Note on the authoritative language version. This English translation is provided for information purposes only and is not legally binding. Only the German version of these General Terms and Conditions is legally authoritative. Contracts with the provider are concluded exclusively in German. In the event of any discrepancy or question of interpretation between the German and the English version, the German version shall prevail.
General Terms and Conditions
General Terms and Conditions for the Shiftdesk Software-as-a-Service offering. The offerings are addressed exclusively to entrepreneurs/businesses within the meaning of § 14 BGB.
§ 1 Scope of application and definitions
(1) These General Terms and Conditions (GTC) apply to all contracts between Valerie Koch, trading as “Shiftdesk” (hereinafter “the provider”), and the customer regarding the use of the Software-as-a-Service offering Shiftdesk.
(2) A customer within the meaning of these GTC is exclusively an entrepreneur/business (§ 14 BGB), a legal entity under public law, or a special fund under public law. Contracts with consumers (§ 13 BGB) are not concluded.
(3) Deviating, conflicting, or supplementary general terms and conditions of the customer become part of the contract only if and to the extent that the provider has expressly consented to their application in text form (§ 126b BGB).
(4) “Service” refers to the respective current version of the Shiftdesk platform together with the associated documentation, as described at shiftdesk.app.
(5) These GTC as well as the data processing agreement / DPA (Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag / AVV, Art. 28 GDPR; available at shiftdesk.app/avv) become part of the contract upon completion of registration in the version published at that time. Before completing registration, the customer is given the opportunity to review and save both documents. The person carrying out the registration warrants that they are authorized to represent the customer and that they act as an entrepreneur/business within the meaning of § 14 BGB.
§ 2 Subject matter of the service
(1) The provider makes the “Shiftdesk” service available to the customer for use via the internet. Shiftdesk supports the customer in particular with shift planning, working-time recording, absence management, reporting, and the preparation of payroll data.
(2) The specific scope of functionality is determined by the plan selected by the customer and by the service description applicable at the time the contract is concluded, available at shiftdesk.app.
(3) The provider reserves the right to further develop the service, to update it, and to change or replace individual functions, provided that this is reasonable for the customer and the contractually owed scope of services is not substantially restricted.
(4) Installation on the customer’s hardware (“on-premise”) is not owed.
§ 3 No legal, tax, payroll, or business advice
(1) The service supports the customer in structuring, recording, and evaluating matters of labor law, tax law, social security law, and business administration. Notices, warnings, and evaluations provided by the service (for example regarding the maximum daily working time under the ArbZG, rest periods, mini-job thresholds, payroll preparation, or DATEV exports) are for information purposes only.
(2) In particular, the service does not provide legal advice within the meaning of the German Legal Services Act (§ 2 RDG), nor tax advice within the meaning of the Tax Advisory Act (§§ 1 ff. StBerG), nor any wage and salary accounting, nor any business advice.
(3) The legal, tax, and entrepreneurial responsibility for all decisions that the customer makes on the basis of notices, warnings, or evaluations provided by the service lies exclusively with the customer. Where necessary, the customer must consult a qualified advisor (lawyer, tax advisor, payroll office).
(4) The notices, warnings, checks, and evaluations provided by the service serve to support the customer technically. They do not replace a legal, tax, social-security, or payroll-related review in the individual case. The customer remains responsible for reviewing and implementing labor-law, tax, social-security, and accounting-related obligations themselves. The liability of the provider is governed exclusively by § 10.
(5) DATEV and payroll export notice. DATEV and payroll exports serve exclusively for the technical preparation of the subsequent payroll accounting. The provider does not prepare any payroll accounting and assumes no review of the tax-related, social-security-related, or payroll-related correctness of the data entered by the customer. Exports must be checked for plausibility and completeness by the customer, the tax advisor, or the payroll office before being passed on or processed.
