Contents
What the term covers
The definition in section 2(1) ArbZG is short and is nevertheless regularly read too narrowly. Working time is not only the time at the actual workplace but any time in which the employer disposes over the person. That includes set-up and changing times in so far as they serve the employer, journeys between places of work, stand-by duty at the business and required training.
It does not include rest breaks, the journey from home to the workplace, or times in which somebody is free to do as they please. On-call duty at home in principle does not count, the actual call-outs from it do.
The sentence most often overlooked
Working times with several employers are to be added together. Anyone working at one business in the morning and at a second in the evening exceeds the maximum working time not per business but overall.
Responsibility falls on every employer who knows of the secondary work or ought to know of it. That is why many employment contracts contain a duty to notify secondary work, and that is why it is more than a formality.
Working time law and pay law are two questions
Whether a period is working time within the meaning of the Working Hours Act determines maximum working time, breaks and rest periods. Whether it has to be paid is determined by the employment contract or a collective agreement.
The two answers often coincide, but not always. Stand-by duty is working time in full, but may be paid at a lower rate as long as the minimum wage is still reached for the total time.
Example: two employers in one day
- Business A: 06:00 to 12:00, 30 minutes' break, so 5.5 hours.
- Business B: 17:00 to 21:00, no break, so 4 hours.
- Total: 9.5 hours. The limit of eight hours is exceeded.
- That is permitted only if an average of eight hours a working day is achieved within the balancing period.
Common mistake
Each business counts only its own hours. For employees with a second job, an excess arises that is visible in neither set of records.
This is not legal advice; for a specific case at your workplace you are better off asking someone qualified to give it.
- Section 2(1) ArbZG
- „Working time within the meaning of this Act is the time from the start to the end of work excluding rest breaks; working times with several employers are to be added together.“
Published by: AMNAU GmbH
Editorial responsibility: Ugur Aydogan, Product development.
Last reviewed: 2 September 2026