In principle, employees have their tried and tested 8-hour day. After the end of the working day, employees are entitled to an uninterrupted rest period of 11 hours. Under certain circumstances, as an employer you can have rest periods for employees in your company that deviate from working time regulations authorised by the competent supervisory authority in your federal state, namely
- for standby duty, on-call duty and on-call duty in the public sector, if there are special circumstances, for example for winter services (Section 15(1)(3) of the Working Hours Act (ArbZG)), and
- twice within 3 weeks for shift work in order to achieve a regular weekly shift change. This applies both to the rest period after work on weekdays and after work on Sundays and public holidays (Section 15(1)(4) ArbZG).
The exception is at the discretion of the employer. You are not entitled to an exemption authorisation.