(6) Working-time-law review notices. Working-time-law review notices in the service (in particular regarding the ArbZG, MuSchG, and JArbSchG) are automated plausibility and warning notices based on the data entered by the customer. They do not replace a legal review of the individual case. The final decision regarding shift schedules, working times, exceptions, and labor-law measures lies exclusively with the customer.
(7) Plan-dependent compliance functions. Live notices regarding working-time-law limits (in particular regarding the maximum daily working time under § 3 ArbZG, the daily rest period under § 5 ArbZG, and the maximum weekly working time under § 3 in conjunction with § 7 ArbZG) as well as the compliance dashboard are paid additional functions available from the Pro plan onward. In the Basic plan, these notices and evaluations are not displayed. Their absence does not relieve the customer of their working-time-law obligations as an employer; responsibility for compliance with the ArbZG and the other working-time-law provisions lies exclusively with the customer in every plan (§ 22 ArbZG). The compliance functions are currently designated as a beta feature and are developed iteratively. They may contain errors or evaluate notices incompletely. The customer may not rely on these functions as the sole means of compliance assurance; the customer’s own manual or advisor-supported review remains required on the employer’s side.
§ 4 Conclusion of contract, trial period
(1) The presentation of the service and its plans at shiftdesk.app does not constitute a binding offer by the provider. By completing the registration process or by booking a paid plan, the customer submits an offer to conclude a contract. The provider accepts this offer by activating access or by express confirmation via email.
(2) Insofar as a free trial period (trial) is offered, it amounts to fourteen (14) calendar days from activation of the account and ends automatically without any need for termination. No fee is charged during the trial period. An extension of the trial period is excluded.
(3) If no valid payment method has been provided by the end of the trial period, the account is paused. In the paused status, the data stored in the account remains viewable and exportable (read-only mode); write actions, in particular the creation or modification of employee master data, shifts, working times, and absences, are temporarily blocked. The provider gives notice of this by means of a notice banner in the customer dashboard and by an email notification.
(4) If the account is not reactivated within thirty (30) days after the paused status takes effect by providing a payment method, the contract is automatically terminated by the provider with ordinary notice. The ordinary termination is confirmed to the customer by email.
(5) After a termination takes effect — whether by customer termination, automatic termination pursuant to paragraph 4, or extraordinary termination pursuant to § 5 — personal data and employee master data (in particular employees, working times, shifts, absences, personnel documents) are completely deleted after expiry of the export period pursuant to § 14 (Art. 17 GDPR). The export period of thirty (30) days simultaneously serves as a reactivation window: until deletion, the customer can arrange for reactivation by again providing a payment method. Excluded from deletion are exclusively data whose retention is subject to a statutory obligation of the provider itself — in particular invoicing and accounting records together with associated master-data references for the statutory retention period of eight (8) years (§ 257(4) HGB, § 147(3) AO, § 14b UStG) — as well as records documenting the handling of deletion requests; no use beyond these purposes takes place. Data that the customer is required to retain due to their own statutory obligations must be exported by the customer before expiry of the export period (§ 14(2)).
(6) After expiry of a trial period, a paid subscription is activated only if the customer actively confirms this by providing a payment method.
§ 5 Term, termination
(1) Unless otherwise agreed, the contract is concluded for an indefinite period. The minimum contract term and the notice period are determined by the selected plan.
(2) Plans booked on a monthly basis may be terminated by the customer with a notice period of one day to the end of the current billing month. Plans booked on an annual basis may be terminated with a notice period of one month to the end of the respective term. The provider may terminate the contract with ordinary notice with a notice period of three (3) months to the end of the respective billing period.
(3) The right to extraordinary termination for cause remains unaffected. Cause exists for the provider in particular if the customer is in default with the payment of the fee for two consecutive months.
(4) Terminations require text form (§ 126b BGB). A termination by email to support@shiftdesk.app as well as via the termination option provided in the application satisfies text form (§ 126b BGB).
§ 6 Prices, payment, default
(1) The prices published at the time the contract is concluded apply, plus statutory value-added tax. All prices are stated in euros.
(2) The remuneration falls due in advance at the beginning of the respective billing period (month or year).
