Secure and mobile time tracking in compliance with labor laws: What the Federal Labour Court ruling means for businesses

Legally and mobile time tracking: What the BAG ruling means for businesses

Paper slips at the end of a shift, an Excel list in the office, or verbal calls between the shop floor and administration: In many operational businesses, working hours are still recorded orally, on paper, or not systematically at all. Since the Federal Labour Court (BAG) ruling of 13 September 2022 (Ref. 1 ABR 22/21), it is clear that employers are obligated to introduce a system for recording working hours. For businesses with many non-desk workers in production, trades, and catering, this raises a practical question: How can working hours be recorded where no one sits at a desk? This is exactly where our platform Kibi Connect bundles time tracking directly at the workplace — mobile on a smartphone, without a time clock, without paper slips, with traceable documentation. GDPR-compliant and hosted in Germany.

What has changed for businesses since the BAG ruling of 13 September 2022?

The Federal Labour Court has ruled that employers are obligated under § 3(2)(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG) to introduce a system for recording working hours.

The obligation applies regardless of industry or company size.

With its ruling of 13 September 2022 (Ref. 1 ABR 22/21), the BAG confirmed that this obligation already arises from the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The system must record when employees start and end work and how long they work. The ruling does not specify how the system should be designed — what matters is that working hours are recorded accurately and reliably. At the same time, the Working Hours Act (ArbZG) regulates maximum working hours and mandatory rest periods. Reliable recording is the basis for monitoring compliance with these requirements in everyday operations. For HR departments and management, this means finding a solution that reaches all employees — not just office staff. This article does not constitute legal advice; please coordinate the specific implementation with your legal counsel.

Why is mobile time tracking the practical solution for non-desk workers?

Employees who don’t work at a desk need to record their time where the work happens — on a smartphone, in the production hall, workshop, or kitchen.

A central time clock at the entrance does not reflect distributed work locations.

In production, trades, and communal catering, work is spread across halls, construction sites, vehicles, and kitchens. A fixed time clock at the factory gate doesn’t fit this reality: employees on site visits or moving between stations would have to make unnecessary trips just to record their hours. Paper slips, in turn, arrive late or not at all in the office, are difficult to read, and must be manually entered. Mobile time tracking addresses this directly: employees record start, end, and breaks directly at the workplace using their own or a shared device. We’ve designed our solution with industry-specific contexts in mind — from production, trades and service, to communal catering. This ensures that even employees who rarely or never sit at a PC are reached.

How do employees record their working hours directly at the workplace?

Employees clock in and out via the platform on their smartphones — start, breaks, and end times are recorded with timestamps.

No additional hardware or paper is required.

Instead of paper slips and time clocks, employees open the platform on their smartphone and record their hours in just a few steps. Start, breaks, and end of shift are logged with timestamps, and any corrections remain traceable. The recorded times are centrally consolidated, so the office no longer has to manually enter slips or compile lists. Since time tracking is part of the same platform as the calendar and tasks, working hours can be linked with shifts and assignments — eliminating the fragmentation of multiple isolated solutions. This is especially valuable during shift changes: our article on digital shift handover in production shows how smooth digital transitions work. Scattered individual entries become a coherent, up-to-date overview.

How is the recorded working time kept traceably documented?

All times are stored centrally with timestamps and traceable changes — accessible at any time by HR and management.

This documents who worked when and for how long.

The real value emerges after recording: the data must be analysable and traceable. On our platform, working hours are collected centrally rather than scattered across slips, chat messages, and Excel files. HR and management can view the current status per person and period without gathering data from multiple sources. This simplifies payroll processing as well as monitoring compliance with maximum working hours and rest periods under the ArbZG. Relevant statuses are visible via the dashboard, and since everything is on one platform, information remains reliably shared — from the workplace to the office. Documentation is thus complete and retrievable at any time for inquiries or audits, rather than scattered across folders and loose notes.

What measurable benefits does mobile time tracking offer?

Less manual effort, complete documentation, and a recording method that actually reaches everyone.

Businesses using mobile tracking report concrete improvements:

• Less manual effort: times are recorded once, not written on paper and later re-entered
• Complete documentation: start, breaks, and end times with timestamps centrally available for payroll and inquiries
• Compliance with recording obligations even for employees without PC access
• Fewer transfer errors due to the elimination of double entry
• Faster overview for HR and management of current time statuses
• Reliable basis for monitoring maximum working hours and rest periods under the ArbZG

How does Kibi Connect specifically support legally compliant time tracking?

Kibi Connect integrates mobile time tracking with communication, organisation, and documentation on a single platform — designed for operational teams without fixed PC workstations.

Recording becomes part of daily workflows, not an extra step.

On our platform, time tracking is not an isolated tool but integrated with other areas. Employees record their hours where they already organise team tasks, view schedules in the calendar, and receive updates. This eliminates additional logins and isolated solutions. Because the platform is designed to connect all employees — including those without PC access — time tracking truly reaches the entire workforce. Everything runs web-based on iOS, Android, and in the browser, GDPR-compliant with hosting in Germany (Hetzner), Made in Germany. For HR departments, this means a reliable, central overview — for employees, a simple step that fits seamlessly into shift routines.

Conclusion: The recording obligation can be practically implemented mobile

Since the BAG ruling of 13 September 2022, employers must record working hours — for businesses with many non-desk workers, mobile recording directly at the workplace is the practical solution.

Time clocks and paper slips don’t reflect distributed work locations in production, trades, and catering. A platform like Kibi Connect records working hours where the work happens, consolidates them centrally and traceably, and reaches even employees without PC access. This turns a legal obligation into a workflow that relieves — rather than burdens — daily operations.

See how time tracking works in Kibi Connect and compare our pricing.

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