Working time laws in Europe
The statutory rules on working hours, rest, breaks, night work and time recording, country by country. Every figure links to the official source, with the date we last reviewed it.
Netherlands
Arbeidstijdenwet: 12 hours per shift, 60 per week, 11 hours of daily rest, breaks after 5.5 hours and strict night-shift rules.
Germany
ArbZG: 8 hours per working day (up to 10), breaks after 6 hours, 11 hours of rest, and mandatory time recording since the 2022 BAG ruling.
Belgium
Labour Act of 1971: 8 hours per day and 38 hours per week on average, a break after 6 hours, 11 hours of daily rest and 35 hours of weekly rest.
Spain
Estatuto de los Trabajadores: 40 hours per week on average, 12 hours between working days and a mandatory daily time record kept for 4 years.
United Kingdom
Working Time Regulations 1998: 48 hours per week on average (with opt-out), 11 hours of daily rest, 20-minute breaks and 5.6 weeks of leave.
France
Code du travail: 35-hour legal week (overtime threshold), at most 10 hours per day and 48 per week, 20-minute break after 6 hours, 11 hours of daily rest.
What these pages cover
Planning shifts and checking timesheets gets easier once you know the hard limits. Each country page answers the same questions in the same order, so you can compare them side by side: how long a working day and a working week may be, how much rest people need between shifts and over the week, when a break is due and how long it must be, what changes for night work, and what the employer has to record.
The facts table at the top of every page lists each rule with the article it comes from and a link to the law itself or the government's own explanation. Below the table, we explain in plain language what the rules mean for rosters, timesheets and payroll, and where the common mistakes are.
We cover the general statutory rules for adult employees. Collective agreements, sector rules, young workers, executives and specific professions such as transport or healthcare often have their own rules, which can be stricter or looser. If a collective agreement applies to your team, read it alongside these pages.
How we source and review, and what this is not
We only publish a figure when we can link to an official source: the consolidated text of the law or the explanation published by the responsible ministry or government service. When we could not verify a number, we left it out rather than guess. Each page shows the date of the last review, and we re-check the sources when laws change.
These pages are general information, not legal advice. Laws change, exceptions are common and the details of your situation matter. Before you act on a rule, check the linked source or ask an employment lawyer. For a quick check of a single shift against the Dutch and German break and rest rules, use the free break checker.
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