Berlin Teachers Launch Legal Fight Over Missing Time Records as Overtime Crisis Deepens

Berlin's GEW takes city to court for binding time recording, citing over 2 million annual unpaid overtime hours and a study showing 64% of teachers work beyond contracts.

The union representing Berlin’s educators is taking the city’s senate to court – not over pay, but over the absence of any binding system to clock their hours. The Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW) announced today it is providing members with model legal proceedings and standardised demand letters. Without mandatory time tracking, the union argues, the true workload of teachers remains invisible, making it impossible to compensate extra work properly.

The legal push follows a deadlock at the district level. On 27 May 2025, the staff council of Tempelhof-Schöneberg submitted a motion to introduce time recording. The administration failed to reach an agreement, so the case will now go to a conciliation body.

Unpaid Overtime: Two Million Hours a Year

A study by the University of Göttingen, published in June 2025, quantified the problem: Berlin’s teachers collectively log more than two million hours of unpaid overtime annually. That translates to roughly 100 extra hours per teacher. 64 percent of educators work beyond their contracted hours. To absorb the overload, the researchers calculated the system would need about 1,300 additional full-time positions.

School leaders are equally stretched. The German School Leadership Monitor, compiled by the Wübben Foundation, found that 86 percent of principals suffer from chronic time shortages. Nearly half said they can barely keep up with daily demands, and many work more than 50 hours a week.

National Pressure Mounts

Berlin is not alone in confronting the issue. Across Germany and in neighbouring Austria, frustration is boiling over:

• Thuringia: The GEW launched a petition on 3 June calling for reform of the preparatory service (Vorbereitungsdienst). State chair Kathrin Vitzthum demands stronger co-determination rights, transparent exam procedures, a cap on teaching obligations, and better pay.

• Hamburg: The union criticised planning at vocational schools. Around 60 qualified teachers are available, yet only ten posts have been approved. The GEW described the situation as short-sighted austerity.

• Austria: A study by the Johannes Kepler University Linz and the Austrian textbook publisher öbv, released on 4 June, reported that 52 percent of teachers feel heavily strained. The main causes: administrative duties (68 percent of respondents), large class sizes (64 percent), and heterogeneous learning groups (63 percent).

A Rare Bright Spot in North Rhine-Westphalia

While many regions are hitting breaking point, North Rhine-Westphalia reported a record staffing milestone. As of 3 June, the state counted over 166,000 positions in its school system. Still, more than 4,800 posts remain vacant against a total need of roughly 174,000. The state government points to raised starting salaries as a countermeasure to the teacher shortage, but the gap underscores how far even a well-funded system has to go.