German working time law

The most important laws and rules are summarized for you here. We accept no liability for this article. If you have any legal questions or require more detailed information, we recommend that you consult a legal expert.

You can read the exact regulations and exceptions HERE (in German).

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 normally last longer than 8 hours and that working on Sundays is generally prohibited, unless there are exceptions. This means that the total weekly working time may not exceed 48 hours. 

There is an exception rule which states that the daily working time can be extended to up to 10 hours. This means that the working week can be increased to a maximum of 60 hours at short notice. This must be compensated for so that on average no more than 8 hours a day are worked over a period of 6 months or 24 weeks. However, the compensation is not measured in this software and must therefore be considered and implemented independently.

Rest breaks

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 periods

Rest periods are important to maintain the health, safety and performance of employees.

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 within 4 weeks by extending another rest period to at least 12 hours. However, the compensation is not measured in this software and must therefore be considered and implemented independently.

In hospitals and similar facilities, shortened rest periods can be compensated for by on-call duty at other times, which may not exceed half of the rest period.