Collective Rest Archives - Page 2 of 4

The Holiday That Pays for Care

When Germany introduced long-term care insurance, the states were to abolish one public holiday that always falls on a working day, to offset the cost to employers. A state that kept its holidays would have its employees pay a larger share of the contribution. In 1995 every state except Saxony gave up Buß- und Bettag, the Day of Repentance and Prayer. Saxony kept the day. In 2025, an employee with one child in Saxony pays 2.3 percent and the employer 1.3 percent. In the other states each side pays 1.8 percent.

Everyone in Saxony keeps the day off, and every employee there pays for it.

Night Rest by Law

North Rhine-Westphalia’s state pollution control law says: Von 22 bis 6 Uhr sind Betätigungen verboten, welche die Nachtruhe zu stören geeignet sind. From 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., activities that could disturb the night’s rest are forbidden. The city of Dortmund reminds residents that there is no legal right to a loud party, in the house or in the garden.

Bottle Bank Hours

German towns post set hours for throwing glass into bottle banks. In Nuremberg it is Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In Aachen it is Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Langen in Hesse asks people to use them from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Bocholt gives 7 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. In Haßloch in the Palatinate, putting glass in on Sundays and public holidays is forbidden.

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.

The Holiday List

The career site Karrierebibel advises German teams to settle at the start of the year who will take leave when, and suggests a public holiday list on the notice board or the intranet. The law sets the order of priority. Under Section 7 of the Federal Leave Act, the employer must follow the employee’s wishes, unless urgent operational needs stand in the way, or the wishes of colleagues who deserve priority on social grounds, such as parents of school-age children. A works council has a say over the principles of holiday planning. In 2021 the Federal Labor Court confirmed that an employee who takes leave that was not granted can in principle be dismissed without notice.

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.

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.

Advent Sundays in Berlin

Berlin’s shop-opening law once allowed stores to open on all four Sundays in Advent. The Protestant church of Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz and the Catholic Archdiocese of Berlin challenged it at the Federal Constitutional Court. On 1 December 2009, the court ruled that the Advent Sunday rule did not agree with the constitutional guarantee of rest on Sundays and public holidays. Rest is the rule, and opening is the exception. The sales interests of shop owners and the everyday shopping interests of customers are not enough to justify opening. The rule remained valid only until 31 December 2009.

Not on Good Friday

The FSK, the film industry’s voluntary self-regulation body, does more than set age ratings. It also decides whether a film may be shown in public on silent holidays such as Good Friday. The film must suit the serious character of the day. The rule dates from 1952. According to the Berliner Zeitung, the list of films without this release had 756 titles in 2016. Among them are Heidi, Das Leben des Brian (Life of Brian), Max und Moritz and Ghostbusters.

The list now grows only slowly. According to the FSK, more than half of all films lacked the holiday release from the 1950s to the 1970s, but 1 percent or less since 2000. The FSK has called the restriction kaum noch nachvollziehbar, hardly understandable anymore. It applies only to cinemas, not to television or streaming.