Abweichende täglich längere Arbeitszeit beantragen

As an employer, you must obtain approval from the competent authority for exceptions to longer daily working hours for continuous shift operations or a construction and assembly site.

The working day of an employee is eight hours. It can be extended to up to ten hours if an average of eight hours per working day is not exceeded within six calendar months or 24 weeks.

You can apply for an exemption from the competent authority if your company is a continuous shift operation or a construction and assembly site. Due to the deviating longer daily working hours, additional free shifts must be achieved.

• Application period
• Reasons for the application
• Number of employees per shift
• Workplaces/activities affected
• Advantages and disadvantages of the planned shift system
• Collective agreement (if available)
• Working time agreements
• Distribution of rest breaks
• Rest period
• Shift plan showing the additional shifts off
• Documentation of the risk assessment
• Statement from the company doctor
• Statement from the works or staff council (if available)

• You can only submit the application if you are an employer.
• The application is only possible for continuous shift operations or construction and assembly sites.
• The specific construction and assembly site must be named, as an exemption is only granted for a specific construction site.
• It must be proven that an exceptional operational situation urgently requires the deviation in individual cases.
• The achievement of additional shifts off must be demonstrated by the shift system applied for on the basis of a shift plan.
• In the risk assessment, the stress caused by:
  • Location and duration of working hours,
  • special forms of working time (e.g. shift work, work on call),
  • time-related hazards, for example due to heavy physical work,
  • noise, hazardous substances, radiation and
  • work on Sundays and public holidays, if applicable or sufficient compensation through rest breaks and daily and weekly rest periods and to document the result of the assessment.
• Statement from the company doctor
• Statement from the works council or staff council, if applicable
• The rest breaks and rest periods must be observed.
• Working hours must not exceed 48 hours per week on average over six calendar months or 24 weeks.

You can apply in writing or online for authorization for a different longer daily working time.

You can apply for exceptional approval in writing:

• To do so, describe your request informally.
• Send your application to the Thuringian State Office for Consumer Protection, including the necessary documents and evidence.
• If the documents or information required for processing are incomplete, you will be contacted immediately by the processing department.
• The Thuringian State Office for Consumer Protection will check the documents.
• If the requirements for the exemption permit are met, you will receive an approving decision.
• Only then may employment deviating from the regulations take place.
• If the requirements for approval are not met, you will receive a rejection.

If you would like to apply for the permit online, you must complete the following steps:

• Call up the online service
• Complete the fields of the online service in full and send the application to the Thuringian State Office for Consumer Protection, including the documents and evidence listed in the application.
• The further procedural steps correspond to the written application.

An exception is only granted for a limited period of time.

• Objection
• You will find further information on how to lodge an objection in the notification of your application.

• Deviation from regulations on working time approval
• Exceptional permits for deviating longer daily working hours for continuous shift operations to achieve additional free shifts and for construction and assembly sites.
• An exception for the employment of employees with a longer daily working time of a maximum of 12 hours can be granted by the competent authority.
• The exception is granted for a limited period.
• Applications can be submitted in writing or online.
• Prerequisites:
  • Application can only be made by the employer
  • The application is only possible for continuous shift operations or construction and assembly sites.
  • It must be proven that an exceptional operational situation urgently requires the deviation in individual cases.
  • The achievement of additional shifts off must be demonstrated by the shift system applied for on the basis of a shift plan.
  • The longer daily working hours must be part of the documentation of the risk assessment.
  • Statement from the works or staff council, if available
  • Statement from the company doctor
• Responsible: competent regional inspectorate of the Thuringian State Office for Consumer Protection (TLV) Occupational Health and Safety Department

Please contact your responsible regional inspectorate of the Thuringian State Office for Consumer Protection (TLV), Occupational Health and Safety Department.