When is the draft bill on the weekly maximum working time due?

Bas explains that a first draft bill is due in June 2026, covering both the weekly maximum working time and electronic working time recording.

Weekly maximum working hours: what the draft bill plans

Is a 13-hour day coming? The new law on weekly maximum working hours

How long may you work in a day - and how much in a week? It sounds simple at first, but legally it is quite complicated. With the draft bill from Federal Labour Minister Bärbel Bas, a fundamental change to the German Working Hours Act is now on the table: the daily maximum working time is to be made more flexible – in favour of a weekly view of working hours.

Die wichtigsten Fragen im Überblick

What is the difference between weekly and daily working time?

The daily maximum working time states how much time may be worked in a single day at most. Added up, this also results in a weekly maximum working time, but the daily maximum working time has to be observed on each individual weekday. With a statutory weekly maximum working time, that would no longer be the case.

Why should there be a weekly maximum working time?

With the weekly maximum working time, the federal government mainly wants to give employees more flexibility. This makes it possible to work significantly more on individual working days in order to have to work less on others.

How does the Working Hours Act prevent the weekly maximum working time from being exploited?

The law on recording working time is intended to prevent employees from working too much on a daily basis, which poses a health risk.

What does the draft bill specifically provide for?

In future, the parties to collective agreements are to be able to agree a weekly instead of a daily maximum working time. The statutory rest period of 11 hours between two work assignments would then no longer apply – but only if collective agreement rules on health protection going beyond the previous standard are put in place at the same time.

What is the difference between a daily and a weekly maximum working time?

Under the current German Working Hours Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz, ArbZG, Section 3 ArbZG) the rule is: employees may work a maximum of 8 hours per day - in exceptional cases up to 10 hours are permitted, provided the average over 6 months is 8 hours.

That means: even if someone voluntarily wants to work 11 hours on a single day - because things are busy right now -, this is formally not allowed.

With a weekly maximum working time things would look different. Instead of having to work the same amount every day, working hours could be distributed more flexibly across the week. So anyone who works 10 hours on Monday may finish earlier on Friday - as long as the weekly working time stays within the limit.

Please note: even today we talk about a weekly maximum working time of 48 or 60 hours. But that is only the sum of the daily maximum working time and is not laid down in the law in this form.

Why is the government planning a change now?

The coalition agreement of the CDU/CSU and SPD states:

“In line with the European Working Time Directive, we want to create the option of a weekly rather than a daily maximum working time – also and especially in the interest of making family and working life easier to combine.”

So the message is clear: more flexibility for employers and their employees. For employees with families in particular, it can offer considerably more room for manoeuvre if they can work more than 8 or 10 hours on one day in order to use that time for their own children on other days.

When looking at the Working Hours Act, we have to bear in mind that its basis dates back to 1994. However, the Federal Statistical Office found in 2023 that over the past 30 years the number of families in which both parents are in employment has risen by 10 percent. So more and more parents have to juggle childcare with their partner and their job. A switch to weekly maximum working hours could be a great help here.

The draft has been on the table since June 2026. Bas stresses that more flexibility must not come at the expense of employees – the obligation to record working time laid down at the same time is meant to prevent exactly that.

What does this mean in practice for the future of work?

Critics say: in future this means a working day could easily run to 12 hours. Employers could expect their employees to put in more than 70 hours a week. To prevent this, other areas of employment law are to be tightened further. High on the agenda: the obligation to record working time electronically, in order to prevent exploitation. Because even with a weekly maximum working time, the following remain in place:

Working time must be recorded reliably
Break times and break times continue to apply
There need to be clear rules in the business on how additional hours are handled.

More flexibility needs more transparency - and a good system

More flexibility sounds good at first – but in practice it means: more responsibility, more coordination, more consultation. So that this does not end in chaos, you need structure that does not hold you up – but supports you. Digital time tracking is exactly right for this.

clockin brings order to flexible working models. With clockin you can document working hours simply, flexibly and in a legally compliant way - whether you work to a daily, weekly or project logic. Employees can record their own hours, you keep the overview - and all requirements of the Working Hours Act are met.