Germany Drafts Working Time Act Overhaul

Germany is debating the biggest change to how working hours are counted in more than a century. A draft reform of the Working Time Act, the Arbeitszeitgesetz that sets the legal limits on how long people may work, would move the country away from a strict daily eight-hour ceiling and toward a weekly maximum instead. The draft was prepared by the Labour Ministry under Minister Bärbel Bas and has been circulating as a so-called Referentenentwurf, a ministry working draft, since June 2026. It is not yet law, and it has drawn sharp reactions from employers and unions alike.

For the millions of foreign workers employed in Germany, the proposal matters because it touches the everyday rhythm of the working day. Nothing changes for now, but the direction of travel is worth understanding, because it could reshape both the flexibility employees enjoy and the record-keeping their employers must do.

What the Working Time Act draft would change

Under the current rules, the working day is capped at eight hours, which may be stretched to ten hours as long as the average stays at eight over a set reference period. The draft keeps eight hours as the daily norm and ten as the exception, but it shifts the binding legal limit from the day to the week. The core figure is a weekly maximum of 48 hours, measured as an average over a twelve-month period rather than counted rigidly each day.

In practice, this would let an employee work longer on some days and shorter on others, as long as the weekly average stayed within the limit. Supporters argue this gives staff and companies more room to arrange hours around projects, personal needs and busy seasons. The draft ties much of this new flexibility to a Tarifvertrag, a collective bargaining agreement, or to a works agreement built on one. That condition has become one of the most contested parts of the plan, because roughly half of all employees in Germany are not covered by such an agreement.

A new duty to record working time

The second pillar of the reform is a legal duty to record working time. The draft would require employers to log the start, end and duration of each employee’s work, in most cases on the same day the work is performed, and it points toward electronic or digital recording rather than paper notes kept after the fact.

This part of the proposal does not come out of nowhere. German and European courts have already signalled that employers must have a system to measure hours worked, and the draft is meant to write that obligation clearly into national law. For workers, a recorded log can make overtime visible and easier to claim. For smaller employers, it means setting up and maintaining a system, which is one reason business groups have pushed back.

Why the Working Time Act overhaul is historic

Commentators have described the plan as the largest overhaul of the Working Time Act since 1918, the year the eight-hour day was first anchored in German law. Moving the central limit from the day to the week would unwind a principle that has shaped German working life for more than a hundred years, which is why the debate has drawn so much attention through July.

It is important to read the proposal for what it is. A Referentenentwurf is an early draft that can still change substantially before a cabinet decision, and it must then pass through the Bundestag and Bundesrat before it could take effect. The 48-hour weekly figure also mirrors long-standing European Union rules, so Germany would be aligning its own limit with a ceiling that already applies across the bloc.

Criticism from both sides

The draft has managed to upset employers and unions at the same time. Business associations have called the mix of new documentation duties and the link to collective agreements a burden, arguing that flexibility offered only where a Tarifvertrag exists leaves many companies out and adds paperwork rather than freedom. Some employer voices have described the package in blunt terms as an imposition.

From the union side, critics warn that loosening the daily cap could lead to longer, more tiring days and erode protections that guard against overwork. The Labour Ministry has presented the weekly model as a compromise that preserves the eight-hour norm while allowing controlled flexibility, but the early reaction shows how difficult it will be to satisfy both camps. Reporting by outlets including LTO and Bürgergeld.org has tracked the back and forth in detail.

What this could mean for expat employees and employers

If you are an employee, the practical message is to wait and watch rather than act. The rules that govern your contract have not changed, and your existing agreement on hours, breaks and overtime still applies. Should the reform pass in something like its current shape, the day-to-day effect for many people would depend on whether their workplace is covered by a collective agreement, since that is where much of the new flexibility would be unlocked. Our guide to German employment contracts and rights is a useful starting point for understanding where you stand today.

For employers, especially the smaller companies and startups that hire international staff, the recording duty is the part to prepare for early. Setting up a reliable digital system to log hours takes time, and doing it well can also protect a business by making working time transparent. Whether the shift to a weekly limit brings more freedom or more strain will depend on the final text and on how each workplace uses it. For a wider look at how Germany treats the balance between work and personal time, see our overview of work-life balance in Germany.