What are negative hours?
Negative hours (undertime) arise when you work less in a given period than your contract says. With 40 contracted hours per week and 37 hours actually worked, your account shows 3 negative hours. Whether these hours count at all and whether you have to make them up depends mainly on two questions: who caused the shortfall, and what does your employment contract, works agreement or collective agreement say?
Basic rule: the employer bears the operational risk
If your employer does not give you work, for example because orders are missing, a machine breaks down or you are sent home early, you keep your pay under Section 615 of the German Civil Code (BGB). You do not have to make up the lost time. The employer therefore generally may not book such hours as negative hours, because the risk of not being able to employ you lies with the employer.
It is different if you choose to work less: you arrive later, leave earlier or deal with private matters during working hours. If there is a working time account or a flexitime arrangement, these hours are counted as negative hours and balanced out later. Without such an arrangement, the employer can generally reduce your pay for the time not worked.
Sickness, holidays and public holidays do not create negative hours
If you are unfit for work due to illness, the Continued Remuneration Act entitles you to your pay for up to six weeks as if you had worked. The time you would have worked without being ill is credited. The same applies to public holidays (Section 2 EFZG) and to days of annual leave. An employer who books negative hours for a sick day is therefore almost always wrong.
The working time account
Many companies keep a working time account on which extra and negative hours are offset against each other. This requires a basis in the employment contract, a works agreement or a collective agreement. It usually specifies how many negative hours may accumulate and within what period the account must be balanced.
Even on a working time account, only negative hours you decided on yourself should generally be booked, for example because you left early under flexitime. If there is no work because the business is quiet, case law treats that as the employer's risk in principle. Collective and works agreements may contain their own rules, so read yours carefully.
What happens to negative hours when you leave?
If the employment ends with a negative balance, the question is whether the employer may deduct the hours from your final salary. The Federal Labour Court treats a negative account like an advance on your pay. A deduction is therefore possible if the account is based on an agreement and you were able to decide yourself whether and when the negative hours arose. If, on the other hand, the employer did not call on your work, it may not simply deduct the hours.
Our tip: reduce negative hours before you leave if possible and get the account balance confirmed in writing. In a dispute, your works council, trade union or an employment lawyer can help.
Calculating negative hours correctly
An example: from Monday to Thursday you work 8:00 to 16:30 with a 30-minute break, i.e. 8 hours a day. On Friday you leave at 13:00, which is 5 hours without a break. For the week you reach 37 hours. Against 40 contracted hours, that is 3 negative hours, or −3.00 as a decimal.
In the working hours calculator you enter your actual times and your contracted hours. It immediately shows overtime or negative hours in hours and minutes and as a decimal. The rules on breaks and maximum hours are explained in the guide German Working Hours Act 2026. And if your account is in credit, the overtime calculator shows what the extra work is worth after tax.
This article provides a general overview and does not replace legal advice.