Home
When Does Daylight Saving Time Start and End This Year?
According to the Ordinance on the Introduction of Central European Summer Time from 2002 (Summer Time Ordinance) of July 12, 2001, the clocks will be adjusted as follows:
- Start of Daylight Saving Time: On Sunday, March 30, 2025, at 2:00 AM, the clocks will be set forward by one hour from 2:00 AM to 3:00 AM.
- End of Daylight Saving Time: On Sunday, October 26, 2025, at 3:00 AM, the clocks will be set back by one hour from 3:00 AM to 2:00 AM.
What Are the Legal Implications for Employers and Employees?
If employees work during the night shift from Saturday to Sunday, employers must consider the following labor law consequences:
- When daylight saving time begins, one hour of work is lost. This is a case of impossibility that neither the employee nor the employer is responsible for.
Employees are neither obligated nor entitled to make up for the lost hour. Employers are not required to pay for the hour that was not worked.
Hourly-paid workers lose the right to payment for that hour, as no work was performed.
Employees with a fixed monthly salary are not affected by this change. - When daylight saving time ends, an additional hour is worked due to the clocks being set back.
This constitutes overtime, which must be compensated according to applicable wage agreements.
If a valid employment contract states that a certain number of overtime hours are included in the monthly salary, then the extra hour is covered.
If a collective bargaining agreement applies, the extra hour must either be paid as overtime or credited to a working time account.
If there is no contractual regulation, the extra hour is usually compensated according to § 612 of the German Civil Code (BGB). The Federal Labor Court (BAG ruling of February 22, 2012 – 5 AZR 765/10) has ruled that in most cases, employees can expect overtime to be paid.
Wasn't the daylight saving time Supposed to Be Abolished?
Technically, yes, but:
The European Union has not yet reached an agreement on whether and how the seasonal time change should be abolished - despite plans to end it by 2021.
The biggest challenge is that each EU country can decide whether to keep daylight saving time or standard time permanently. However, for the change to take effect, the majority of EU member states must agree on ending daylight saving time, which has not happened.
Concerns include: Insufficient research on the impact of abolishing daylight saving time. The risk of a patchwork of different time zones across Europe.
(Here you can find more information about it.)
In addition, the politicians have probably simply “slept through” the issue and it has more or less disappeared into oblivion again.
As a result, daylight saving time will likely continue for the foreseeable future.
Helpful Trick to Remember the Time Change
If you always forget whether to move the clock forward or backward, here's an easy trick:
Spring forward: In summer, you bring your outdoor furniture out → Move the clock forward.
Fall back: In winter, you bring your outdoor furniture back inside → Move the clock backward.
This way, you'll never be confused again!
