Last week, a seemingly bizarre case shook the German media (and a bit the Czech media as well). Sunday is a day of rest in Germany and all shops are closed on this day, with a few exceptions. However, the fully automated Tegut chain of stores remained open on Sunday, which displeased local unions and church groups. The court sided with them and ruled that even robots could not work on Sundays.
Are you on holiday in Germany and woke up on Sunday morning thinking about a fresh croissant from Lidl? Then you’re out of luck and have to let the craving go. Because stores are closed on Sundays in Germany by law. This law has the lilting name of Ladenschlussgesetz, or literally “shop closure law”, and has been in place since 1956 at the federal level.
The purpose of this law is simple – Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, and shopping does not count as a restful activity, much less working in it. The other reason is that small businesses could not afford to pay their employees for weekend work (in Germany, it is compulsory to give employees an extra day off for weekend work).
Tip: Even in the Czech Republic, we are entitled to a special reward for weekend work. What kind? Find out in our article on the topic: Extra pay for working in the private sector.
There are exceptions, however, and on Sundays you can shop in some grocery and drug stores near major train or bus stations, at petrol stations or airports. The individual German states also have a limit for opening shops on Sundays. In Berlin, for example, shops can be open up to 12 Sundays a year. The Sunday lull does not apply to various farmers’ or flea markets.
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In connection with the Sunday closing of business, we must not forget that this Sunday quiet does not apply only to shops, but applies in general. You should therefore avoid noise and distractions. Leave the mowing, drilling or vacuuming until Monday. In some cities, this rule is established directly by city ordinance, and violating it could land you with a hefty fine.
But to get to the heart of the matter, last week the Hessian Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the store closing law also applies to stores without human employees that are run by robots. Specifically, the case concerned the German supermarket chain Tegut, which has a total of 40 fully automated stores on German territory. These, since they do not require daily work by employees, have remained open on Sundays until now.
However, the trade union Verdi, which organises trade and service workers, objected to this four years ago when the first automated shop was opened in Fulda. It pointed to the importance of Sunday rest for shop workers in the context of a possible domino effect for other retailers. The latter might get the impression that they needed to increase their competitiveness and extend their Sunday working hours. For them, however, this would already mean deploying human labour. These objections were then joined by a number of Christian groups who argued for the principle of Sunday rest.
Tip: What are unions and what are they for? Find out in our next article.
The court ruled that the Closed Shops Act applies to these shops regardless of whether human employees work there. It cited the 1 700-year-old Christian principle of Sunday as a day of rest. Germany has had this in its constitution since 1919. The owner of the chain, Thomas Stäb, commented that the decision was bizarre, as his stores were essentially large vending machines.
This court decision is only valid in Hesse. Therefore, automated stores remain open in other German states. Nevertheless, this is a significant impact for the chain. A large proportion of the stores are located in Hesse and Sunday sales accounted for around a third of total earnings.
The SPD and CDU parliamentary groups are planning to table a bill next month that would regulate the Sunday opening hours of fully automated shops. The bill was discussed with interested parties – representatives of trade unions, the church and municipalities were not absent. Currently, they are discussing how long the Sunday opening hours should be and whether the range of products offered by the shops should be limited.
Although the whole case may seem absurd at first glance, in reality it is not. Indeed, automated shops can also affect shops with human employees and thus disrupt the whole system of Sunday closing. On the other hand, many people point out that this system is unsustainable. Only time will tell how this will turn out.
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