Sunday Opening Needs a Reason

Two rulings of the Federal Administrative Court show how narrow the exceptions to Sunday rest are. In 2014 the services union ver.di and two Protestant deaneries challenged a Hessian regulation that allowed Sunday work in certain businesses. The court struck down the exceptions for video stores, public libraries, lottery companies and call centers. Films and books, the court reasoned, can be borrowed on weekdays. In 2015 the court ruled on a shopping Sunday in Eching in Bavaria, held together with a spring market. The market, not the shops, must shape the public character of the day. The shop opening may only be an annex to it. Das bloß wirtschaftliche Umsatzinteresse, the mere commercial interest in sales, is not a reason. The local ordinance was invalid.

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