Overview
- The federal government is preparing a bill for June that would move from a daily 8-hour limit to a weekly maximum under Germany’s Working Time Act.
- Analyses cited by the reports say employers could schedule up to 12 hours and 15 minutes per day across six days, reaching 73.5 hours in a single week.
- Longer runs would still need to average 48 hours over a set period, yet labor lawyers warn the change could pressure staff into very long days with little room to refuse.
- Labor Minister Bärbel Bas says the reform will also spell out electronic time tracking to meet an EU directive and a 2019 EU court ruling that requires daily recording of hours.
- Reactions have split on the left, as Die Linke called street protests and DGB chair Yasmin Fahimi criticized the plan without urging mass strikes, while some coverage cites polling that most workers prefer shorter weeks.