German Employment Law Reference

Job sharing and flexible work models in German law

Q: Gleitzeit, Funktionszeit and annualized hours Gleitzeit (flextime) Flextime frameworks — core hours plus flexible bands, tracked on a Gleitzeitkonto — are usually set by works agreement, because the works council co-determines the distribution of working time (§ 87(1) no. 2 BetrVG; see works council basics). Read the framework for the traps: caps on transferable credit hours, and forfeiture clauses under which surplus hours above the cap expire. Hours the employer required you to work cannot simply be „capped away” — forfeited required hours remain payable. Funktionszeit Function time replaces core hours with a team obligation: the function (phone coverage, service desk) must be staffed during defined windows, and the team allocates who covers when. Legally it is flextime with delegated scheduling — the same account and forfeiture questions apply, plus a fairness question the works agreement should answer: what happens when the team cannot agree. Annualized hours and working-time accounts Annualized-hours models fix a yearly volume and flex the weekly load across seasons. They stand or fall with the working-time account (Arbeitszeitkonto): insist on transparent statements, a clear payout rule on termination (a positive balance is earned wage and must be paid out or taken as leave), and — for long-term accounts — insolvency protection under § 7e SGB IV. The ArbZG’s daily caps and rest periods apply in the peaks regardless of the annual average; the limits are mapped in our guide to maximum working hours. Contract-drafting red flags

„Working time as operationally required” with no number — triggers the 20-hour fiction in on-demand settings, and is intransparent elsewhere. Blanket overtime-included clauses. „All overtime is compensated by the salary” without a stated cap is intransparent and typically invalid — overtime then remains payable; see overtime pay. Unilateral variation clauses letting the employer change volume or schedule „at its discretion” — void where they bypass § 12’s corridors or § 106 GewO’s fairness limits. Automatic job-share substitution duties — invalid as blanket clause

Q: Which model suits which situation

Job sharing: senior or leadership roles you want part-time without shrinking the role — but negotiate the substitution clause narrowly. Arbeit auf Abruf: genuinely variable side employment — never accept it as your main income without a solid agreed minimum. Gleitzeit/Funktionszeit: office roles needing daily autonomy — check account caps and forfeiture rules. Annualized hours: seasonal industries — insist on account transparency and payout clauses.

Job sharing, work on demand, flextime, function time and annualized hours all come with statutory protections contracts often ignore — including the 20-hour fiction of § 12 TzBfG that can be worth thousands in back pay. Red flags and which model fits which situation.

Published 3 August 2026 · Updated 22 July 2026 · 7 min read · Working Time

German law offers a whole toolbox of flexible work models — job sharing, work on demand, flextime, function time, annualized hours. The crucial point for employees: each model comes with statutory default rules that protect you, and many contracts quietly try to draft around them. The starkest example: if you work „on demand” without agreed weekly hours, the law deems 20 hours per week agreed — and you can claim pay for 20 hours whether or not the employer actually called you in. Knowing the defaults of §§ 12 and 13 TzBfG and the co-determination rules around flextime is often worth real money.

In job sharing, two or more employees share one position and divide its hours between them. Two statutory protections matter:

No automatic duty to cover your partner

You are not obliged to stand in when your job-share partner is sick or on vacation, unless (a) you agreed to cover the individual case, or (b) urgent operational reasons require it and covering is reasonable for you in that situation (§ 13(1) TzBfG). A blanket contract clause obliging you to cover every absence is invalid — the law demands a case-by-case agreement or genuine urgency. Employers routinely draft this wrong.

Dismissal protection particulars

If your job-share partner leaves, the employer may not dismiss you for that reason — § 13(2) TzBfG declares a dismissal on that ground invalid. The employer may, under general rules, pursue a change of terms (Änderungskündigung) to restructure the position, but that must clear the full proportionality review, and a plain termination „because the tandem broke” fails. If you receive one anyway, the three-week deadline for a Kündigungsschutzklage applies as always.

Work on demand — Arbeit auf Abruf (§ 12 TzBfG)

On-demand work lets the employer schedule you according to workload — but § 12 TzBfG builds in hard limits that many contracts and rosters ignore:

The 20-hour fiction. The agreement must fix a weekly working time. If it does not, 20 hours per week are deemed agreed (§ 12(1) TzBfG) — and the employer owes pay for 20 hours even in weeks it called you in for fewer, under default-of-acceptance principles.
The 3-hour minimum. If no daily duration is agreed, each call-in must span at least three consecutive hours — no 45-minute shifts.
Four days’ notice. The employer must announce your assignment at least four days in advance; announced later, you may simply decline the shift (§ 12(3) TzBfG).
The 25%/20% corridors. If a minimum weekly time is agreed, the employer may call up at most 25% additional hours. If a maximum is agreed, it may schedule at most 20% below it (§ 12(2) TzBfG). Contracts like „0–40 hours as required” are invalid flexibility grabs — the corridors cap what can float.

