Break rules at work: legal breaks in Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Break rules at a glance

“None” means the law requires no break. These are minimum breaks for adult employees. Contracts and collective agreements can provide longer breaks, young workers have stricter rules, and some sectors have special rules. Working time always means time without the breaks. The break calculator above shows the value for your own working time.

Germany: section 4 of the Working Time Act

If you work more than six and up to nine hours, the work must be interrupted by a rest break of at least 30 minutes; for more than nine hours, by at least 45 minutes. The break may be split into parts of at least 15 minutes each, and you may not work more than six hours in a row without a break. The break must be fixed in advance, at least as a time frame.

Two consequences that are often missed:

• Five minutes here and there do not count. Interruptions shorter than 15 minutes are not rest breaks under the Act.
• The break interrupts the work. A break that would only come after the end of the working day does not serve that purpose.

The duty lies with the employer, who must grant the breaks. Not doing so is an administrative offence with a fine of up to 30,000 euros (section 22 ArbZG).

For young workers under 18, section 11 of the Young Persons Protection Act applies: more than four and a half up to six hours, at least 30 minutes; more than six hours, at least 60 minutes.

Austria: section 11 of the Working Time Act

If daily working time exceeds six hours, it must be interrupted by a rest break of at least half an hour. Where it is in the employees’ interest or operationally necessary, two breaks of a quarter of an hour each or three breaks of ten minutes each may be given instead; where there is a works council, this split needs its consent. Unlike Germany, the Act sets no longer break for more than nine hours; collective agreements often do. Young workers get a break of at least 30 minutes from more than four and a half hours under the act on the employment of children and young persons.

Switzerland: Art. 15 of the Labour Act

Work must be interrupted by breaks of at least a quarter of an hour for more than five and a half hours, half an hour for more than seven hours and one hour for more than nine hours. Breaks are to be placed around the middle of the working time; breaks of more than half an hour may be split. If a block of more than five and a half hours of work arises before or after a break, an additional break is due for it.

One particularity: breaks count as working time if you may not leave your workplace during the break. When a break on standby can still count as a break granted is set out in SECO’s guidance on Art. 15.

Rest between two working days

Besides the breaks during work, all three countries require a rest period between the end of work and the start of the next day:

• Germany: at least eleven uninterrupted hours (section 5 ArbZG). In some sectors, such as hospitals, hospitality or agriculture, it may be shortened under conditions.
• Austria: at least eleven uninterrupted hours (section 12 AZG); collective agreements can allow exceptions.
• Switzerland: at least eleven consecutive hours (Art. 15a ArG). For adults it may drop to eight hours once a week if eleven hours are kept on average over two weeks.

So if you finish at 10 pm, you generally may not start again before 9 am.

What counts as a break and what does not

Toilet and short interruptions. Going to the toilet or getting a glass of water are not rest breaks under the law and do not replace the required break. Whether the employer may deduct such interruptions from working time is not expressly regulated. In Switzerland the Neuchâtel cantonal court lifted an authority’s ban on counting toilet visits against the breaks in 2024: the Labour Act and its ordinances do not expressly forbid it. Usually the workplace sets the rule.

A break on standby. In Germany an interruption during which you must stay ready to work is not a rest break. In Switzerland a break counts as working time if you may not leave the workplace; when a break on standby still counts as granted is set out in SECO’s guidance.

Smoking breaks. None of the three countries gives a legal right to them. Whether smoking is allowed, and whether the time counts as work or must be clocked out, is up to the employer, often in a works agreement or staff regulations.

A break at the start or the end. A break right at the start of work or immediately before leaving does not, as a rule, interrupt the work as intended. In Switzerland breaks are to be placed around the middle of the working time.

Part-time, mini-jobs and working from home

The break rules depend on the working time of the individual day, not on the contract. Part-timers, mini-jobbers and temporary staff have the same thresholds as full-timers: in Germany, four hours in a row give no statutory right to a break, seven hours do.

The working time acts apply unchanged when working from home. You often set the break yourself there, but it must be just as long and interrupt the work just as it would in the office.

Common cases

Worked exactly six hours: is a break mandatory? Not in Germany or Austria, because both acts require the break only for more than six hours. In Switzerland, yes: for more than five and a half hours, 15 minutes are required.

How long is the break for an 8-hour day? At least 30 minutes in all three countries. So you are at work for at least eight and a half hours, for example from 8:00 to 16:30.

Nine hours of work, how much break? In Germany 30 minutes, as the 45 minutes apply only above nine hours. In Switzerland 30 minutes, for more than nine hours one hour. In Austria 30 minutes.

Ten hours of work? In Germany at least 45 minutes, in Austria 30 minutes, in Switzerland one hour. In Germany ten hours are also the upper limit for a working day.

Is the break paid? As a rule, no. Rest breaks are not working time and are deducted from the time present, unless your contract says otherwise or, in Switzerland, you may not leave the workplace.

Could not take the break, but it was deducted automatically? Many time recording systems deduct the break as a flat amount. If work kept you from taking it, write that down with the date and the reason, and ask your employer whether the time counts as working time. The duty to make the break possible lies with the employer.

How much do I work net? Time present minus breaks. From 8:00 to 17:00 with an hour of break is 8 hours. The overtime calculator takes start, end and break per day and works out the week against your target.

Recording breaks

In Switzerland, under regular recording, the employer must record not only the length but also the timing of breaks of half an hour or more (Art. 73 ArGV 1). The free timesheet template has a “break from – to” column for that. What applies to recording in Germany is covered in the guide Time tracking obligation in Germany 2026.

WorkFlow, the app behind this site, records arriving at and leaving your workplace automatically and deducts the break you set per weekday. If a break differs, you correct it in that day’s entry. The app does not check whether your break meets the law; that is what the table and the break calculator are for.