How many hours can you work?
Basically, your employment contract and collective bargaining agreements determine the duration of your work. In order to rule out health risks, however, statutory maximum limits apply in Germany. The Working Hours Act regulates in detail how many hours an employee may work daily, weekly and permanently. Find out more about your rights here.
How many hours you can work
- As an adult employee, you may work a maximum of 10 hours a day according to the Working Hours Act. This workload should, however, represent an exception for times of high workload, which must not become the rule.
- A maximum of 48 hours is allowed per week. Exceptionally, a week of 60 hours can be particularly busy, but then you need longer time off to compensate, so that the average value of 8 hours per working day is not exceeded over a period of 6 months will.
- In addition, the Working Hours Act stipulates how much time you must have available as a break.
- If you work more than 6 hours a day, you must take at least a 30-minute break.
- If you work longer than 9 hours, your break must be at least 45 minutes.
- You must regularly have a break of at least 11 hours after your daily work shift. However, some exceptions are legally provided for certain fields of activity, for example in agriculture, im In the hotel industry, in hospitals and care facilities, on the radio and in some other areas, the rest time is also shorter fail.
- An employee may not be employed on Sundays and public holidays, but here too there are exceptions for many occupational groups. However, if you work on a public holiday, you are entitled to one day off during the week.
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Restrictions for pregnant women and minors
- Special restrictions apply to pregnant and underage workers. If you belong to these groups of people, the Maternity Protection Act and the Youth Labor Protection Act determine how much you are allowed to work.
- If you are employed as a pregnant woman or as a nursing mother of an infant, your working day must not exceed 8.5 hours. A maximum of 90 hours may come together in a period of 2 weeks.
- As a young person, you can work a maximum of 8 hours a day and a maximum of 40 hours a week.
Note that the respective limits also apply if you work in multiple jobs. Even after the hours have been added, the maximum working time not be exceeded!
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