Sunday surcharge: not a must, but clearly regulated

No. There is no statutory obligation to pay a Sunday supplement, in contrast to night work, which is stipulated as mandatory by law. Sunday bonuses are usually paid in

• collective agreements,
• Company agreements
• or in the individually negotiated employment contracts of the employees

and paid accordingly. Employers also often voluntarily pay Sunday bonuses, which can result in a company practice. Employers should therefore urgently discuss voluntary allowances with legal counsel.

The law stipulates that employees must have at least 15 Sundays a year off and that employers are obliged to offer their employees days off in lieu.

Traditional businesses and public authorities that cannot rest on Sundays or offer their services on this day are, for example

• Police, fire department and other emergency services,
• Hotel and gastronomy,
• Health and care facilities,
• Churches, sports clubs, political parties and similar clubs and associations,
• Cultural institutions such as museums, cinemas and theaters,
• Energy and water supply companies,
• Radio and television equipment,
• public service,
• Bakeries and confectioners,
• Security services,
• certain production sites
• and agriculture.

In some cases, Sunday bonuses make up a large part of employees' salaries.

Die Höhe von Sonntagszuschlägen variiert und wird in der Regel individuell vertraglich festgeschrieben. Anders sieht es bei Tarifbindung aus: In diesem Fall gelten die derzeit geltenden tariflichen Regeln. Beispielsweise im öffentlichen Dienst beträgt die Höhe des Sonntagszuschlags pro Stunde in verschiedenen Entgeltgruppen 25 Prozent. Jedoch sind auch andere Zuwendungshöhen möglich.

The Income Tax Act stipulates that Sunday bonuses remain tax-free up to a certain proportion of the basic wage. This is the case if the supplements do not exceed 50 percent of the basic wage. Therefore, Sunday bonuses are only paid tax-free up to EUR 25, subject to the 50% rule. It should be noted here that Sunday bonuses are only tax-free if they are paid for work actually performed. Monthly Sunday allowances are not tax-free.

For night bonuses, the wage tax-free portion is 25 percent, and for public holidays 125 percent of the basic wage. If work is carried out on so-called special public holidays such as Christmas (December 25/26) or May 1, the bonuses are exempt from wage tax up to 150% of the basic wage.

Normally, the employment or collective agreement or the works agreement can be used to determine when the Sunday and thus the working time that is additionally remunerated begins. According to the collective agreement for the public sector, a Sunday is defined as the period between midnight and midnight on a calendar Sunday.

However, there may be deviations at state level. In Hamburg, for example, Sunday work starts at the beginning of the first shift and ends 24 hours later. This means that the start and end of the additional working time may be postponed by a few hours, for example if the first shift does not usually start until 3 a.m. on a Sunday night. It is fundamentally important for companies to record and document the underlying working time correctly. This is required by law.

Sunday bonuses are not owed in addition to the minimum wage, unless there is another contractual agreement. The Minimum Wage Act does not make the entitlement to payment of the legally stipulated minimum wage dependent on time factors of the work or working circumstances. Sunday and public holiday bonuses are generally subject to the minimum wage, the judges of the Federal Labor Court ruled a few years ago (5 AZR 431/16). They are not owed in addition to the minimum wage.

Employees working part-time or on a 520 euro basis are generally entitled to a Sunday supplement if this has been contractually agreed or if other employees in the company are paid such a supplement. The reason for this is the principle of equal treatment laid down in labor law.