Working Hours Violation - Penalties and Rules at a Glance
In May 2019, the European Court of Justice ruled that all European member states must adopt a law on working time recording. The reason for this was a lawsuit in Spain against the local branch of Deutsche Bank.Since then, not much has happened on this issue in Germany for a long time, until the Federal Labor Court declared the obligation to record working hours in September 2022. Based on a lawsuit over a right of initiative to introduce a system for recording working hours, the judge stated that enough time had passed since the ECJ ruling to introduce a time recording system in German companies. Since then, failure to record working hours has been illegal.
As early as December 2022, shortly after the publication of the written reasons for the judgment, the Federal Ministry of Labor announced that it would publish a first draft of a law on time recording in the first quarter of 2023.
This draft for "electronic working time recording" came in April 2023 and caused a lot of discussion. You can find everything about the content of the draft law here.
How should working hours be recorded at this time?
The obligation to record working hours triggered by the Cell Phone Number Database Federal Labor Court does not contain any "how". It simply states that the working hours of each employee, including breaks and rest periods, must be recorded. Incidentally, this ruling is based on the employer's duty of care to ensure that the requirements of the Working Hours Act are complied with.
However, the ECJ stipulates a number of requirements for a potential law. For example, a law on recording working hours must comply with requirements on reliability, objectivity and accessibility .
Graphic on the topic of ECJ criteria for time recording
However, there is currently a legal obligation to record overtime, additional work and work on Sundays and public holidays. This data must be kept for at least two years.
The draft law from the Federal Ministry of Labor also adheres to these new requirements. The title “Draft law on electronic time recording” already suggests that some more specific requirements would come into force here. For example, (unless otherwise stated in collective agreements and clauses) “the start, end and duration of employees’ daily working hours must be recorded electronically ”.
https://mailingdata.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Cell-Phone-Number-Database-3.png
However, this draft is still being worked on and a final adoption of a “Working Time Recording Act” is not yet in sight.
What is true, however, is that it will definitely come and if legal disputes arise today regarding working hours, it can have serious consequences if the company does not yet record working hours. We will explain to you below exactly how violations are punished.
How much can a violation cost me?
Violations of the Working Hours Act are punishable by fines of up to 15,000 euros . An intentional violation can even result in a prison sentence of up to one year , depending on the severity .
In any case, the responsibility for compliance with the guidelines rests with the supervisor. This can also be senior employees or department heads. This means that those who give instructions in the company are liable in the event of a violation of the Working Hours Act.
However, when it comes to working hours, the blame is often placed on the HR department. Therefore, awareness of this problem and a course of action should be created early on.
頁:
[1]