By Isabel Pancake
Last year, Berliners worked 37.33 million overtime hours, 24.04 million of which were unpaid – and thus gave the employer 346 million! BZ explains what your rights are when it comes to overtime.
► Do I even have to work overtime?
In general, the following applies: Either there must be an overtime regulation in the employment or collective agreement or in the works agreement, or the overtime must be agreed between the boss and the employee in individual cases. Otherwise you are not obliged to work overtime.
► How much overtime can I work?
According to the Working Hours Act, eight hours per day are allowed. This doesn’t include any breaks – so those are on top of that. However, the law allows a six-day week (even though most people only work five days) – so that’s a total of 48 hours of work per week. This means that in a normal 40-hour working week, eight hours of overtime are completely within the legal framework.
In addition, an additional twelve hours of overtime are permitted. The prerequisite for this is that the average working hours in six months can still only be 48 hours per week.
► Do I have to be paid for overtime?
In principle, overtime is always paid. Although they can also be dismissed, this must either be in the employment contract or the employee must specifically agree in the individual case. Civil servants can even put their extra work into a so-called “long-term account” and thus retire earlier.
Otherwise: Always write down your overtime hours so that you can show your boss exactly how many hours you worked too much. Recording working hours will soon become mandatory. The Federal Labor Court decided this in 2022.