Bernhard Sulzer (asker) Apr 13, 2012:

feedback Unfortunately, I did not get feedback from te client. I had solved this term as "accumulated overtime". I held on to "overtime" because that is what "Mehrarbeit" is mostly translated as.
Thank you everybody for your input.

Bernhard Sulzer (asker) Mar 15, 2012:

clarification I have asked the client for clarification of the terms. I will get back to you all. Thank you.

Bernhard Sulzer (asker) Mar 15, 2012:

@dkfmmuc "ledger" could work. Thank you.

Bernhard Sulzer (asker) Mar 15, 2012:

Thanks very much to all so far! It would be great if somebody could make an entry.
add. info: http://www.edlohn.de/portal/dokumentation/beschreibungen/bau...
Gutstunde - vorgearbeitete Zeit
Minusstunde - nachgearbeitete Zeit

Bernhard Sulzer (asker) Mar 15, 2012:

more info Mehrarbeit by itself is usually "overtime" (already worked).
Here somebody is discussing his/her overtime problem:
http://www.pflegeboard.de/37877-uberstundenstreichung-dienst...

gespeicherte Mehrarbeit:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_45b/helpdata/de/68/d42fe48435d11...
3. Zeitart 0040: Die geleistete Mehrarbeit wird durch Addition der Zeitarten 0041 (Mehrarbeit zur Kompensation), 0042 (Mehrarbeit zur Vergütung) und 0043 (Mehrarbeit Grundlohn/Freizeit) berechnet und in der Zeitart 0040 (geleistete Mehrarbeit) gespeichert.

The problem is the combination of the two words - Speicher and Mehrarbeit". "Verfügungszeit" alone could imply time the employee must be available or time that is available to the employee. I am looking for something that includes "overtime".
Regarding the difference with Gutstunden: very similar - extra hours worked and therefore "etwas gut haben" = to be owed some) w/ the goal to get time off later or work a shorter week - close I think to what JC suggested with "compensatory time" or, as I found in another KudoZ link, hours owed: http://www.proz.com/kudoz/german_to_english/human_resources/...

Johanna Timm, PhD Mar 15, 2012:

Verfügungszeit was an earlier Kudoz question:http://www.proz.com/kudoz/german_to_english/human_resources/...

Ioana Claudia Popa Mar 14, 2012:

How about overtime account?

dkfmmuc Mar 14, 2012:

@jccantrell: Great! And thanks for the corresponding terms. Then the ASKER has a lot of info :-)

jccantrell Mar 14, 2012:

At my company in the USA ... most employees are 'exempt' (that is, on straight salary regardless of the hours). There are times where the company realized that some people were working more than 40 hrs/week for long periods. So they introduced two other types of time to help alleviate this: overtime and compensatory time. Overtime is the hours worked in excess of 40 during one week. They are then paid with the paycheck for that pay period. Compensatory time is essentially overtime that the employee can then use as a sort of 'extra vacation' whenever desired. So, if I have 8 hours of compensatory time, it stays registered on my pay stub until I use it. If I move to another job, this time is then included in my last paycheck. This might be your "Speicher"

dkfmmuc Mar 14, 2012:

So the difference between Gutstunden and the Speicher Mehrarbeit has been diluted a bit. Therefore I would use ledger for overtime for the Speicher Mehrarbeit. But a native speaker may confirm.

And as always: Amendments, criticism and improvement suggestions welcome.

dkfmmuc Mar 14, 2012:

in German. Therefore this "Speicher Mehrarbeit" often avoids paying more in busy months and is a kind of buffer for off-peak times.
Don´t know the corresponding English term yet but you may get the idea.

dkfmmuc Mar 14, 2012:

Speicher Mehrarbeit vs. Gutstunden There are two different types of additional working hours to reflect peak and off-peak demand.
The "traditional" compensation only knew the number of working hours defined within the individual contract of the employee and the collective agreement with the union.

Let us assume the employee had a contract with 37 weekly hours and the company requests 40 hours. Then the employer had to ask the staff association at least 3 days before the work has to be done to agree to these over hours. These have been paid with the normal wage and a large surcharge. These over hours have been names as "Mehrarbeit" and have been paid separately.
When the so called flexibilisation came to the companies and the rights of the worker have been "enhanced" some agreements have been changed in negotiations between employers and the trade unions. In some cases the over hours are not paid with a higher extra rate.
They are just "stored" in a personal time account where the people can accumulat up to + XY hours and in case of off-peak can work less and get the same money and have a negative balance on that account. So the aim of this "Speicher Mehrarbeit" is the "atmende Fabrik" what would you call.