Late jobs that push back the next day
After a job an eleven-hour rest period applies, with no option to shorten it for service businesses. MetronHR calculates jobs running past midnight correctly and checks the rest period along the way.
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- Jobs running past midnight are assigned to the right day automatically
- The eleven-hour rest period is checked on every entry
- Hours per customer and job for invoicing
In shortService technicians need eleven hours of uninterrupted rest after every job; shortening it to ten hours is not provided for service and maintenance (section 5 ArbZG). Working time beyond eight hours has to be recorded and kept for two years. MetronHR books jobs past midnight to the right day and checks rest period and daily limit with every entry.
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- GDPR compliantServers in Nuremberg and Falkenstein
Duties at a glance
The key duties and how they are met day to day
| Duty | Source | With paper or Excel | With MetronHR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 hours of rest | Section 5(1) ArbZG | recalculated by hand after a late job | checked with every entry, breaches flagged |
| At most 10 hours a day, 8 on average | Section 3 ArbZG | a job past midnight lands on the wrong day | day change detected, daily limit checked |
| Record time beyond 8 hours, keep for 2 years | Section 16(2) ArbZG | time sheets at the customer's or in the van | stored as long as the account exists |
11 hours of rest
- Source
- Section 5(1) ArbZG
- With paper or Excel
- recalculated by hand after a late job
- With MetronHR
- checked with every entry, breaches flagged
At most 10 hours a day, 8 on average
- Source
- Section 3 ArbZG
- With paper or Excel
- a job past midnight lands on the wrong day
- With MetronHR
- day change detected, daily limit checked
Record time beyond 8 hours, keep for 2 years
- Source
- Section 16(2) ArbZG
- With paper or Excel
- time sheets at the customer's or in the van
- With MetronHR
- stored as long as the account exists
In detail, with examples: Time tracking in service and maintenance: when the drive counts and what applies after an emergency call
As at: November 2026. This is not legal advice; for a specific case in your business it is better to ask someone with a licence to practise.
The job ends at 1:30, and then?
Call-out duty and maintenance windows fall outside office hours. That is where the problems start: the shift runs past midnight, and the rest period pushes back the next start of work.
- Problem
Eleven hours of rest, no exception
Under section 5 (1) ArbZG it is eleven hours. The reduction to ten applies only to certain industries, and service and maintenance are not among them.
- Problem
Jobs running past midnight slip
If a job from 22:00 to 1:30 is booked on a single day, the daily total and the rest-period calculation no longer add up.
- Problem
Travel and jobs get mixed up
Several customers in one day means that without an assignment per job, at the end of the month you can no longer tell who pays for what.
Job, day change and rest period calculated together
If the end time is before the start time, MetronHR detects the day change itself and books the end on the following day. The rest period is checked along the way, and every hour stays assigned to its customer.
Night jobs assigned correctlyFor every job the daily total, the rest period and the customer assignment add up, even when it runs past midnight.
From the emergency call to the invoice
Three steps that keep late jobs and rest periods in order.
Record the job, even past midnight
Enter start, end and break, plus the customer. If the end is before the start, the following day is set as the end day automatically.
The daily total adds up, without mental arithmetic.
Rule check for the week Limits while recording
Set the clock-out earlier or later: the warning comes and goes with the working time.
Possible, but not unnoticed
A long day can be saved; it stays marked and can be explained with a note.
Save entryMara Wolf · Thursday, 8 OctoberFrom06:45To17:45Break0:45hNoteStocktakingWorking time10:15hMore than 10 hours. § 3 ArbZG allows that only with compensation; MetronHR marks the entry.
Within the 10 hours.
Agree on time off in lieu
The late job creates overtime. The employee requests payout or time off in lieu, and the manager decides.
Compensation is governed by rules, not negotiated.
Request and approval Approve extra workWarehouse team · OctoberOpen requests2Mara Wolf's balance+13:45h
Extra work · 22 Oct · 2:30hMara Wolf · stocktaking in the warehouse
Extra work · 23 Oct · 1:00hMehmet Yilmaz · evening emergencyReview
Extra work · 16 Oct · 1:30hLena Hoffmann · quarter-end closingApprovedSee availability for next week
Who has time off in lieu, who is on holiday, who is available? The team calendar shows absences and cover at a glance.
Dispatch plans with real availability.
Team Calendar Team calendarWeek 44 · reception teamAway on Friday2MonTueWedThuFri
Aylin D.UUULena H.FFMehmet Y.KK
Sophie B.U leave, F training, K sick. Only those allowed to see it see the reason for an illness.
