Time tracking in an agency: what applies despite trust-based working hours

The limits in an agency

Agencies have no exception of their own in the Working Hours Act. The general limits apply, and because agencies are not on the list in section 2a SchwarzArbG, the recording duty follows from the Federal Labour Court's 2022 order and from section 16(2) ArbZG, for mini-jobbers additionally from section 17 MiLoG.

Trust-based hours do not mean: no recording

Trust-based hours govern when someone works, not whether the time is recorded. Since the Federal Labour Court's order of 13 September 2022, employers have to record working time in principle; the court derives the duty from section 3(2) no. 1 ArbSchG. No form is prescribed today, and recording may also be delegated to the employees themselves. The employer remains responsible for it taking place.

There is no duty to record electronically today. It is contained in a draft bill of 18 June 2026: daily recording on the same day, transition periods of two years below 250 and five years below 50 employees, micro-businesses with up to ten employees permanently exempt. Until it becomes law, it is a draft.

Pitch week and rest period

The pitch presentation on Thursday at 9 am and the last round of corrections on Wednesday until 1 am do not go together: eleven hours of rest lie between two working days, so the next start would be noon (section 5(1) ArbZG). And anyone working beyond 1 am does night work, because more than two hours then fall between 11 pm and 6 am (section 2(3) and (4) ArbZG).

Ten hours a day are possible as long as the average over six months or 24 weeks stays at eight hours per working day. Anyone who does not keep a running count of pitch week overtime cannot prove that average later. According to the IAB's working time accounting, employees worked an average of 11.6 paid and 15.6 unpaid overtime hours per person in 2025, across all industries.

The Sunday before the deadline

On Sundays and public holidays, employees may not be employed in principle (section 9 ArbZG), and agencies are not on the list of exceptions in section 10 ArbZG. This also applies in the home office: if the agency asks for a correction on Sunday, it employs someone on a Sunday. An exception is only possible in extraordinary cases under section 14 ArbZG or with a permit from the supervisory authority, and a client meeting on Monday is not one.

Freelancers and client time

Many agencies work with freelancers. Anyone with fixed hours, a fixed place in the team and instructions on content and process is an employee under section 7(1) SGB IV, whatever the contract says. The Working Hours Act and recording then apply to that person too. The status determination procedure under section 7a SGB IV clarifies this in advance.

One more separation matters: billable client time is not the same as working time. Internal alignment, pitch preparation and training are working time, but not client time. Anyone who only records the hours on client projects has neither the full working time nor an honest view of the margin.

Working time and client time in one step

In MetronHR teams clock in in the browser, in the desktop app for Windows and macOS or via the app. Every time can be booked to client, project and service, to the minute and without rounding. Internal time remains working time even if it is not assigned to a client, and overtime goes to the time account.

In the Professional plan, MetronHR deducts booked time directly from the client contingent, so the state of a retainer is visible while the month is running. At the end of the month, hours per person are in the monthly Excel overview and in the payroll file for DATEV.