Working-time rules

Working-time rules in Germany

What the law says in Germany about rest, hours, breaks, night work and workers under 18, with the provision behind each figure, and what helloswap checks when a shift is planned, swapped or taken.

The figures for adults

Each figure is the law's, with the number of its source. The last column says what helloswap does with a shift that breaks it.

Rule	What the law says	In helloswap
Rest between two shifts	At least 11 hours in a row¹	Blocks the shift
Longest working day	Never more than 10 hours of work²The ordinary limit, without overtime or an exception, is 8 hours²	Blocks the shift
Average working week	At most 48 hours a week on average over 24 weeks³⁴	Blocks the shift
Break	At least 30 minutes when the working day is longer than 6 hours⁵	Warning
Longer break	45 minutes in all when the working day is longer than 9 hours⁵	Warning
Night period	23:00 to 06:00⁶	Definition
Night work	Work with more than 2 hours in the night period is night work⁸	Definition
Limit for night work	At most 8 hours on average in every twenty-four hours, over 4 weeks⁷	Blocks the shift

Workers under 18

Someone who is under 18 on the day of the shift gets these figures. helloswap goes by the date of birth on the person's profile. An empty cell means the law has no figure there that this page can state.

Rule	Under 15	Ages 15–17	In helloswap
Rest between two shifts	–	12 hours⁹	Blocks the shift
Longest working day	2 hours¹⁰	8 hours¹¹	Blocks the shift
Longest working week	–	40 hours¹¹	Blocks the shift
No work between	18:00 and 08:00¹⁰	20:00 and 06:00¹²	Blocks the shift
Weekly rest	2 days off a week¹³	2 days off a week¹³	Blocks the shift
Break	30 minutes when the day is longer than 4.5 hours¹⁴¹⁵	30 minutes when the day is longer than 4.5 hours¹⁴¹⁵	Warning
Longer break	60 minutes when the day is longer than 6 hours¹⁶	60 minutes when the day is longer than 6 hours¹⁶	Warning

The law draws its line by school as well as by age: a young person who is still in compulsory schooling keeps the stricter figures of the younger group. helloswap knows the age, not the schooling.¹⁷
The longest day and week count hours of work: the company's unpaid break is taken off first when the shift is long enough to need a break.
Weekly rest is measured over the 7 days up to the shift.
helloswap does not check whether someone of a given age may be employed at all, or in which kind of work.

How helloswap applies them

The law's figure is one thing, the check another. Where the two differ, it says so here.

Rest between two shifts: helloswap measures from the end of one shift to the start of the next. A shift that leaves less than 11 hours is not saved.
Longest working day: One shift may hold at most 10 hours of work. The company's unpaid break is taken off first when the shift is long enough to need a break.
Average working week: The hours are added up over 24 weeks and divided by the number of weeks. Shifts on days of approved leave are not counted. A shift that takes the average over 48 hours is not saved.
Break: helloswap compares the 30 minutes with the break length the company has set and gives a warning when a shift longer than 6 hours has a shorter one.
Longer break: From there the company's break has to be at least 45 minutes, or helloswap gives a warning.
Night period: The hours that count as night for adults, where no agreement sets others. Workers under 18 have hours of their own, in their own table.
Night work: The law speaks of someone who normally works like this. helloswap goes by the shift: every shift that meets it is treated as a night shift.
Limit for night work: The law averages a night worker's working time over all the days of the period. helloswap is stricter: it averages the length of the person's night shifts over the last 4 weeks and does not save a shift that takes that average over 8 hours.

What blocks a shift, and what only warns

The split is the product's own and the same for every company.

Blocks: the shift is not saved

Nobody can override these, whether a manager plans the shift, someone takes it from the swap board or it is part of a swap.

Rest between two shifts
Longest working day
Average working week
Limit for night work
The figures for workers under 18, except the break

Warns: the manager decides

The shift can still be saved. The warning names the rule and says why.

Break
Longer break
The break for workers under 18

Sources

Every figure on this page carries the number of the provision it was read in. The links go to the official text.

Check the rest between two shifts

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