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Be on site in 20 minutes at the latest - this is part of everyday working life for fire fighters.
The city of Offenbach regularly requires one of its firefighters to be on call.
If there is an alarm, he has to make it to the city limits within the time, in full gear.
The time that the firefighter is only available on demand, however, can be arranged freely.
However, the city of Offenbach did not want to recognize waiting for a possible alarm as regular working hours - much to the displeasure of the firefighter, who complained against it.
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The European Court of Justice (ECJ) dealt with the case on Tuesday.
The European judges should clarify in a preliminary ruling for the Darmstadt Administrative Court when on-call duty is to be recognized as regular working hours.
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Some employees are likely to be annoyed about the decision.
It is true that on-call duty can in principle fully count as working time, as the ECJ made clear.
However, only under certain circumstances: Employers would only have to fully credit the time if the employee is "significantly impaired" in his leisure time activities.
Without restrictions, only those hours count as working hours in which he actually had to work.
“The decision is not a final defeat for the plaintiffs”, comments Philipp Byers, specialist lawyer for labor law at the Munich law firm “Watson Farley & Williams”.
The national courts must then decide again on the basis of individual cases whether the requirements for on-call duty impair the employee's leisure time too much.
"However, the ECJ gives employers significantly more flexibility," says Byers.
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The fact that the Luxembourg judges dealt with the fundamental question is due to a separation under labor law, which in practice does not always have to be observed.
"In its decision, the ECJ once again made the difference between on-call time and on-call duty clear," explains Byers.
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If employees have to be ready at a certain location, this is usually a standby time, which also counts as working time.
With on-call duty, however, employees can freely design the location and waiting time.
The crux of the matter: “The need to be ready at a certain location can also result from external circumstances,” says Byers.
If an employee has to be at the place of work within a certain period of time, this could ultimately limit his range of action considerably - even when on call.
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Until now, the following has often been the case: "If the time falls short of 30 minutes, that was a strong indication that it was on-call time in terms of working hours," says Byers.
However, the European judges no longer just stick to the time window in their assessment.
The European judges declared that relief should also be taken into account.
Everything about overtime
This could be a company car with flashing lights and corresponding special rights.
The firefighter from Offenbach was able to use an emergency vehicle, for example.
In addition, you have to see how often employees are actually called to action.
“Following the decision, in exceptional cases, even a shorter period of time does not have to be too short per se,” says Byers.
The verdict is by no means limited to firefighters.
There are on-call services in numerous professions, including nursing staff and technicians.
The Verdi union had hoped for more from the Luxembourg decision.
"Instead of finally creating clarity for the employees as to which on-call times specifically count as working time and which as rest time, the ECJ largely leaves this decision in the hands of the national courts," Verdi legal expert Daniel Stach told WELT.
The classification of standby time as rest time presupposes that employees have the opportunity to organize their time freely and to devote themselves to their own interests.
The ECJ dealt with another case
However, the ECJ does not take into account organizational difficulties in spending free time, such as a large distance between the place of residence and the place of work.
"In view of the vehemently advancing digitization of the world of work, it is regrettable that the ECJ has not made any clearer statements about the protection of employees' leisure time," says Stach.
In addition to the case of the fireman from Offenbach, the ECJ negotiated another case on Tuesday.
A Slovenian technician who was entrusted with ensuring the operation of television broadcasting systems in the mountains for several consecutive days had also sued.
In addition to his twelve hours of regular working hours, he had to be on call six hours a day.
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He should have been able to get back to the facilities within an hour.
However, because they were difficult to access, he was forced to stay in one of the employer's service quarters during his on-call duty - only without great leisure opportunities.
The Luxembourg judges did not specify how the hours of work or rest are to be paid.
Theoretically, a willingness that is to be regarded as working time can be paid less than the working time in which it was actually deployed.
Conversely, however, it is possible that readiness, which is to be regarded as a rest period, is remunerated.
National laws or collective agreements must regulate this.