Events outside of working hours

It is not uncommon for employers to ask their employees to attend events outside of normal working hours. These can be team events, but also business lunches or networking events. In this article you will find out whether there is actually an obligation to participate, what role the legal maximum working hours play and when employees are entitled to additional remuneration.

Obligation to attend events outside of working hours

Although employers are in principle authorized to give instructions to their employees, the right to direction remains limited. There is generally no general obligation to participate in events that take place outside of the employee’s working hours.

However, it should be noted that employment contracts and company agreements may contain contrary agreements. In addition, it must always be checked on a case-by-case basis whether an order to participate in an event that takes place outside normal working hours is legal.

Many employment contracts do not specify fixed working hours. It is often stated that the location of working hours depends on operational requirements and/or is determined by the employer.

This means that employers… The working hours of their employees can be modified under their management rights ¹. In this case, however, it should be noted that the legal maximum working hours must always be respected.

It would therefore be permissible to let employees miss work earlier in order to be able to call them back later for an obligatory event.

However, if the event takes place outside of normal working hours, participation will normally incur overtime.

In this case, however, the obligation to work overtime must be contractually agreed. In the absence of such an agreement, overtime cannot be ordered unilaterally. The hours specified in the employment contract are decisive for the daily and weekly working hours ².

If a company event is to take place after a normal working day, which would result in overtime, an agreement to this effect is necessary.

In the absence of such agreement, participation cannot be made compulsory.. Exceptions only arise if participation is absolutely necessary due to urgent operational matters – for example following a crisis meeting.

The individual case decides the participation obligations

However, there are situations in which individual employees may be required to participate in parties, even if there is no agreement to this effect.

Eventually The reason and the position of the employee decide whether the employer’s right of direction extends beyond the actual end of the working day.

For example, if there is a dinner with an important client supervised by a project manager, the latter may certainly be obliged to participate in the meeting.

However, the employer cannot simply require all employees in the project manager’s department to participate. What is crucial is the role that the employee must fulfill during the event. ³.

If, as an employee, you do not agree to be called to such an event by your manager, you must speak to your employer at an early stage.

Because regardless of whether you actually have an obligation to participate, you have Right to compensation for overtime spent.

Overtime possible when participating in corporate events

If a mandatory event takes place outside of the employee’s normal working hours, the time spent participating in it is generally overtime.

According to the contractual agreement, these overtime hours are be paid extra or compensated with time off. If there is no specific agreement on the method of remuneration for overtime, employees are entitled to remuneration for overtime.

When it comes to compensation for leave, two options must be distinguished:

1. Reduction of working time in advance

As described above, depending on the employment contract, employers are often able to determine the working hours of their employees as freely as possible. In this case, it would be possible to reduce work hours one or more days in advance to compensate for the time spent on the mandatory event.

This approach does not constitute compensation for free time in the classic sense of the term, because the employee does not work overtime which should be paid.

For example, if a two-hour evening is scheduled after work, another day’s work time could be reduced by two hours in advance.

It is important, as already mentioned, that the maximum legal working time of 10 hours per day ⁴ is not exceeded even on the day of the event.

2. Regular compensatory leave

With normal compensatory leave, the employee works overtime, which is then compensated by additional free time.

For example, if an eight-hour workday is followed by a mandatory two-hour evening, the employee earns two hours of overtime.

These two overtime hours may be reduced subsequently in agreement with the employer.

Does a business dinner count as work time?

Many employers believe that an invitation to dinner cannot under any circumstances be counted as part of the employee’s working time. Even if the meeting takes place outside of actual working hours, the employee’s bill will still be covered.

And employers are not entirely wrong. In many cases, business dinners are actually counted as part of the employee’s free time.

The decisive factor is above all the character of the event and also whether there is a real obligation to participate. The same goes for a company party with partners or customers.

If it is an informal meeting which is primarily used to maintain interpersonal relationships, the event can certainly be considered as the employee’s free time.

However, it is up to the employee as part of the event to make new contacts or market your own businessthe official character generally predominates.

Employees who are regularly confronted with such situations are therefore advised to discuss them with their superior or employer. In most cases, a mutually acceptable agreement can be reached.