Overtime
Where German overtime limits usually bite first
Published for learners in Cloudquery Core programs · 7 min read
Most people do not meet overtime trouble on a dramatic Sunday emergency. They meet it on a Tuesday that started fifteen minutes early “just to clear the inbox,” then stretched past the planned finish because a ticket was almost done.
Weekly ceilings before heroics
German working-time rules set outer bounds that employers and employees share responsibility for respecting. In consultation sessions we ask for two weeks of actual start and stop times — not the official roster. The gap between those two documents is where unpaid overtime often lives.
Silent early starts
Badge data, VPN logs, and first Slack messages frequently show a pattern of pre-shift work. If your contract treats that time as working time, it belongs in the log. If the workplace culture treats it as invisible, the culture — not the statute — is writing your day.
What to do this week
Pick a simple table: date, planned hours, actual hours, reason for variance. Keep tone factual. Bring the table to a manager conversation before emotions harden. Our Overtime Documentation Clinic expands this into templates; the flagship Intensive places it inside a wider rest-and-leave map.