The Legal Basis for Shift Planning
What rights and obligations exist? And how do you create a work schedule that complies with data protection regulations? Find out everything you need to know about work schedules and the law here.
Contents
- Definition: What Is a Shift Schedule?
- Shift Schedules and the Law – The Legal Framework
- Is a Shift Schedule Binding?
- Creating a Shift Schedule – Legal Considerations
- What Legal Regulations Apply to Shift Schedules?
Definition: What Is a Shift Schedule?
A shift schedule is simply a tool for workforce planning. It allows you to allocate employees by time and location, ensuring that both the qualitative and quantitative staffing needs are met and that the company's planned goals are achieved. It provides an overview of employees' working hours. When well-organized, it helps ensure compliance with legal requirements more easily.
A shift schedule should include the following information:
- Start and end times of work shifts
- Break times
- Rest periods
- Absence days such as vacation, sick leave, or training sessions
Shift Schedules and the Law – The Legal Framework
When an employer creates a shift schedule, they are exercising their managerial authority over the employees, which they are entitled to do. This means the employer can decide when employees must perform specific tasks, ensuring that the necessary work gets done. However, there are rights and obligations for both employers and employees in connection with a work schedule.
Is a Shift Schedule Binding?
A shift schedule is generally legally binding from the moment it is posted or distributed to employees. However, an employer cannot allocate work shifts to employees arbitrarily. When creating work schedules, employers must adhere to specific laws and regulations designed to protect employees' rights.
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Creating a Shift Schedule – Legal Considerations
When creating a work schedule, it is crucial to consider the interests of the employees, especially since employee representatives or the works council have a say in the development of shift schedules.
It is important that a work schedule is always transparent and easy to understand. The planned and actual hours worked must be clearly visible, including any discrepancies that may arise. Additionally, if any changes are made to the shift schedule after it has been finalized, the law requires that these modifications be clearly marked.
Shift Schedule Changes & the Law: Can a Shift Schedule Be Changed?
The short answer is: no. There is also a law governing changes to work schedules. Once shift schedules have been created and distributed to employees, they cannot be easily altered. Typically, employers must announce any changes at least four days in advance. Shorter notice for schedule changes requires a specific emergency situation.
How Far in Advance Must Employees Receive the Shift Schedule?
Unfortunately, the law does not clearly specify when an employer must announce a work schedule. Since this issue rarely ends up in court, there are few legal rulings to serve as guidance. However, binding regulations may exist through collective agreements, works agreements, or employment contracts.
Still, there are common practical tips: For example, if a shift schedule is created for an entire month, employees should typically receive it about two weeks in advance. The time between the schedule's publication and the start date should be approximately half of the schedule's “validity period.” The previously mentioned law regarding shift schedule changes also applies here. For more details, see our article on Shift Schedule Announcements and Deadlines.
What Legal Regulations Apply to Shift Schedules?
Of course, a shift schedule is subject to legal regulations. Anyone responsible for creating a work schedule must comply with these legal requirements. For instance, employers must ensure that country-specific regulations, such as maximum allowable working hours and mandatory rest breaks, are adhered to.
The Working Hours Act (ArbZG) Includes the Following Regulations:
Daily Working Hours - § 3 ArbZG
Employees are allowed to work a maximum of eight hours per day. In exceptional cases, this can be extended to ten hours, but the average over six months must not exceed eight hours per day.
Breaks - § 4 ArbZG
Breaks must be scheduled in advance: For working hours exceeding six hours, employees are entitled to a 30-minute break. For more than nine hours, a 45-minute break is required. These breaks can be divided into smaller segments, each lasting at least 15 minutes.
Rest Periods - § 5 ArbZG
Rest periods must be observed after each work period: This includes an uninterrupted 11-hour rest period. In certain sectors, such as hospitality, broadcasting, or healthcare, this may be reduced to ten hours.
Night Shifts - § 6 ArbZG
Work hours between 11 PM and 6 AM must be compensated with either higher pay or additional time off.
Weekends - § 10 ArbZG & § 11 ArbZG
Work is generally prohibited on Sundays and public holidays. However, shift operations may "shift" the working hours by up to six hours; for example, a night shift from Friday evening to Saturday morning may only last six hours. Certain exceptions apply to industries requiring continuous staffing, such as hospitals, where compensatory time off must be provided.
Regarding data protection, the law is clear on work schedules: not every employee is entitled to view the entire shift schedule. Similarly, every employee has the right to prevent the publication of the schedule—even within the company.
Since personal data is required for a work schedule, data protection naturally applies here as well. A shift schedule should not simply be posted for everyone to see, and it should certainly not be photographed and shared, for example, via messenger—something that often happens in smaller businesses. However, in larger businesses, there can also be problematic interactions between work schedules and data protection. For example, if there is an Excel document that all employees can access and thus view the personal data of others, data protection is violated. Therefore, a shift schedule is a document containing confidential personal data and should be treated as such.
• Never post shift schedules publicly • Do not send photos of shift schedules to your employees • Limit employee access to shift schedule files, such as through an intranet • Ensure that each employee can only view their own data A scheduling software can assist in creating a data protection-compliant shift schedule. This is particularly beneficial for larger companies, as smart solutions consider laws and legal requirements when creating shift schedules, helping them stay on the safe side.