Work break

Work break is the break specified in the employment contract , in the works agreement or in the collective agreement , during which work is suspended for employees .

General

Work breaks are used for short-term relaxation and for meals . During this time, employees neither have to work nor be ready for it. You are also free to decide where and how to spend this time. Work breaks can therefore be taken at the workplace , in special break rooms, in the canteen or outside the workplace . Break rooms are also part of the workplace in accordance with Section 6 (2) ArbStättenV .

In ergonomics , pause means a state of inactivity that is inserted into a work process , whereby the inactivity relates to the cessation of the commercial work performed . Inactivity is therefore limited to the work process , so that activities that are not related to this, such as reading the newspaper or doing sports, mean a permissible break. Work breaks are work breaks of various lengths that “occur between two working times occurring in a work shift and are intended to help the worker relax”. Why not work breaks are workflow-related waiting times , other work-related interruptions such as by operational disruptions , strikes or "hidden breaks" (a cup of coffee "in between" at the meeting point ).

species

According to the length of the work break, a distinction can be made:

Shortest break (or micro pause ): It occurs especially unbeeinflussbar at cycle times and takes a maximum of three minutes.

Short breaks last three to ten minutes.

The actual work break (or long break ) lasts ten minutes to an hour.

The specialist literature assumes different lengths of these types of pauses. The shortest break and the one-hour break from work are not permitted under labor law.

Legal issues

The arrangement of work breaks is part of the employer's right of direction under Section 106 GewO , which can be exercised within the framework of a works agreement. Legal basis of the breaks is the working time law (ArbZG), which for this purpose the right term of the rest used. Pursuant to Section 4 ArbZG, work must be interrupted by means of breaks that are fixed in advance for working hours of more than six to nine hours of at least 30 minutes and for working hours of more than nine hours 45 minutes. These breaks may be divided into periods of at least 15 minutes each. The rest breaks regulated in § 4 ArbZG only represent the minimum and do not prevent the employer from planning longer breaks by virtue of his right to issue instructions . In transport companies and shift operations , according to § 7 para. 1 no. 2 ArbZG, this minimum break time is not reached. Employees may not be employed for more than six consecutive hours without a break. According to Section 2 (1) ArbZG, rest breaks are not part of working time, only in underground mining , rest breaks count as working time.

Breaks are pre-determined breaks in working hours during which the employee neither has to do work nor be ready for it, but can freely decide where and how he wants to spend this time. The decisive feature for the break is therefore that the employee is exempt from any duty of service and also from any obligation to be available for duty. A break is only given if the employee is released from any work, including in the form of willingness to work , during the break period provided or determined by him .

If the health protection of the employees is guaranteed by a corresponding time compensation, according to § 7 para. 2 no. 3 ArbZG in a collective agreement or on the basis of a collective agreement in a company or service agreement to adapt the provisions of § 4 ArbZG for the treatment, care and support of persons to the nature of this activity and the well-being of these persons. According to § 18 para. 1 no. 1 ArbZG, the Working Hours Act is not applicable to senior executives and chief physicians, among other things , so the provisions of Section 4 ArbZG do not apply. There are special rules in accordance with Section 18 (2) of the ArbZG for people under the age of 18 ( young people ) for whom the JArbSchG applies. This provides in § 11 JArbSchG, among other things, that the rest breaks must be 30 minutes for a working time of more than four and a half up to six hours and 60 minutes for a working time of more than six hours. Young people may not be employed for more than four and a half hours in a row without a break. Further exceptions apply to pregnant women or the disabled . Additional short breaks of at least 5 minutes must be set up when working with heavy loads - e.g. Example, in shift , assembly line and night work , heavy physical stress or TENSION -promoting activities such as prolonged computer work . These short breaks should not be combined into one longer break in order to keep the risk of occupational accidents low.

According to § 87 para. 1 no. 2 BetrVG , the start and end of daily working hours, including breaks, are subject to the works council's right of co-determination , unless there is a statutory or collective agreement. This right of co-determination concerns both the timing and the duration of the breaks.

Legal consequences

The legal regulation that breaks in work are not part of working hours except in mining has serious consequences. Employees are legally insured against accidents during working hours and on the way to work . If there is an accident here , there is an occupational accident . However, if an accident occurs during the work break, the way to and from the canteen is insured, but lunch there is not. The way to and from a restaurant not far from the workplace is also insured. The private walk during lunch breaks and smoking breaks outside of the workplace are private and uninsured. These are predominantly "self-economic / private-benefit activities". In principle, private-benefit activities include all activities that everyone carries out independently of the insured activity, such as resting, sleeping, jogging, swimming, watching TV, shopping, eating, drinking, smoking or relieving themselves. They are also uninsured if they are carried out within the spatial limits of the company or occur at a company facility. Work breaks and even the way to and from there are also not listed as insured activities in Section 8 of Book VII of the Social Code .

