In 2014 Deutsche Telekom said that since 2010 it had had a policy recommending that managers avoid sending e-mails after the end of the working day, for example at weekends. In 2013 the Goethe-Institut described the company’s self-commitment: müssen die Arbeitnehmer außer in Krisensituationen in ihrer Freizeit nicht erreichbar sein, except in crisis situations, employees need not be reachable in their free time. In 2013, at the energy company E.on, no business e-mail was allowed from 20 minutes after the end of the working day. BMW chose a different route: Wir haben uns im Wesentlichen für Vertrauen und gegen starre Regeln entschieden. We have essentially decided for trust and against rigid rules.
No Homework on Sundays
Section 28 of the Bavarian school regulations sets a limit for children: Sonntage, Feiertage und Ferien sind von Hausaufgaben freizuhalten. Sundays, public holidays and school vacations are to be kept free of homework.
A Working Week for Soldiers
Since 1 January 2016, German soldiers have had regulated working hours. The Soldiers’ Working Time Ordinance created a legal basis for this for the first time. The regular week is 41 hours, which can be cut to 40 on request in certain cases. Soldiers must receive a minimum rest of eleven consecutive hours in every 24 hours. Samstag, Heiligabend und Silvester sind grundsätzlich dienstfrei. Saturday, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are as a rule free of duty. According to the federal government, troops on exercise usually fall under the ordinance’s exceptions.
Eight of Fifteen Missing
In August 2013 the signal box at Mainz main station could not be fully staffed. Of its 15 employees, five were sick and three on holiday, according to Bild am Sonntag. For about two weeks, trains had to be rerouted or were canceled. A labor lawyer explained to the legal portal LTO: Eine rechtliche Verpflichtung der Mitarbeiter, vorzeitig aus dem Urlaub zurückzukommen, gibt es aber nicht. There is no legal duty for employees to return early from holiday. Deutsche Bahn’s chief executive, Rüdiger Grube, apologized in public. A railway spokesman said: Zusätzliche personelle Kapazitäten gibt es nicht. There are no additional staff.
The Fight Over Shopping Sundays
In January 2020 the president of the German retail association HDE called for a change to the Basic Law to make Sunday opening easier. The services union ver.di answered: Wir lehnen eine Grundgesetzänderung strikt ab. We strictly reject a change to the Basic Law. A spokesman for the Catholic bishops said that the alternation of work and rest belongs to human life. In July 2026 the e-commerce association bevh, the HDE and the chambers of commerce, DIHK, pressed again for more Sunday opening. In a representative YouGov poll, 43 percent favored more frequent Sunday opening and 50 percent were against. About a year earlier, 34 percent had been in favor and 59 percent against. For ver.di, Sunday is der einzige verlässlich planbare freie Tag, the only free day that can be reliably planned.
Nobody Has to Be Reachable
On 21 January 2021, the European Parliament adopted a report calling for a right to disconnect from work. On its website, the German employers’ federation BDA reported that European employers rejected the need for a special right to disconnect. The text argues: Schon heute müssen keine Mitarbeiter immer und ununterbrochen für seinen Arbeitgeber erreichbar sein. Even today, no employee has to be reachable by the employer at all times and without interruption. The BDA’s article warned against forcing ein starres Korsett, a rigid corset, on companies.
A Day of Rest for Servants
In his Large Catechism, Martin Luther explains the commandment Du sollst den Feiertag heiligen, You shall keep the holy day holy. He writes that for Christians the Sabbath commandment is lifted in its outward, literal sense. But nature itself demands a day of rest for the common people, for servants and maids who have worked all week. In a modern German version, the text says that they should sich auch einen Tag lang zurückziehen, um sich auszuruhen und zu erquicken, also withdraw for a day to rest and refresh themselves.
The Eve of a Holiday
Feierabend is the free time after the working day, and also the end of work itself. Duden gives Feierabend machen, to stop work for the day, and nach Feierabend, after work. The word is old. Duden traces it to late Middle High German vīrabent, the eve of a holiday. Only later was it reinterpreted through the verb feiern, to celebrate. The evening after every working day now carries the name once given to the evening before a holiday.
After Totensonntag
Totensonntag, the Sunday of the Dead, is the Protestant day of remembrance for the dead. Under the holiday laws it is a stiller Feiertag, a silent holiday, everywhere except Hamburg. The Protestant churches ask that Christmas markets open only after this day. The Bavarian Protestant church said in 2017: Darum plädieren wir dafür, die Weihnachtsmärkte erst nach dem Totensonntag zu beginnen. That is why we argue that the Christmas markets should begin only after Totensonntag. That year, however, markets in Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen, Munich, Lindau and Hamburg opened earlier. A church spokesperson in the Rhineland called this ein Ärgernis, an annoyance.
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.