When is a break a break?
If you're driving in the city and want to stop at the side of the road, you'll quickly ask yourself "Is this still a stop or am I already parked?". It's similar with breaks at work: when does a break count as a break? Does a trip to the toilet or coffee machine count as a break and therefore needs to be recorded?
While Section 12 of the Road Traffic Regulations (StVO) clearly regulates the difference between stopping and parking, Section 4 of the Working Hours Act (ArbZG) helps with the question of breaks. This states:
"Work must be interrupted by predetermined rest breaks of at least 30 minutes in the case of working time of more than six hours and up to nine hours and 45 minutes in the case of working time of more than nine hours in total. The rest breaks in accordance with sentence 1 may be divided into periods of at least 15 minutes each. Employees may not be employed for longer than six consecutive hours without a rest break."
Employers can therefore record their employees' breaks as breaks if they last 15 minutes or longer. In this case, breaks are not counted as working time and remain unpaid. Interrupting work to go to the toilet, get a coffee or have a quick chat with colleagues therefore does not count as a break in most cases. The minimum duration of 15 minutes exists so that employees have sufficient time to recover from work and maintain their performance for the rest of the working day.
In some industries, employees are affected by irregular and unforeseen business interruptions. For example, if machines break down in the manufacturing industry or heavy rain or storms occur in the construction industry, this leads to unexpected breaks. As employees in these cases do not know how long the break will last and have to be ready to resume work, they cannot use the interruption to recover. These breaks therefore do not count as rest breaks. They must neither be recorded as such nor remain unpaid.
Rest break and rest period
Even if the two words sound similar, rest breaks and rest periods are not the same thing. The rest break is the time that employees should use to recover during the working day. It serves to ensure that employees have enough energy for the remaining hours and are not exhausted.
The rest period is the time between two working days or shifts during which no work may be performed. According to Section 5 of the Working Hours Act (ArbZG), this must be at least eleven hours. This means that employees may not be deployed for at least eleven hours after the end of the daily working time before the next working day or shift begins.
There are exceptions in the following sectors and facilities:
- Hospitals
- Care and nursing facilities
- Restaurant and accommodation industry
- Transportation
- Broadcasting
- Agriculture
- Animal husbandry
You can read about this in paragraph 2, section 5 of the Working Hours Act (ArbZG).
Break times: Legal provisions
As described above, Section 4 of the Working Hours Act (ArbZG) regulates rest breaks during the working day. If employees work more than six hours, they must take a rest break of at least 30 minutes. If they work more than nine hours, a rest break of at least 45 minutes is mandatory. In addition, rest breaks must be "fixed in advance" - employees must therefore know when and for how long they should take their break. Employers can simply provide their employees with a time slot for breaks - similar to flexitime - for example between 11:30 and 14:00.
Breaks must always be taken during working hours. Employees may not take them before or after work, i.e. they may not start later or end their working day earlier. This is the only way employees can really recover from their work. However, breaks do not have to be taken in one go: Breaking them up into blocks of at least 15 minutes or longer is permitted.
Employees can decide for themselves how they want to spend their break. They are free to decide whether they would rather have lunch or go for a walk. They are also allowed to leave the workplace during their break, unless the employment contract stipulates otherwise.
For employees and trainees under the age of 18, it is not the Working Hours Act that applies to break regulations, but Section 11 of the Youth Employment Protection Act (JArbSchG). This states that young people may not work for more than four and a half hours at a time. After this time, they are entitled to a break of at least 30 minutes. If young people work for more than six hours, they are entitled to a break of at least 60 minutes. In addition, employers must ensure that young people are only allowed to spend their break in the workplace if no work is being carried out there at the time. The necessary recovery of young people must not be impaired in any way.
There are some groups of people who are not affected by the statutory break times. These are, for example, senior executives, chief physicians or employees who care for family members. All exceptions are listed in Section 18 of the Working Hours Act (ArbZG).
The following example illustrates the statutory break times once again:
Nadine starts work as an engineer at 9 a.m. every day. She works in a large company that manufactures systems for assembly and production automation. To ensure that not all employees go to the canteen at the same time, her employer sets different time slots for the break for each group. While the assembly line workers start their break at 11:30, Nadine is allowed to take her break from 12:00. To ensure that she does not exceed the maximum working time of six hours without a break, she must take a 30-minute break by 3 p.m. at the latest. Her employer has told her this in advance and regularly checks this on her timesheet. Sometimes Nadine splits her half-hour break, taking 15 minutes at 12 noon and the same amount of time again at 2 pm.
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