Decision by the Ecclesiastical Labor Court Cologne (KAG, Judgment of 12 November 2024, MAVO 07/24)

Except in exceptional cases, there is no fixed weekly maximum working time of 60 hours. What matters is compliance with the average weekly working time.

The dispute concerned whether the staff council (MAV) was entitled to withhold its approval of monthly duty rosters for emergency medical service employees when the weekly working hours exceeded 60 hours. In several emergency service units, the employer had scheduled 24-hour shifts in accordance with legal provisions. The MAV refused to approve duty rosters that included more than two 24-hour shifts between Monday and Sunday, arguing that this exceeded the presumed weekly maximum of 60 working hours.

However, the employer had complied with the average weekly working time of 46 hours, as agreed in a works agreement and measured over a defined reference period.

Following a conciliation process, the Ecclesiastical Labor Court Cologne dismissed the MAV’s action for declaratory judgment.

The court agreed with the employer’s reasoning: there is no legally fixed weekly maximum working time under either European or German law. Directive 2003/88/EC does not stipulate a fixed weekly upper limit but rather requires that the average weekly working time not exceed 48 hours within a defined statutory or collectively agreed reference period.

Section 3 of the German Working Hours Act (ArbZG), which implements the directive, similarly focuses on average working hours. It stipulates an average daily working time of 8 hours, which may be extended to 10 hours if within a 24-week reference period the daily average remains at or below 8 hours. In cases involving standby or on-call duty, Section 7 (1a) ArbZG allows for even longer working hours under collective agreements.

Additionally, Section 1 (2) of Appendix 5 to the AVR-Caritas contains a corresponding provision.

As a result, the court held that the legislator deliberately refrained—except in specific exceptional cases—from establishing a fixed weekly maximum working time. The decisive factor is whether the average weekly working time is respected.

The MAV has filed an appeal with the Ecclesiastical Labor Court of Appeal.