Monday morning, 7:15 a.m. A company vehicle pulls out of the parking lot. The destination is a conference hotel about 90 minutes away for a training session. One employee is driving, another is answering work emails, and a third is relaxing in the back seat. Situations like this often raise questions about how travel time should be treated under German labor law. This article explains the current rules and considers whether a recent Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling changes the picture.
The Starting Point: Not All Work Time Counts the Same
Under German law, a distinction must be made between hours worked for compliance with labor‑safety rules and hours that must be paid.
What the CJEU Ruled
In its decision of October 9, 2025 (Case C‑110/24), the CJEU examined the following situation in Spain.
Employees had no fixed place of work and reported to changing job sites reachable only by company transport. The employer determined every detail of the commute: the meeting point, departure time, and vehicle. Because of this level of control, the Court found that the travel itself formed part of the employees’ duties and therefore counted as...
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