Since work breaks according to Section 2 (1) ArbZG are not part of the working hours subject to remuneration, they are not to be paid by the employer and are therefore not included in the wages . The working hours determine the amount of time in which the employee is entitled to perform work and the employer is obliged to accept the work . During a work break, the employee is the obligation to work freed. Conversely, § 4 ArbZG releases the employer from the obligation to accept the work of the employee to the extent of the statutory minimum breaks and at the same time puts the employee in the position to perform the work. Regardless of this, the works agreement or the collective agreement can stipulate that work breaks are paid. If the employer pays for the time taken for breaks, it is consequently not a matter of remuneration for additional working time, but rather additional remuneration.

Work physiological aspects

Recreational value of breaks

With every job, physical and / or psychological fatigue occurs with a subsequent reduction in performance and functionality, including a deterioration in the error quotient . Work fatigue is a reversible process that can be eliminated through recovery . Fatigue does not increase linearly with working hours, but increases almost exponentially , so it is strongest before a break. In occupational physiology, recovery means the elimination of fatigue. Work breaks serve to eliminate fatigue through rest and relaxation and represent the basis for the subsequent improvement in work performance. During the break, energy consumed can be regenerated, whereby a certain knowledge assumes that the recovery process also represents an exponential function with an optimal break length. If you combine these findings with the break design, the recovery value increases if the breaks follow one another at short intervals, because fatigue is reduced and recovery is increased per unit of time.

In the work curve, which flattens out due to fatigue, work breaks set a subsequent recovery process in motion that lets the work curve rise again. Since the recovery value is greatest at the beginning of a break from work and decreases with the length of the break, it makes sense to take more frequent short breaks instead of taking a smaller number of longer breaks after longer work phases. In order to reduce fatigue after a workload , breaks only show a measurable recovery value after five minutes.

Demarcation

Under rest goes to § 5 para. 1 ArbZG the beginning after the end of the daily working time , the minimum uninterrupted eleven hours must be. Exceptions to this exist for certain service occupations . Work- related paid recovery times are stipulated where the type of work affects the human performance requirements very quickly and thus the quality of work can no longer be guaranteed. An increase in performance and lower psychological stress can be achieved by taking more frequent short breaks (compared to fewer, but longer breaks). A typical example is the inspection of parts for the smallest defects using a microscope.

International

Minimum work break times are either not prescribed by law ( Denmark , Canada , Sweden , USA ), are between ten and twenty minutes ( Belgium , France , Italy , United Kingdom ), are at least 30 minutes ( Ireland , Netherlands , Austria ) or at least 45 minutes ( Finland , Japan , Portugal ).

If the total daily working time in Austria is more than six hours, the working time must be interrupted by a break of at least half an hour in accordance with § 11 ÖAZG. In the interests of the employees or for operational reasons, instead of a half-hour break, two breaks of fifteen minutes each or three breaks of ten minutes each can be granted.

In Switzerland , Art. 15 ArG provides for breaks to be taken from a certain daily working time. The minimum duration of the breaks is 15 minutes for a daily working time of more than five and a half hours, 30 minutes for a daily working time of more than seven hours and one hour for a daily working time of more than nine hours. The breaks count as working time if the employees are not allowed to leave their place of work.

Web links

Wiktionary: Work break - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Work breaks. In : arbeitssicherheit.de
Work break in various contexts. In: thefreedictionary.com

Individual evidence

↑ Federal Labor Court (BAG), judgment of 23 September 1992, Az .: 4 AZR 562/91 = NZA 1993, 752

^ Karl H. Engel, breaks and relaxation , in: Fritz Neske / Markus Wiener (eds.), Management-Lexikon, Volume III, 1985, p. 1020 f.

↑ Otto Graf / Joseph Rutenfranz / E Ulrich, Arbeitszeit und Arbeitspausen , in: Arthur Mayer / Bernhard Herwig (eds.), Handbuch der Psychologie, Volume 9: Betriebspsychologie, 1970, p. 250

↑ Karl H. Engel, breaks and relaxation , in: Fritz Neske / Markus Wiener (ed.), Management-Lexikon, Volume III, 1985, p. 1021

↑ BAG, judgment of December 16, 2009, Az .: 5 AZR 157/09 = NZA 2010, 505

^ BAGE 58, 243 , 247

^ BAGE 58, 243

↑ Hessian Regional Social Court , judgment of June 14, 2019, Az .: L 9 U 208/17 = BB 2019, 1913

↑ BAG, judgment of April 16, 2014, Az .: 5 AZR 483/12 = NZA 2014, 1262

↑ BAG, judgment of February 25, 2015, Az.:5 AZR 886/12 = BAGE 151, 45

↑ Manfred Arnold / Christoph Tillmanns, Federal Holiday Act , 2014, p. 468

^ Association of German Pension Insurance Institutions Frankfurt (Ed.), Social-Medical Assessment for Statutory Pension Insurance , 2003, p. 52

↑ Harald Gündel / Jürgen Glaser / Peter Angerer, Working and staying healthy , 2014, p. 147