# What is the BAG ruling on time recording?

> The German Federal Labour Court ruled in 2022 that employers must record working time. What the decision says, its legal basis and what to do.

URL: https://timetracking.tech/glossary/bag-ruling-time-recording
Language: en
Last updated: 2026-10-24

**Definition:** The BAG ruling is the decision of Germany's Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) of 13 September 2022, case 1 ABR 22/21. It holds that employers in Germany must record the start and end of their employees' daily working time.

## What the court decided

The case started as a dispute about a works council's right to demand an electronic time recording system. The court went further: it found that employers already have a duty to record working time, derived from § 3(2) no. 1 of the Arbeitsschutzgesetz (ArbSchG), the German occupational safety act, read in line with EU law.

The decision follows the judgment of the European Court of Justice of 14 May 2019 in case C-55/18, which said that member states must require employers to set up a system that measures the daily working time of each worker. Before the BAG ruling, German law only required recording time beyond 8 hours per working day under § 16(2) ArbZG.

## What it means in practice

Employers in Germany should record the start, end and therefore the duration of working time for employees, including overtime. The decision does not prescribe a specific system; paper can be enough, although electronic systems make it easier to keep complete and verifiable records.

TimeTracking records start, end and breaks for every shift, checks them against the ArbZG rules and keeps an audit trail of every change. The app is available in German and data is hosted in the EU.

- [Labour law: Germany](https://timetracking.tech/labor-laws/germany)
- [Break rules](https://timetracking.tech/glossary/break-rules)
- [Audit trail](https://timetracking.tech/glossary/audit-trail)

## Frequently asked questions

### Does the BAG ruling require electronic time recording?

No. The court did not prescribe a specific form. Employers must record start and end of daily working time; how they do it is up to them, as long as the records are complete and reliable.