What service and maintenance businesses need
Jobs outside office hours, several customers a day, rest periods under control.
- Time
Jobs past midnight
If the job ends after midnight, the following day is recognised as the end day automatically.
Daily total, overtime and rest period are calculated correctly on that basis.
- Security
Rest period and maximum working time
The eleven-hour rest period and the daily limit are checked on every entry.
The default is 10 hours a day; breaches are flagged.
- Projects
Hours per customer and job
Several jobs in one day stay separately attributable.
Optionally also per service, such as maintenance or fault clearing.
- Apps
Recording on site, even offline
iOS and Android, in the basement, in the lift shaft, with no signal.
Can be recorded in a shaft or boiler room without a network, transmission follows afterwards.
- Tools
Job supervisor enters time for others
Anyone who heads a department or has technicians reporting to them records their times as well.
For colleagues who no longer enter their own times after a night job.
- Team
Availability and cover
Absences and days off in lieu in the team calendar.
The basis for planning next week's on-call duty.
- Reports
Record per technician and month
Target, actual and the difference, with a daily breakdown.
Download as Excel or CSV for invoicing, and for the payroll office also as a DATEV payroll file.
- Simplicity
No terminal required
Runs in the browser and as an app.
Invite new technicians by email, even in the middle of the heating season. If you still want a time clock on the workshop wall, you can connect a terminal.
For management, dispatch and technicians
Four roles, four reasons, from the emergency call to payroll.
- Service business owners
Knows what a job really cost
- Travel and jobs for several customers cannot be separated at the end of the month.
- Hours per customer, job and service, the basis for invoicing and costing.
- Technicians
Books right after the job, not the next day
- Writing a timesheet after a night job never gets done.
- Start, end and break on the phone, even without a signal and past midnight.
- Operations manager
Plans with real availability
- After a late job it is unclear who is even allowed to work the next morning.
- Rest-period checks, days off in lieu and absences in one place.
- Accountants
Gets job hours without reconstructing them
- Night premiums and job hours that first have to be reconstructed.
- One file per month with job hours, balances and absences.
Rest periods documented, not estimated
Under section 16 (2) ArbZG, working time beyond eight hours must be recorded and kept for at least two years. With night and late jobs that is the rule, not the exception.
- Overtime is calculated from the entries and stays traceable
- Time entries stay stored as long as your account exists
- Servers in Germany, transferred and stored encrypted, GDPR compliant
- Every change to a time entry is logged, with an audit trail on the Professional plan
Servers in Germany, operated by AMNAU GmbH in Hanover
Frequently asked questions from service & maintenance
Night jobs, rest periods and invoicing per customer, answered briefly.
Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.
Send us a messageHow is a job recorded that runs past midnight?
You enter the start and the end. If the end time is before the start time, MetronHR detects the day change and sets the end on the following day automatically. The daily total, overtime and rest period are calculated on that basis.
How long must the rest period be after a late job?
Under section 5 (1) ArbZG, at least eleven uninterrupted hours. The reduction to ten hours under section 5 (2) applies only to certain industries such as hospitals, care, hospitality or transport operations; service and maintenance are not among them.
Does MetronHR check the rest period automatically?
Yes. Rest period, daily maximum working time and the break rule are checked on every entry and breaches are flagged. You set the limits centrally; the defaults are 11 hours of rest and a 10-hour daily limit.
Can several jobs in one day be invoiced separately?
Yes. Every entry is assigned to a customer and optionally to a service such as maintenance or fault clearing. In the report you filter by customer, period and technician and download the result as Excel or CSV.
What if there is no network at the customer site?
The app stores the entry locally on the device and transmits it as soon as there is a connection again. Recorded times are therefore not lost when there is no signal in a basement or shaft.
How does overtime become time off in lieu?
Overtime is calculated from the entries. The employee requests payout or time off in lieu, and the manager decides. Approved days off in lieu appear in the team calendar and in availability planning.
Can the job supervisor enter times for technicians?
Yes. Anyone who heads a department or has employees reporting to them can create time entries for those employees, which is handy after a night job. Management may record time for everyone.
Which plan includes it?
Time tracking with customer assignment, absences, overtime, working-time models, Working Time Act checks and Excel/CSV export are included in the Team plan at 5 € per user per month. Analytics, the personnel file and the change history of time entries are part of the Professional plan at 10 €.
Record night jobs correctly and keep rest periods?
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