The Working Hours Act (ArbZG) is the central federal law on limiting and structuring working time in Germany. It protects employees from excessive workload, secures breaks and rest periods, and sets rules for night work, Sunday and public-holiday work.
Core provisions are: maximum daily working time of eight hours, extendable to ten hours within a balancing period of six months; breaks of 30 minutes from six hours of work, 45 minutes from nine hours; an uninterrupted rest period of eleven hours between two working days; a general ban on Sunday and public-holiday work with exceptions for hospitals, hospitality, energy supply and similar areas.
Special rules apply to senior managers, who are partially exempt from the Act. There are also special cases in academia. Breaches can be sanctioned with fines and represent a labour-law risk for employers.
The Act is particularly relevant for shift-work sectors (care, police, public transport) and in tech where lump-sum agreements quickly approach legal limits. Public-sector roles found via Lunigi tend to comply structurally and reliably.