Meet the duty

Meeting the recording duty, without panic and without a deadline

Employers have had to record working time since 13 September 2022, which follows from § 3 (2) no. 1 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. So far the law prescribes no form, and paper is permitted. The much-quoted duty to record electronically exists only in a draft bill.

  • Start, end and duration per day, recorded to the minute
  • Checked against maximum working time, rest periods and the duty to take breaks
  • A report as Excel or CSV, at any time

Last checked on4. September 2026

What applies today, and what is only a draft

The duty itself is law. On 13.09.2022 the Federal Labour Court decided (1 ABR 22/21) that employers have to introduce and use a system for recording working time, derived from § 3 (2) no. 1 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act read in the light of the European Working Time Directive.

There is no requirement as to form. A list on paper meets the duty, as long as start, end and duration are recorded completely and legibly. Anyone claiming otherwise is confusing the duty with the draft.

The ministry's draft bill of 18.06.2026 would make the electronic form the norm. It has neither been adopted by cabinet nor debated in parliament, and its transition periods are long.

What the draft provides for, if it came

  • up to 10 employees

    Transition period in the draft
    dauerhaft ausgenommen

  • up to 50 employees

    Transition period in the draft
    up to 5 years

  • up to 250 employees

    Transition period in the draft
    2 years

  • 250 employees and above

    Transition period in the draft
    1 year, as for everyone

Ministry draft bill of 18.06.2026, retrieved on 03.09.2026. A draft is not law, and the periods would only start running once it came into force.

What a record has to contain

The start, the end and the duration of the daily working time. For marginally employed staff and for the sectors listed in § 2a of the Act to Combat Undeclared Work, § 17 of the Minimum Wage Act applies as well: recorded no later than the seventh calendar day after the day of the work, kept for at least two years.

Entering a target time in advance is not a record. What is recorded is what was actually worked.

  • The start and the end of each working day, not only the total.
  • The breaks, because they are deducted from working time.
  • Corrections in a way that keeps it traceable who made them.
  • Retention under § 16 (2) ArbZG for at least two years.

Where MetronHR helps with that, and where it does not

MetronHR records the start, the end and the break to the minute, without rounding, through the app, in the browser or with a card at the terminal. As you enter, it checks against the limits of the Working Hours Act: the maximum working time per day and per week, the eleven hours of rest, the break duty under § 4 ArbZG. Breaches are flagged, not blocked.

What MetronHR does not do: give legal advice. Whether an arrangement in your business is lawful is not decided by the software, and in businesses with a works council that council has to be involved in how it is set up, § 87 (1) no. 6 BetrVG.

Frequent questions

What we are asked most often about Meet the duty.

Under the law as it stands, no. There is no requirement as to form, and paper is permitted. The electronic form is in the draft amendment to the Working Hours Act, which has so far neither been adopted by cabinet nor debated in parliament.

Yes. The duty under § 3 (2) no. 1 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act has no exception by business size. The permanent exception for businesses with up to ten employees exists only in the draft, and it would concern the electronic form, not the recording itself.

For failing to record, the Occupational Safety and Health Act currently provides no separate fine. Breaches of the Working Hours Act itself, of the maximum working time or the rest period for example, already carry fines of up to 30,000 € today (§ 22 ArbZG). For the sectors under § 2a SchwarzArbG, customs inspects as well.

No. The Federal Labour Court expressly said otherwise (judgment of 04.05.2022, 5 AZR 359/21). Anyone claiming payment for overtime still has to set out and prove that they worked it and that the employer ordered or approved it. A clean record helps both sides with that.

Yes. Trust-based working time means the timing of the work is not prescribed. It still has to be recorded, and that is already the case today. The draft bill expressly provides that it remains possible.

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