Working Hours Act – the most important points in brief

New Work and flexible working hours are increasingly becoming the standard in the world of work. But how flexible can we be and how can we ensure that working hours remain within the legal framework? To do this, employers and employees need to be familiar with the Working Hours Act. This article provides the most important basics.

Who is affected by the Working Hours Act?

The aim of the law is to protect employees. But who exactly is meant by this? The Working Hours Act excludes certain occupational groups. These include

• Senior executives
• Chief physicians
• Caregivers who live with a person entrusted to their care
• People who work in the liturgical area of the churches
• and different groups of people who work in the public sector.

Furthermore, the law does not apply to persons under the age of 18. Working hours are regulated by the Youth Protection Act.

Working hours

How long can I work per day? In principle, this is 8 hours. In some cases, more is permitted. The maximum working hours exist because there are significantly more accidents at work if working hours are too long. This applies in particular to jobs where heavy machinery is operated, such as on construction sites or in production. But it’s also about office jobs. Doctors keep saying that sitting for too long is bad for your health. And with this law, the legislator stipulates that employees must not work too long and that everyone must get enough breaks. How much does the average employee in Germany work? That’s about 40 hours a week and 8 hours a day. Most companies still do this. Theoretically, 48 hours per week would also be possible, as Saturday is also counted as a working day. If the company wants to allow flexible working hours, employees can also work more hours per day – namely a maximum of 10 hours on 6 working days. There is one important condition for this: Working hours may not exceed an average of 8 hours per working day within a 6-month period. Incidentally, there are special regulations for some professions – for example in hospitals. In some cases, working hours may exceed 10 hours.

Example working time

If someone works a total of 45 hours in a 5-day working week, then the 5 hours of additional work must be compensated within 6 months. For example, by taking additional vacation or simply leaving early on a few days.

Break times

Important: As an employee, you may not voluntarily give up your break. The law clearly prohibits this. Employees who do this are not doing themselves or their company any favors. After all, physical and mental health are more important than a half-hour lunch break. There must be a half-hour break after 6 hours of work at the latest. The law is not as specific about break times as it is about other things. Each company must regulate this itself. In manufacturing companies – for example in production at car manufacturers – there are often 15-minute breaks in between so that employees can stay focused and fewer mistakes are made. After 9 hours of work, the Working Hours Act even provides for an additional 15-minute break, i.e. a total of three quarters of an hour. Another important note: Many short breaks, such as 5-minute smoking breaks, do not add up to the legally required 30-minute break after 6 hours. A break must last at least 15 minutes at a time to be recognized as a rest break.

Example break times

One employee works through her lunch break every day because the deadlines are too tight. In return, she gets tired much quicker in the evening and is totally unfocused for the last hour of working time. Does that pay off for the company? Probably not. What’s more, she goes home in the evening with a bad feeling because she knows she wasn’t productive in the end. And that also affects her mental health. If you as a manager notice that employees are not taking their breaks, it is not only in the interests of the law if you insist that your people take breaks. However, this does not mean that you are not flexible when it comes to organizing working hours.

Rest periods

The Working Hours Act states that employees must have at least 11 hours of rest between two working days. With flexible working hours, it is not uncommon for violations to occur. This is another reason why the Working Hours Act should perhaps be revised. This rest period of 11 hours in particular is often not observed and it is not necessarily to the advantage of employees that it is so strictly regulated.

Example of rest periods

If you go home at 6 p.m. in the evening, you are not allowed to come back to work until 5 a.m. the next day at the earliest. That sounds like it would be easy to comply with, but with flexible working hours it can happen that someone is still working at 11.00 pm. And according to the law, they are not allowed to start work before 10.00 a.m. the next morning.

Further regulations in the Working Hours Act

Night work

This includes all work between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. that lasts more than 2 hours. Only 8 hours may be worked at night on working days. This can also be extended to 10 hours, but the time must be made up within 4 weeks.

Sunday work

Employees are not allowed to work between midnight and midnight on Sundays and public holidays. But of course there are exceptions here too. Exceptions are particularly important for hospitals, certain services or public transport, for example. And of course the police and security services also work on Sundays. And imagine if all leisure activities were closed on Sundays. Of course, there are exceptions here too. Nevertheless, all employees must have at least 15 Sundays off per year.