An emergency paramedic in Schleswig-Holstein was off duty when his employer changed his roster for the next morning, with a start at 6 a.m. The employer phoned him and sent text messages. He did not respond. The employer recorded an unexcused absence, deducted hours and issued a reprimand. After a similar case months later, it issued a formal warning. On 27 September 2022, the regional labor court of Schleswig-Holstein ruled for the paramedic. A change of roster takes effect only when it reaches the employee. An employee in his free time is not obliged to read messages from work. Opening and reading them counts as working time.
Work by Day, Guests in the Evening
Goethe wrote the ballad Der Schatzgräber, The Treasure Digger, in May 1797. A poor man tries to raise a treasure by magic at night. Instead, a boy appears and gives him other advice, and the poem ends with it: Tages Arbeit, abends Gäste! / Saure Wochen, frohe Feste! / Sei dein künftig / Zauberwort! Work by day, guests in the evening! Hard weeks, happy feasts! Let that be your magic word from now on.
Weekend and Sunshine
On 22 August 1930, the Comedian Harmonists recorded Wochenend und Sonnenschein, Weekend and Sunshine, in Berlin. The tune was the American song Happy Days Are Here Again. The German text by Charles Amberg was a new song, not a translation. It became one of the group’s biggest hits and is still very well known. Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester recorded it again in 2002.
The Vocabulary of the Working Day
Mahlzeit!
Mealtime! The greeting colleagues give each other around midday.
Brückentag
Bridge day. A single working day between two days off, such as a public holiday and the weekend. Duden notes that it is especially suited to taking as a day of leave.
Feierabendbier
The beer after the end of the working day.
Work-Life-Balance
The English term is in the Duden as a German noun. It is defined as a balanced relationship between the demands of the job and a person’s private needs.
Please Contact My Deputy
Ich bin bis einschließlich Freitag nicht im Büro. In dringenden Fällen wenden Sie sich bitte an meine Vertretung, Frau Weber. I am out of the office until Friday inclusive. In urgent cases, please contact my deputy, Ms. Weber. A German out-of-office reply usually names the Vertretung, the person who is responsible for the area while one is away. Before the holidays, teams agree on a Vertretungsregelung, an arrangement for who covers for whom.
Volkswagen Switches Off the E-Mail
At the end of 2011 Volkswagen began to switch off e-mail on company phones after work. From 18:15 until 7:00 the next morning, the BlackBerrys of the employees covered receive no mail. The rule covered more than 1,100 employees. It did not apply to managers.
Mail on Holiday
In August 2014 Daimler announced Mail on Holiday for its roughly 100,000 employees in Germany. Employees can have incoming e-mail deleted automatically while they are on holiday. The sender receives an automatic reply that names a contact person, and then the system deletes the mail. According to a Daimler spokeswoman, every employee, up to the level of manager, could use it.
The Ministry’s Own Rule
In August 2013 the Federal Ministry of Labor agreed new rules for its more than 1,100 employees. They may be disturbed in their free time only in begründeten Ausnahmefällen, in justified exceptional cases. Im Urlaub dürfen die Chefs ihre Untergebenen grundsätzlich nicht in Anspruch nehmen. During holidays, bosses may in principle not call on their subordinates. Employees who are not reachable in their free time are not to be disadvantaged. The year before, the minister, Ursula von der Leyen, had said: In der Freizeit sollte Funkstille herrschen. In free time there should be radio silence.
Eleven Hours of Rest
The Working Hours Act says that after the end of the working day, employees must have eine ununterbrochene Ruhezeit von mindestens elf Stunden, an uninterrupted rest period of at least eleven hours. In 2023 the Federal Labor Court decided the case of a paramedic who was expected to read a text message about his next shift during his free time. The court held that an employee can have a duty to take note of instructions even in free time. Briefly reading such a message is not working time under the Working Hours Act. A general right to be unreachable is not written into German law.
Days of Rest and Spiritual Uplift
Article 139 of the Weimar Constitution of 11 August 1919 says: Der Sonntag und die staatlich anerkannten Feiertage bleiben als Tage der Arbeitsruhe und der seelischen Erhebung gesetzlich geschützt. Sundays and the public holidays recognized by the state remain protected by law as days of rest from work and of spiritual uplift. Through its Article 140, the Basic Law made this article part of today’s constitution.