For Minijobbers, the 20-hour fiction has a hidden sting: 20 deemed hours at minimum wage exceed the Minijob earnings threshold, which can retroactively trigger full social-security liability — an employer problem primarily, but one that surfaces in disputes.

Gleitzeit, Funktionszeit and annualized hours

Gleitzeit (flextime)

Flextime frameworks — core hours plus flexible bands, tracked on a Gleitzeitkonto — are usually set by works agreement, because the works council co-determines the distribution of working time (§ 87(1) no. 2 BetrVG; see works council basics). Read the framework for the traps: caps on transferable credit hours, and forfeiture clauses under which surplus hours above the cap expire. Hours the employer required you to work cannot simply be „capped away” — forfeited required hours remain payable.

Funktionszeit

Function time replaces core hours with a team obligation: the function (phone coverage, service desk) must be staffed during defined windows, and the team allocates who covers when. Legally it is flextime with delegated scheduling — the same account and forfeiture questions apply, plus a fairness question the works agreement should answer: what happens when the team cannot agree.

Annualized hours and working-time accounts

Annualized-hours models fix a yearly volume and flex the weekly load across seasons. They stand or fall with the working-time account (Arbeitszeitkonto): insist on transparent statements, a clear payout rule on termination (a positive balance is earned wage and must be paid out or taken as leave), and — for long-term accounts — insolvency protection under § 7e SGB IV. The ArbZG’s daily caps and rest periods apply in the peaks regardless of the annual average; the limits are mapped in our guide to maximum working hours.

Contract-drafting red flags

„Working time as operationally required” with no number — triggers the 20-hour fiction in on-demand settings, and is intransparent elsewhere.
Blanket overtime-included clauses. „All overtime is compensated by the salary” without a stated cap is intransparent and typically invalid — overtime then remains payable; see overtime pay.
Unilateral variation clauses letting the employer change volume or schedule „at its discretion” — void where they bypass § 12’s corridors or § 106 GewO’s fairness limits.
Automatic job-share substitution duties — invalid as blanket clauses under § 13(1) TzBfG.
Time accounts without payout and insolvency rules — your earned hours become unsecured credit to the employer.

Which model suits which situation

Job sharing: senior or leadership roles you want part-time without shrinking the role — but negotiate the substitution clause narrowly.
Arbeit auf Abruf: genuinely variable side employment — never accept it as your main income without a solid agreed minimum.
Gleitzeit/Funktionszeit: office roles needing daily autonomy — check account caps and forfeiture rules.
Annualized hours: seasonal industries — insist on account transparency and payout clauses.

Worked example

A retail employee in Bonn works „on demand as operationally required” — the contract names no weekly hours. Over the past year she was scheduled on average 12 hours per week at €14.50 per hour. The 20-hour fiction of § 12(1) TzBfG applies: the deemed contract is 20 hours.

Claim: 8 unworked but owed hours × €14.50 × 52 weeks = €6,032 gross as Annahmeverzugslohn — she was ready to work; the employer simply did not call. Her contract contains no cut-off clause, so the three-year limitation period preserves the full year. We assert the claim in text form and additionally demand scheduling of 20 hours going forward. Outcome at the Gütetermin after a payment claim: €5,200 gross back pay plus a written contract amendment fixing 20 weekly hours — which also lifts her future sick pay, vacation pay and, one year later, her unemployment-benefit base after the branch closes.

Frequently asked questions

My job-share partner resigned. Can I be dismissed now?

Not for that reason — § 13(2) TzBfG invalidates a dismissal issued because the partner left. The employer can offer you the full position, recruit a new partner, or attempt an Änderungskündigung under general rules. If a termination arrives, act within the three-week deadline.

Can I refuse a shift announced two days ahead?

In on-demand arrangements, yes: § 12(3) TzBfG requires at least four days’ advance notice, otherwise you are not obliged to perform. Refusing a too-short-notice shift is not a breach of duty and cannot lawfully be sanctioned.

My employer sends us home when business is slow and deducts the hours. Legal?

Generally no. The employer bears the operational risk (Betriebsrisiko, § 615 BGB): if you are ready to work your agreed hours, being sent home does not reduce pay, and „minus hours” may only accrue on a time account if a valid agreement provides for it and you actually control when to make them up.

Do flextime credit hours expire?

Only within the limits of the applicable works agreement — and hours the employer directed or operationally demanded cannot be forfeited by an account cap. If your account is regularly „capped”, document the required hours: the excess is a payable overtime claim, subject to cut-off clauses.

What happens to my time-account balance when I leave?

A positive balance is earned remuneration: it must be granted as paid release during the notice period or paid out with the final payroll. Check the balance statement before signing any termination agreement — and never sign a „settlement of all claims” clause while hours are still on the account.