Proving overtime
In short
If you want overtime paid or balanced, in a dispute you have to show on which days you worked how long, and that your employer ordered, approved or tolerated the extra work. The duty to record working time has not changed that. What helps most is a time sheet you keep yourself every day: start, end, break and a short note on who wanted the extra work.
Legal state: 20 October 2026 · By Till Heidrich, Heidrich Digital · Not legal advice
Who has to prove what?
In Germany it stays the same: whoever sues for overtime carries the burden of proof. You have to show that you worked beyond your normal hours and that your employer caused it or is responsible for it. That is what the Federal Labour Court decided in 2022.
The 2019 judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU obliges employers to record working time. For paying overtime, however, the Federal Labour Court did not reverse the burden of proof. If your workplace has no system, your own record matters all the more.
Source: BAG, judgment of 4 May 2022, 5 AZR 359/21Source: CJEU, judgment of 14 May 2019, C-55/18Source: BAG, decision of 13 Sept 2022, 1 ABR 22/21
What belongs in your record
- Every day on its ownDate, start, end and breaks. Not just a weekly total.
- Written down at the timeThe same day, not weeks later from memory. Anything added later should be recognisable as such.
- Who wanted the extra workA short note: “Manager asked for stocktaking”, “colleague ill, covered late shift”. It shows your employer knew.
- Place and taskWith several jobs or sites: where and on what you worked.
- Traceable changesIf you correct something, it should show what was there before and when you changed it.
- Supporting evidenceEmails, messages, rotas or key logs that back up your times.
Deadlines you should know
- Exclusion periodsMany employment contracts and collective agreements require you to claim in writing within a short period, often three months. Check your contract.
- Limitation in GermanyWage claims become time-barred after three years, counted from the end of the year in which they arose.Source: §§ 195, 199 BGB
- AustriaPay claims become time-barred after three years. Collective agreements often have shorter periods.Source: § 1486 ABGB
- SwitzerlandWage claims from employment, including overtime pay, become time-barred after five years. Overtime is governed by Art. 321c CO.Source: Art. 128 no. 3 CO
This text explains the law in general and is not advice. In a dispute, a union, the Chamber of Labour (Austria) or an employment lawyer can help.
- Clock in with one tap, even from the lock screen. Every day with start, end and break.
- Times added later are marked, changes are kept in a log.
- A note on every block, with templates for sentences you need often.
- At the end of the month a PDF time sheet with a checksum to print or send.
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