Method

The subject's characteristic failure is false certainty. This page says how this site avoids reproducing it. For an example of how a commercial time-recording product presents the operational side, see further details.

Three categories, on every claim

Binding. A decision or provision in force. Always cited: C-55/18, 1 ABR 22/21, §3(2)(1) ArbSchG, §17 MiLoG. For additional background from a widely used external source, see German Federal Data Protection Commissioner.

Proposed. A draft that has not completed the legislative process. Named as a draft every time: ArbZG-E.

Asserted. A statement made by a source without a checkable basis — reported as somebody's claim rather than as a fact.

A claim in the first category always carries an identifier. If a page here says something is binding without one, that is an error and worth reporting.

Sources and how they are labelled

Primary documents — judgments, statutory text, ministry drafts. Preferred where available, and C-55/18 is officially published in English.

Legal secondary sources — law firms and legal publishers, used for status and scope.

Commercial sources — companies selling time recording systems, labelled as such every time, used for practical mechanics rather than for legal status.

Every page carries a check date

Because the position has moved several times and will move again. A page accurate at its stated date and superseded now is not an error; that is what the date is for.

A page that was wrong when published is an error and appears on corrections.

What is not claimed

When the reform will pass. Nobody knows.

What will happen to a specific employer who has not complied. Enforcement is uneven and the honest answer is a range.

That any individual is exempt. That is advice.

And six questions are genuinely open, listed rather than resolved.

Jurisdiction

Primarily Germany, because that is where the duty took its unusual route and where most published material concentrates. The European floor applies across member states and national implementations differ substantially — where a page describes Germany specifically, it says so.

No commercial relationships

External references are included for context and should not be read as endorsements or statements of affiliation.

No product is named anywhere on this site, positively or negatively. If any of that changes it will be stated here and on every affected page.