Hospital employers must now demonstrate that a doctor's break from duty was justified, as per a recent ruling by the Federal Labour Court.
In a significant ruling, the German Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) has determined that automatically deducted break times for a physician's assistant cannot be considered as overtime. This decision, made in case number 5 AZR 51/24, clarifies that breaks, which are legally mandated non-working times, should not be treated as overtime just because they are automatically deducted from recorded working hours.
The case in question involves a physician's assistant who was employed at a clinic in Erfurt from 2017 to 2019. The claimant argues that she was unable to take breaks due to professional reasons, and she is seeking compensation for automatically deducted break times as overtime. However, the Federal Labor Court has upheld the distinction between actual working time and legally required rest breaks in the calculation of overtime compensation.
This ruling aligns with established German labor law principles and recent Federal Labor Court jurisprudence trends up to mid-2025. According to these standards, breaks are excluded from working time and thus not compensable as overtime. If official confirmation or the full judgment text is required, it is recommended to consult the Federal Labor Court’s official publications or legal databases covering ruling 5 AZR 51/24 directly.
It is important to note that this case is related to a collective bargaining agreement for doctors in municipal hospitals (TV-Ärzte/VKA). Ralf Schick, a contact person for this case, can be reached at 0711 66601 185 or via email at r.schick@your website.
The case took an interesting turn when the Federal Labor Court overturned a ruling of a regional labor court (LAG), which had dismissed the physician's assistant's lawsuit. The appeals court had demanded detailed evidence of the overtime and its cause from the claimant. However, the Federal Labor Court emphasized that the burden of proof required of the claimant had been too high.
Unfortunately, no information was provided about the outcome of the case after the Federal Labor Court's overturned ruling. As more information becomes available, it will be interesting to see how this ruling affects similar cases in the future.
