Current regulations and planned changes to (electronic) working time recording in Germany – Effects on the compensation of overtime
According to the German Working Hours Act, only overtime and Sunday work had to be documented until now, not all working hours. Following the landmark ruling by the Federal Labor Court (BAG) on September 13, 2022, there is now an immediate obligation in Germany to systematically record all working time – regardless of the planned amendment to the Federal Working Hours Act. The parties to collective bargaining agreements and companies will continue to decide on the specific companies’ arrangements.
This was preceded by the ECJ ruling on the recording of working time from 14.5.2019 (C -55/18 [“CCOO”]), according to which the member states are obliged to introduce an objective, reliable and accessible system to measure the daily working time worked by each employee.