Recording and logging working time is now mandatory in every company. Although no final legal decision has yet been made, this has already been confirmed by the Federal Labor Court (BAG). This obligation applies to all employers and employees. This also includes mini-jobbers.
The obligation to keep records for mini-jobs
All companies are required to keep records of working hours. This also includes mini-jobs. According to the Minimum Wage Act (MiLoG), detailed time records must be kept by the employer for mini-jobbers. However, this law can be extended at least to the extent that employers leave the recording of working hours to the mini-jobbers themselves. However, the employer must check whether the time recording is correct. This is not only in his interest, but also important as proof of compliance with the minimum wage.
Basically, the same rules apply to the recording obligation for mini-jobs as for the recording of full-time working hours. The start and end of working hours must be recorded and thus the corresponding duration of work.
The recording must take place no later than 7 days after the day the service was performed. Digital time recording is a sensible procedure here. For example with the timeCard. This means that the recording takes place in real time. This means that the recording is completed immediately when the working time is recorded.
The records must be kept for at least 2 years. To be on the safe side, however, the retention period should be extended to four years, as the social security authorities could ask for the time sheets and may carry out an audit retroactively for four years.
There is a small difference to the recording obligations for full-time jobs in the case of mini-jobs: if the job is exclusively mobile, the start and end times do not have to be recorded. Then only the duration of work is sufficient. Mobile jobs are jobs in which employees are not tied to one place of work and can organize their own working hours. Examples of this are hybrid working and flexitime.
What regulations apply to mini-jobs?
A mini-job is subject to an earnings limit or a time limit. This is a marginal employment. This applies to both commercial and private or household-related mini-jobs.
The distinction between commercial and household-related work is important for insurance purposes. In the case of a mini-job in a private household, the employer’s contributions are lower and there are certain tax advantages.
Household-related activities are everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning or gardening and other household chores. However, it also includes looking after children or people and animals in need of care.
If the mini-jobbers in the household are close family members, the employer is not obliged to keep records.
There is also a certain distinction between short-term mini-jobs and mini-jobs on a 520-euro basis.
A short-term mini-job is employment that may not last longer than 3 months or 70 working days within a calendar year. The amount of the salary is irrelevant. It is purely a time limit.
The mini-job for 520.00 euros, on the other hand, draws the line at the salary. As the name suggests, this limit is 520.00 euros per month (until October 2022 it was 450.00 euros). How many hours a mini-jobber may work per month depends on the hourly wage. With a minimum wage of 12.00 euros, the maximum number of hours per month is 43.333. If the hourly wage is higher, the hours per month will be correspondingly fewer.
The minimum wage also applies to mini-jobbers. The hourly rate must therefore not be below the specified 12.00 euros.
Conclusion
The obligation to record working hours also applies to mini-jobs. There are only minor differences to the regulations for full-time jobs. The safe option is a digital time recording system. The timeCard is a simple system with which the working hours of mini-jobs can be easily recorded and documented.
