can be increased to 60 hours at short notice. This must be compensated for so that on average no more than 8 hours a day are worked for 6 months or 24 weeks.
Rest break
All employees have the right to breaks during their working hours. These are mainly for rest and refreshments.
If they work for more than 6 hours, employees must be interrupted by predetermined rest breaks of at least 30 minutes. This is stipulated by law.
If the working time exceeds 9 hours, the rest break should be 45 minutes in total.
These rest breaks can be divided into sections of at least 15 minutes each.
Rest period
Rest periods are important to maintain employees' health, safety and performance.
After completing their daily work, employees must have an uninterrupted rest period of at least 11 hours. Within a week, employees must have a continuous rest period of 36 hours in total.
In certain sectors, such as hospitals, restaurants, transport companies, broadcasting, agriculture and animal husbandry, the daily rest period can be reduced by up to one hour. This reduction must be compensated for within one calendar month or 4 weeks by extending another rest period to at least 12 hours.
In hospitals and similar facilities, shortened rest periods can be compensated for by on-call duty at other times, which may be at most half of the rest period.
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