Travel to First Job Site Counts as Paid Hours, EU Court Rules — Reshaping Overtime Calculations
01.07.2026 - 12:22:34 | boerse-global.de
The daily commute to a client's home or a construction site just got a major legal upgrade for Germany's mobile workforce. On October 9, 2025, the European Court of Justice ruled that journeys from a company base to the first assignment and back — when the employer organizes the route and the worker cannot freely use that time — must be counted as working hours. The decision directly affects how employers calculate total daily work time and, in turn, who racks up overtime.
The ruling touches sales representatives, tradespeople, and care workers who travel with a company vehicle from a central depot. Those trips are now distinct from a private commute, meaning they eat into the legal daily cap of ten hours set by Germany's Arbeitszeitgesetz (Working Hours Act). If travel pushes a worker past that limit, the employer must either adjust schedules or pay overtime penalties.
Any shift in working-time rules is a reminder that workplace compliance goes beyond hours alone. From travel-time tracking to documentation of safety procedures, employers need a solid foundation. The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 Toolkit gives you nine ready-to-use tools, including risk assessments and director liability guides, to keep your business legally watertight. Download the free Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 Toolkit
Who Gets Overtime — And Who Doesn't
Not everyone is entitled to overtime pay. Ingo Kleinhenz of the Arbeitnehmerkammer Bremen points out that a company can only require extra hours if the employment contract, a collective agreement, or a works council deal explicitly says so. Without that foundation, bosses can demand overtime only in unforeseeable operational emergencies. Even then, employees can refuse if the request violates the eleven-hour rest period or the ten-hour daily ceiling.
For high earners, a different rule applies: anyone making more than €8,450 gross per month has no statutory right to extra pay for surplus hours. In workplaces with a works council, the council must also sign off.
The Three-Month Trap
Workers who do qualify for overtime must act fast. Most employment contracts contain Ausschlussfristen — exclusion periods, typically three months — during which employees must file a written claim for unpaid hours. Kathrin Schulze Zumkley, a labor law expert, stresses that meticulous documentation of start and end times is essential. Courts look poorly on blanket clauses that wipe out all overtime pay unless the contract sets a clear upper limit, such as capping compensation at ten percent of agreed working hours.
Coalition Weighs Tax-Free Bonuses on Extra Hours
While the courts clarify existing rules, the governing coalition is debating a more generous incentive. During negotiations on Wednesday, the Koalitionsausschuss is considering a tax reform package worth €10 to €25 billion. One proposal would make overtime bonuses tax-free if they stay within 25 percent of the base wage — but only for hours worked beyond full-time.
Data published Tuesday by the job portal Kununu shows how uneven the benefit would be. A nurse would save roughly €24 per year, an electrician €66, and a software developer about €102. Critics note that part-time workers, who make up 29 percent of all employees, would gain nothing at all from the plan.
Staying on top of complex work-time rules requires more than just a clock. Over 37,000 UK companies already use a free Health & Safety Toolkit to simplify compliance across risk assessments, fire safety, first aid, and more. Whether you're updating travel-time policies or your whole safety framework, the ready-made templates save hours of paperwork. Download the free Health & Safety Toolkit
What About the Digital Time Clock?
Another flashpoint in the coalition talks is the mandatory electronic recording of work hours. Although the European Court of Justice ruled in 2019 and Germany's Federal Labor Court (BAG) followed in 2022 that employers must log the start, end, and breaks of every shift, a specific national law has yet to pass. Labor Minister Bas has promised a draft bill by June. Until then, the legal requirement rests on those court decisions, and the new ruling on travel time adds another layer of complexity for companies that dispatch workers from a central hub.
