Following rulings by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Federal Labor Court, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) has now presented a draft law on the recording of working hours. Employers should not only electronically record overtime, but also the beginning, end and duration of the employees’ working hours in the future. Is the time clock making a comeback or are employees now working less overtime?
In our “3 on 1” format, we ask three experts for their assessment. (You can read all episodes of “3 on 1” here)
Going back to the time clock is not an option – you need a modern timekeeping system
Steffen Kampeter is General Manager of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA).
Arranging working hours flexibly is a key challenge in the working world. The parties to the collective agreement accept this challenge responsibly. Wherever it is operationally possible, working time is distributed flexibly using instruments such as working time accounts. This is what serves to avoid overtime and thus a good compatibility of professional and private requirements.
The Working Hours Act can support this contractual arrangement of working hours. These include e.g. B. flexible weekly instead of daily maximum working hours and more design options for rest periods. In particular, the agreement of working hours based on trust is a foundation of modern working relationships. It is a necessary contribution to enable mobile working. Rigid working time windows thwart people’s desire for more flexibility.
In the Working Hours Act, the leeway that the ECJ and the BAG expressly grant for the implementation of a modern system for recording working hours must be used. The working world of the 21st century cannot be made productive and healthy with regulations from the 20th century. We employers therefore expect a fundamental revision of the draft bill. Going back to the time clock is not an option – neither for employees nor for employers!
Time recording and flexibility are not mutually exclusive – time recording enables fair remuneration for overtime
Johanna Wenckebach is Director at the Hugo Sinzheimer Institute for Labor and Social Law (HSI) of the Hans Böckler Foundation and honorary judge at the Federal Labor Court.
With the image of the time clock, opponents of time recording want to create a framing according to which the recording of working hours is rigid and old-fashioned. But it is a myth that recording flexible working hours would make it impossible. Low-threshold digital time recording systems – which are not very expensive for companies, by the way – have long been on the market, with which it is easy to meet the legal requirements. Even with flexible and mobile work.
And according to European law and its binding interpretation by the European Court of Justice and the Federal Labor Court, one thing is important above all: protecting the health of employees, a valuable asset. Excessive working hours have been proven to make you ill, and working overtime increases the risk of accidents. Responsible employers have therefore long since fulfilled their obligation to protect employees. But it’s also about money: if employees have to argue about being paid overtime, they have the burden of proof.
An “objective, reliable and accessible system”, as required by European law, helps a lot here to enforce overtime pay. So it’s also about fairness.
Time recording can prevent violations of the Working Hours Act
Dietmar Müller-Boruttau is a lawyer and expert in employment law.
The time clock dates back to a time when workers consistently worked in the office or factory. Today’s working world is characterized in many areas by flexible work and working time models, such as trust-based working hours and mobile working.
For all forms of work, the draft law now stipulates that the beginning, end and duration of daily working hours should be recorded in electronic form. The employer can also transfer the obligation to record working hours to the employee; however, he remains responsible for proper recording for the authorities and the works council.
The protection of the health of employees is decisive for these regulations. According to the draft law, if violations of the Working Hours Act are documented, for example the ban on working on Sundays or not observing the night’s rest, they will probably not happen. Time recording does not avoid overtime, on the contrary: It can lead to better recording and remuneration.
