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Working Hours Calculator

Enter start, end and break and instantly see your net working time per day and week, in hours and minutes and as decimal hours. Plus overtime or undertime and a check against the German Working Hours Act.

100% freeNo data storedGerman law as of Sept 2026

Planned: weekly instead of daily maximum hours, not yet in force

The governing coalition wants to replace the daily maximum working time with a weekly one. A draft bill from the Labour Ministry has existed since June 2026; under it, the weekly limit would only apply with a collective agreement or a works agreement based on one. There is no cabinet decision yet (as of September 2026). The calculator therefore checks against the current Working Hours Act: 8 hours a day, 10 at most.

What would you like to calculate?

Your working week

Tick the days you work. If a shift ends after midnight, just enter the time: the calculator detects it.

8:00 h
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8:00 h
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8:00 h
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8:00 h
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8:00 h
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Target
h
Net working time per week

40:00 h

= 40.00 Decimal hours · 173:20 h projected per month

Target

40:00 h

Target met exactly

0:00 h0.00 decimal

Working days

5

Avg. per working day

8:00 h

Total breaks

2:30 h

Check against the Working Hours Act

All within limits: breaks, maximum daily hours and rest periods comply with the German Working Hours Act.

The check only sees the week you entered. It cannot verify whether you take a break after 6 hours in a row, how the break is split (blocks of at least 15 minutes) or whether collective agreements allow deviations.

Working time per day

Your days at a glance

DayTimeBreakNetDecimal
Mon08:00–16:3030 min8:008.00
Tue08:00–16:3030 min8:008.00
Wed08:00–16:3030 min8:008.00
Thu08:00–16:3030 min8:008.00
Fri08:00–16:3030 min8:008.00
Satoff–––
Sunoff–––
Total2:3040:0040.00

Converting minutes to decimal hours

Decimal time ("industrial minutes") divides the hour into 100 instead of 60 parts. The formula: minutes ÷ 60. So 15 minutes become 0.25 hours.

5 min

0.08 h

10 min

0.17 h

15 min

0.25 h

20 min

0.33 h

30 min

0.50 h

40 min

0.67 h

45 min

0.75 h

50 min

0.83 h

How the calculator works

  • Net working time = end − start − break. If the end is before the start, the calculator treats the shift as running past midnight.
  • Mandatory break under Section 4 ArbZG: 30 minutes for more than 6 up to 9 hours of work, 45 minutes for more than 9 hours. Breaks do not count as working time.
  • Rest periods are checked between consecutive days of the week entered, not from Sunday to the following Monday.
  • All results are non-binding and do not replace legal advice. Collective and works agreements may contain different rules.

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Guide: Calculating Working Hours Correctly

Breaks, maximum hours, rest periods and decimal time explained

German Working Hours Act 2026: Breaks, Maximum Hours and Rest Periods ExplainedFeatured

German Working Hours Act 2026: Breaks, Maximum Hours and Rest Periods Explained

How long may you work per day, when are you entitled to which break and how much rest do you need before the next shift? A guide to the German Working Hours Act with worked examples and the status of the planned reform.

2026-09-249 min read

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Frequently Asked Questions

Subtract the start time from the end time, then subtract the break. Example: 8:00 to 17:00 is 9 hours of attendance; minus a 45-minute break leaves 8 hours 15 minutes of work, or 8.25 hours as a decimal. For the week, add up the days. The calculator above does this for up to seven days at once and also handles night shifts past midnight.

Decimal time divides an hour into 100 instead of 60 units. That makes working hours easier to add up and to multiply by an hourly wage. You calculate minutes ÷ 60: 15 minutes are 0.25 hours, 30 minutes 0.5 and 45 minutes 0.75. So 7 hours 45 minutes becomes 7.75 hours. To convert back, multiply the decimal part by 60: 0.4 hours are 24 minutes.

Under Section 4 of the German Working Hours Act you need at least 30 minutes of break for more than 6 and up to 9 hours of work, and at least 45 minutes for more than 9 hours. The break may be split into blocks of at least 15 minutes. You may not work more than 6 hours in a row without a break. If you work exactly 6 hours, no break is legally required.

No. Statutory rest breaks are not working time and are usually unpaid. It is different if you have to stay reachable or remain at your workstation during the break: legally that is not a real break but working time. Some collective agreements pay for breaks anyway, for example in shift work.

In principle 8 hours per working day (Section 3 ArbZG). Working days are Monday to Saturday. You may extend to up to 10 hours if you average 8 hours per working day again within 6 months or 24 weeks. That gives an average of 48 and a maximum of 60 hours per week. Breaks do not count.

It is planned but not in force. The coalition agreement provides for a weekly instead of a daily maximum working time. The Labour Ministry's draft bill of June 2026 would only allow this where a collective agreement or a works agreement based on one provides for it, and electronic time recording would become mandatory. There is no cabinet decision yet (as of September 2026). Until a new law applies, the limit stays at 8, or at most 10, hours per day.

At least 11 consecutive hours after the end of the daily working time (Section 5 ArbZG). If you finish at 10 pm, you may start again at 9 am the next day at the earliest. In hospitals, care, hospitality, transport, broadcasting, agriculture and animal husbandry, rest may be cut to 10 hours if it is balanced out within a month or four weeks.

Compare your actual net working time with your contracted hours. If you work 42 hours against 40 contracted hours, that is 2 hours of overtime; at 37.5 hours it is 2.5 hours of undertime. Enter your contracted weekly hours above. The overtime calculator shows what your overtime is worth after tax.