Every worker in Germany is now required by law to officially document their working hours.
Starting March 4, 2024, all individuals employed in Germany are mandated by law to document their working hours. Here’s what you need to understand about the updated regulations:
Tracking Working Hours in Germany:
As per a ruling from Germany’s Federal Labour Court (BAG), effective March 4, all employees in Germany must record their daily working hours. Employers are obliged to establish a time tracking system to facilitate employees in accurately logging their actual working hours. Your employer is likely to inform you about this new system by March 4.
Reasons for Introducing the New Time-Tracking System:
Following a 2019 European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that was inadequately enforced, the BAG decided to implement its own legally binding mechanism for tracking working hours in Germany. According to data from the German Institute for Employment Research, Germans accumulated 702 million hours of unpaid overtime in 2022, surpassing the 583 million hours of paid overtime.
Until now, there has been no widespread legal requirement for employers to formally document working hours, with many employees operating under a trust-based system with their employers. The sole exception to this rule applied to employees earning minimum wage, who were obligated to log their specific hours. Moreover, in industries where exploitative work practices are prevalent, such as hospitality and construction, employers were mandated to monitor staff hours worked on Sundays and public holidays.