Since the Federal Labour Court’s 2022 decision establishing an obligation to record working time, a comprehensive reform of the German Working Time Act (ArbZG) has been on the political agenda. The coalition agreement between the CDU and SPD advocated for greater flexibility and set out ambitious guiding principles: A shift from a daily to a weekly maximum working time, a streamlined and unbureaucratic digital time recording system, and the preservation of trust-based working time (Vertrauensarbeitszeit). The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS), led by the SPD, had announced that it would present a draft by June 2026. The now-circulating unofficial draft bill from the BMAS, however, falls short of expectations for genuine flexibility and has triggered sharp criticism from the coalition partner and employer associations.
Contrary to the coalition agreement, the draft does not provide for a general transition to a weekly maximum working time. Instead, the daily limit remains the statutory default model.
A weekly maximum working time would only be permissible on the basis of a collective bargaining agreement by a works agreement based on an opening clause in such a collective bargaining agreement. Notably, the draft does not provide any possibility for deviation for non-unionised employers or through individual employment agreements.
The draft also does not provide for any industry-specific exemptions.
At the core of the draft is the statutory specification...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump released a trove of documents during a primetime address to the nation that allies had hyped as a smoking gun that would prove his long-debunked allegation...