Arbeitszeitgesetz (ArbZG)

The Arbeitszeitgesetz (ArbZG) is the central German law that protects employees from excessively long working hours. It is particularly relevant to security services because sites are staffed around the clock, night and weekend shifts are common, and shifts often run past midnight.

The most important requirements:

• § 3: Maximum working time: 8 hours per working day, extendable to up to 10 hours if, over 6 months, an average of 8 hours is not exceeded.
• § 4: Rest breaks: at least 30 minutes for more than 6 hours of work, 45 minutes for more than 9 hours.
• § 5: Rest period: at least 11 hours of uninterrupted rest between two shifts.

Violations can be penalized as administrative offenses with fines and, in serious cases, can jeopardize insurance coverage. A classic scheduling error: a late shift ends at 22, the early shift at the next site begins at 6, and the 11-hour rest period is violated, often without anyone noticing.

Scheduling software that checks the duty roster against the ArbZG before release automatically catches exactly these conflicts instead of only revealing them during an inspection.