Germany did not amend its Working Hours Act in response. Instead, the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) stepped in. In its decision of 13 September 2022 (1 ABR 22\/21) the court held that the employer is already obliged under section 3(2) no. 1 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Arbeitsschutzgesetz, ArbSchG), read in line with EU law, to introduce a system that records the start, end and duration of daily working time, including overtime.<\/p>\n
In practice this means:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Employers must record working hours for all employees, in every sector and company size, at the office, on the road or from home.<\/li>\n
- Recording only hours beyond eight per day, as section 16(2) of the Working Hours Act (ArbZG) has long required, is no longer enough.<\/li>\n
- The form is not prescribed. Paper, spreadsheets, a terminal or an app all count, as long as the time records are reliable and inspectors can check them. The employer may delegate the tracking, but stays responsible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Is trust-based working time still allowed?<\/h2>\n
Yes. Vertrauensarbeitszeit, the model where nobody checks when you start and stop, survives the BAG ruling in modified form. Employees still decide when they work; what changes is that their hours must be written down. Most companies now let staff track their own start, end and breaks in a self-service tool that flags breaches of the maximum working time and the 11-hour rest period. The trust concerns the *scheduling*, not the *documentation*. Flexitime, working time accounts and remote work follow the same logic.<\/p>\n
Germany’s draft law: status in September 2026<\/h2>\n
A first draft amendment to the ArbZG from April 2023 would have made electronic time tracking mandatory; it never reached parliament before the coalition behind it broke apart in late 2024. A new Referentenentwurf (ministry draft) followed on 18 June 2026. Its core requirements:<\/p>\n
\n\n\n
\n \nDraft rule (June 2026)<\/th>\n Content<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n What to record<\/td>\n Start, end and duration of daily working hours, entered on the same day<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Form<\/td>\n Electronic by default; the specific time tracking system is not prescribed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Transition periods<\/td>\n 1 year for all employers; 2 years under 250 employees; 5 years under 50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Micro-employers<\/td>\n Up to 10 employees: permanently exempt from the electronic form<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Trust-based working time<\/td>\n Remains lawful; employers must still learn of breaches, e.g. via automated alerts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Retention<\/td>\n At least two years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Fines<\/td>\n Up to EUR 50,000 for missing records, faulty retention or denying inspectors access<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n As of September 2026 the cabinet has not adopted the draft, so none of this is law yet. The BAG ruling and section 16 ArbZG remain the binding baseline.<\/p>\n
How do the rules differ across countries?<\/h2>\n
![\"Manager](\"https:\/\/www.thesixtyone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/inhalt-1-9.jpg\")
Different countries, different rules: only EU states derive a daily recording duty from the 2019 CJEU ruling.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \n\n\n
\n \nJurisdiction<\/th>\n Who must be tracked<\/th>\n Legal basis<\/th>\n Notes<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n EU (general)<\/td>\n All workers, daily<\/td>\n CJEU C-55\/18, Directive 2003\/88\/EC<\/td>\n Member states implement differently<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Germany<\/td>\n All employees<\/td>\n \u00a7 3(2) no. 1 ArbSchG (BAG 2022), \u00a7 16(2) ArbZG<\/td>\n Electronic recording planned in the 2026 draft<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Austria<\/td>\n All employees<\/td>\n \u00a7 26 Arbeitszeitgesetz (AZG)<\/td>\n Start, end, duration and breaks; self-recording allowed for flexitime and home office<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Switzerland<\/td>\n Most employees<\/td>\n Art. 46 ArG, Art. 73a\/73b ArGV 1<\/td>\n Waiver for autonomous high earners; simplified recording for staff who set 25%+ of their hours<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n United Kingdom<\/td>\n Workers within the 48-hour limit<\/td>\n Working Time Regulations 1998, reg. 9<\/td>\n “Adequate records” kept two years; no daily clock-in duty<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n United States<\/td>\n Non-exempt employees<\/td>\n Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)<\/td>\n Hours worked each day and week; any method; payroll records three years, time cards two<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n The pattern: continental Europe tracks everyone, the UK records enough to prove the weekly cap, and the US ties time records to overtime pay for hourly staff. Cross-border employers need a per-country rule set for employee time tracking.<\/p>\n
Which time tracking systems comply with the law?<\/h2>\n
The CJEU’s bar is objective, reliable, accessible. Applied to real tools:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Terminal or badge systems<\/strong> \u2013 tamper-resistant, but expensive and impractical for remote workers.<\/li>\n
- Time tracking software and mobile apps<\/strong> \u2013 the standard choice. Staff log start, end and breaks from any device; the software flags overtime and missing rest periods automatically.<\/li>\n
- Spreadsheets<\/strong> \u2013 legal in Germany for now, but easy to edit without a trace. Austrian labour inspectors already challenge plain Excel files, and the German draft would phase them out for most employers.<\/li>\n
- Paper sheets<\/strong> \u2013 still permitted, and the 2026 draft keeps them for micro-businesses. Retain them for two years, legible and complete.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Time tracking software and mobile apps<\/strong> \u2013 the standard choice. Staff log start, end and breaks from any device; the software flags overtime and missing rest periods automatically.<\/li>\n
- Terminal or badge systems<\/strong> \u2013 tamper-resistant, but expensive and impractical for remote workers.<\/li>\n
![\"Infographic](\"https:\/\/www.thesixtyone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/infografik-11.jpg\")