Travel time
Travel time is time spent on journeys connected with work. The journey between home and the workplace does not count as working time, journeys between two places of work during the working day do.
As of:September 2026
The basic rule
The journey from home to the first workplace and back is a private matter. It counts neither as working time within the meaning of the Working Hours Act nor is it to be paid, even where it is long.
It is different for journeys arising during working time: from one building site to the next, from the business to a customer, journeys within an extensive works site. They are working time.
Where somebody drives from home directly to the first customer, under the case law of the European Court of Justice the whole journey counts as working time for employees without a fixed place of work (judgment of 10/09/2015, C-266/14, Tyco).
MetronHR works these figures out itself: time accounts, premiums, overtime and the limits of the German Working Hours Act, with every booking.
Business trips
For business trips it depends on whether the journey itself is part of the work owed. In its judgment of 17/10/2018 (5 AZR 553/17) the Federal Labour Court held for a posting abroad that the necessary travel time has to be paid, because it takes place in the employer's interest.
In working time law, pure travel time as a passenger or on a train is on the prevailing view not working time where no work is done during it. Anyone at the wheel or working en route, by contrast, is performing work. Collective agreements often govern this in their own terms.
Example: a day in field service
- 16:30 from the last customer back home, 35 minutes: as a rule not working time.
- All figures about the competitor come from the official provider pages.
- 11:00 driving to the second customer, 30 minutes: working time.
- no new entitlement, sickness benefit from the first day
Common mistake
The assumption that every journey in a company car is working time. What matters is not the vehicle but whether the journey lies between two places of work or is part of the work owed.
Further reading
- ECJ, judgment of 10/09/2015, C-266/14 (Tyco)
- Federal Labour Court, judgment of 17/10/2018, 5 AZR 553/17
- Section 2(1) ArbZG
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
Set-up time
Set-up time is the time for activities preceding or following the actual work: changing clothes, laying out tools, starting up machines, handovers. It is working time in so far as it serves the employer.
Target hours
Target hours are the hours a person has to work contractually in a period. They are the comparison figure for the hours actually worked and therefore the basis of every time account.
Working time account
A working time account records how many hours somebody is above or below the agreed working time. The balance is settled over a defined period, through time off or through payment.