Mobile working
Mobile working is work performed independently of location using information technology. Working from home in the legal sense is the narrower case of a permanently set-up teleworking station in the home.
As of:September 2026
Why the distinction has consequences
A teleworking station under section 2(7) of the Workplace Ordinance is a display screen workstation permanently set up by the employer in the private sphere, for which furniture and work equipment are provided and installed. The duties of the Workplace Ordinance hang on that, including the risk assessment of the workstation.
Anyone working with a laptop at the kitchen table or on a train has no teleworking station. The Workplace Ordinance does not apply there, but the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Working Hours Act apply in full.
What applies unchanged
Maximum working time, breaks and rest periods apply at the kitchen table as in the office. And the duty to record exists as well: the Federal Labour Court order of 13/09/2022 (1 ABR 22/21) draws no distinction by place of work.
The arrangement of mobile working has been expressly subject to codetermination since 2021 (section 87(1) no. 14 BetrVG). Whether it happens stays with the employer, how it happens with the works council.
MetronHR works these figures out itself: time accounts, premiums, overtime and the limits of the German Working Hours Act, with every booking.
No entitlement, but an entitlement to a discussion
There is no statutory entitlement to working from home. Section 8 TzBfG concerns the duration of working time, not the place.
For employees at businesses with more than 15 employees there is, however, an entitlement to have the employer discuss a request to change the duration, timing or place of working time with the aim of reaching an agreement (section 7(2) TzBfG). That is not an entitlement to an outcome, but it is one to a conversation.
Common mistake
Recording gets suspended for mobile working because nobody is checking. That leaves records missing exactly where the limits of the Working Hours Act are most likely to be exceeded, namely in the evenings and at weekends.
Further reading
- Section 2(7) ArbStaettV
- Section 87(1) no. 14 BetrVG, section 7(2) TzBfG
- Federal Labour Court, order of 13/09/2022, 1 ABR 22/21
This is not legal advice; for a specific case at your workplace you are better off asking someone qualified to give it.
Published by: AMNAU GmbH
Editorial responsibility: Ugur Aydogan, Product development.
Last reviewed: September 2026
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Related terms
Working time
Working time is the time from the start to the end of work excluding rest breaks. Where somebody works for several employers, the times are added together.
Rest period
The rest period is the continuous free time between the end of one working day and the start of the next. It is at least eleven hours.
Trust-based working time
With trust-based working time the employer dispenses with dictating the start and end of daily working time and looks at the result. The agreed working time is still owed.