Travel time: when it is working time and when it is paid
Travel time is working time when it happens on instruction and serves the employer: journeys between places of work, the journey to the first customer where the places of work change, driving as the driver. The ordinary commute from home to the office does not count. Whether the time is additionally paid depends on the contract or the collective agreement.
As of:September 2026
Two questions that belong apart
The question "is that working time" has two answers, because it concerns two acts. Working time **within the meaning of the Working Hours Act** is the time from the start to the end of work excluding rest breaks (section 2(1) ArbZG); maximum working time, rest periods and the record-keeping duty hang on that. Working time **for the purposes of pay** depends on the employment contract, a collective agreement or a works agreement.
The two often coincide, but not always. Travel time can be working time and still be covered by the salary, and it can be paid without counting towards maximum working time.
What counts and what does not
The line runs along the question of whose interest the time is spent in and whether it happens on instruction.
| Case | Working time under the ArbZG | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| The journey from home to a fixed workplace | no | Commuting time; it falls into the private sphere. Exception: the business orders collective transport. |
| A journey between two places of work on the same day | yes | It happens exclusively in the business's interest. |
| The journey to the first customer where the places of work change | yes | Without a fixed place of work, work begins with the journey. The ECJ decided this for field staff in 2015 (C-266/14). |
| Driving yourself on a business trip | yes | Driving the vehicle is the work owed; there is no free disposal over the time. |
| Travelling as a passenger or on the train | as a rule yes | On instruction and in the employer's interest. Whether it is additionally paid depends on the contract or the collective agreement. |
| The journey to a building site with a prescribed meeting point | yes from the meeting point | From the point specified by the business, the time is externally determined. |
The journey from home to a fixed workplace
- Working time under the ArbZG
- no
- Reason
- Commuting time; it falls into the private sphere. Exception: the business orders collective transport.
A journey between two places of work on the same day
- Working time under the ArbZG
- yes
- Reason
- It happens exclusively in the business's interest.
The journey to the first customer where the places of work change
- Working time under the ArbZG
- yes
- Reason
- Without a fixed place of work, work begins with the journey. The ECJ decided this for field staff in 2015 (C-266/14).
Driving yourself on a business trip
- Working time under the ArbZG
- yes
- Reason
- Driving the vehicle is the work owed; there is no free disposal over the time.
Travelling as a passenger or on the train
- Working time under the ArbZG
- as a rule yes
- Reason
- On instruction and in the employer's interest. Whether it is additionally paid depends on the contract or the collective agreement.
The journey to a building site with a prescribed meeting point
- Working time under the ArbZG
- yes from the meeting point
- Reason
- From the point specified by the business, the time is externally determined.
As of 15/09/2026. A collective agreement or a works agreement can provide more favourable rules, but cannot fall below the limits of the ArbZG.
Knowing the rules is one thing, keeping to them day to day another. MetronHR checks breaks, rest periods and maximum working time automatically as time is recorded.
Pay: what the Federal Labour Court says about it
For pay, the principle is that travel time arising in the employer's interest is to be paid like work, unless something else has been agreed. The Federal Labour Court expressly confirmed this for postings abroad (judgment of 17/10/2018, 5 AZR 553/17): necessary travel time to an external place of work is in principle to be paid like work.
A contractual arrangement can govern the pay differently, for instance as a flat rate or at a lower rate. It must not fall below the minimum wage, though: across all hours the average has to hold up.
What that means for the records
Whatever is working time within the meaning of the ArbZG belongs in the records. Travel time therefore counts towards the eight hours a day and the eleven hours of rest, and it can make a journey the evening before impossible under employment law.
In practice that means journeys need a recording type of their own, otherwise they either do not appear in the records at all or they sit invisibly inside project time. Both only surface when somebody works it out.
Further reading:Sections 2(1), 3, 5, 9 and 11 ArbZG · Federal Labour Court, judgment of 17/10/2018, 5 AZR 553/17 · ECJ, judgment of 10/09/2015, C-266/14 (Tyco)
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
Frequently asked questions
What we are asked about this most often.
No. The journey from home to a fixed workplace is commuting time and falls into the private sphere. It is different where the places of work change and there is no fixed workplace: there the journey to the first customer already counts.
Travel time in the employer's interest is in principle to be paid like work if nothing else has been agreed. The employment contract or a collective agreement can provide for different, including lower, pay; the minimum wage has to be maintained across the average of all hours.
If it is working time within the meaning of section 2 ArbZG, yes. Then eight hours a day apply, exceptionally ten with compensation, and eleven hours of rest afterwards. A late return journey can therefore push back the next start of work.
Travel time on a Sunday is work on a Sunday if it is working time. It is therefore subject to section 9 ArbZG and requires a substitute day of rest under section 11(3) ArbZG. A purely private journey without instruction is not covered.
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