Staff and working time · AT · DE
Working time records
In Austria § 26 AZG requires records of the hours worked, according to the business service portal with start, end and breaks. In Germany § 16 ArbZG only requires records of working time over eight hours; according to the Federal Labour Court (2022), however, you must record all working time. For mini-jobs and restaurants, § 17 MiLoG also applies.
Legal basis
- AT — Austria
- § 26 AZG: keep records of the hours worked and record the start and length of an averaging period. With a fixed working schedule set out in writing, it is enough to confirm compliance and record deviations.1
- AT — Austria
- § 28 AZG: missing or inadequate records are an offence, separately for each employee. For bakeries, § 19 BäckAG imposes the same kind of duty.23
- DE — Germany
- § 16 (2) ArbZG: record working time over eight hours on working days. According to the Federal Labour Court, § 3 ArbSchG gives rise to a duty to record the start and end of all daily working time; paper can be enough.456
What the inspector wants to see
- Austria: access to the records and information for the Labour Inspectorate.112
- Austria: is the averaging period recorded with start and length?1
- Germany: are start, end and duration recorded within seven days for mini-jobs and in hospitality?78
- Germany: is working time over eight hours recorded and kept for two years?4
Common mistakes
Practise, read, print
The guide is in German for now.
Sources
We read every source in the original on the date shown and checked it against the text: EU law in its German-language version, the links lead to the English one. All sources and what has changed (in German)
- 1AT — applies in AustriaArbeitszeitgesetz (AZG), the Working Time Act, Austria, § 26 (as amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 53/2018) · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 2AT — applies in AustriaArbeitszeitgesetz (AZG), the Working Time Act, Austria, § 28 (1) 3, (2) 7 and (8) · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 3AT — applies in AustriaBäckereiarbeiter/innengesetz 1996 (BäckAG), the Bakery Workers Act, Austria, § 19 · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 4DE — applies in GermanyArbeitszeitgesetz (ArbZG), the Working Hours Act, Germany, § 16 (2) · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 5DE — applies in GermanyArbeitsschutzgesetz (ArbSchG), the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Germany, § 3 (2) 1 · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 6DE — applies in GermanyFederal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht), order of 13 September 2022, 1 ABR 22/21, headnote 1, paras. 63 and 65 · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 7DE — applies in GermanyMindestlohngesetz (MiLoG), the Minimum Wage Act, Germany, § 17 (1) · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 8DE — applies in GermanySchwarzarbeitsbekämpfungsgesetz (SchwarzArbG), the act against undeclared work, Germany, § 2a (1) 2 · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 9DE — applies in GermanyMindestlohndokumentationspflichtenverordnung (MiLoDokV), the minimum wage record-keeping ordinance, Germany, § 1 · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 10DE — applies in GermanyIHK Rhein-Neckar: recording working time (chamber information, not law), section on the reform · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 11AT — applies in AustriaUnternehmensserviceportal, the Austrian business service portal: working time records (authority website, not law), Austria, as of 16 January 2025 · in German, checked 23 September 2026
- 12AT — applies in AustriaArbeitsinspektionsgesetz 1993 (ArbIG), the Labour Inspection Act, Austria, § 8 · in German, checked 23 September 2026
Something out of date or missing? Write to us and we will check it against the source.