(3) Unless otherwise agreed, payment is made by SEPA direct debit, credit card, or via the integrated payment service provider. The customer is obliged to ensure sufficient coverage.
(4) If the customer is in default with a payment, the provider is entitled to demand default interest at the statutory rate (§ 288(2) BGB) as well as a flat-rate amount of EUR 40 (§ 288(5) BGB). The provider is furthermore entitled to block access to the service if the customer is in default with a not insignificant amount and the provider has given notice of the blocking at least seven (7) days in advance in text form (§ 126b BGB). During the blocking, the customer’s data remains viewable in read access and retrievable via the export functions. The blocking is lifted without undue delay as soon as the outstanding claims have been settled.
(5) The provider is entitled to adjust the fees with a notice period of two months. Any such adjustment requires the consent of the customer pursuant to § 13 of these GTC. The customer has a special right of termination (Sonderkündigungsrecht) effective at the time the change takes effect.
(6) The customer may offset only against undisputed claims or claims established by a final and binding court decision, or exercise a right of retention only on the basis of such claims.
(7) Promotional and discount codes. Discount codes issued by the provider or its referral partners apply in accordance with the respective promotional terms (in particular the discount amount, duration, and scope) as displayed during the order process before the contract is concluded. Unless otherwise stipulated in the promotional terms, only a single redemption of a discount code is possible per customer; a combination of several codes, a cash payout, and a subsequent crediting against contracts already concluded are excluded. In the event of abusive use (in particular multiple registrations for repeated redemption), the provider may withdraw the granted discount and block the code.
§ 7 Rights of use and duties to cooperate
(1) For the duration of the contract, the provider grants the customer a non-exclusive, non-transferable, and non-sublicensable right to use the service within the scope of the agreed plan features.
(2) The customer ensures that
- a) the access credentials are treated confidentially and protected against unauthorized access,
- b) the data entered into Shiftdesk is correct in content and up to date,
- c) the labor-law and data-protection-law bases required for the processing of employee data (§ 26 BDSG) (in particular information obligations under Art. 13 GDPR, where applicable works agreements, consents) are established by the customer themselves,
- d) they carry out their own backup, independent of the service, of the data that is business-critical for them, insofar as this is necessary beyond the export functions provided by the provider.
(3) The provider’s obligation to back up data remains unaffected.
(4) The customer is liable for the actions of the users created or invited by them (including their employees) in the service as for their own actions. They ensure that no unlawful content is posted via the service — in particular via chat messages and document uploads — and inform the provider without undue delay if they become aware of a compromise of access credentials or of abusive use.
(5) The customer indemnifies the provider against all claims of third parties — including claims of data subjects and official sanctions — that are based on the customer or their users using the service contrary to these GTC, the data processing agreement, or applicable law, in particular without the required labor-law and data-protection-law bases (paragraph 2 lit. c). This does not apply insofar as the customer is not responsible for the infringement.
(6) The provider may temporarily block access to the service or to individual functions insofar as this is necessary to avert specific threats to the security or integrity of the service or to stop unlawful use. The blocking must be limited to the necessary extent and the necessary duration; the customer is informed without undue delay and, where possible, in advance.
§ 8 Availability
(1) The provider strives for an availability of the service of 99 % on annual average. Excluded from the availability calculation are planned and announced maintenance windows, outages due to force majeure, as well as disruptions whose cause lies outside the provider’s area of responsibility (in particular disruptions of the general internet or of the hardware and software used by the customer). The attribution of the infrastructure providers used by the provider to render the service under § 278 BGB remains unaffected.
(2) A service level in the sense of a guaranteed availability with contractual penalties or credits is not the subject of this contract unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing.
(3) Maintenance windows are — insofar as plannable — announced at least 24 hours in advance and, where possible, carried out outside the usual business hours.
(4) Force majeure. Neither party is liable for the non-performance of its obligations insofar and as long as this is due to force majeure (in particular natural disasters, war, epidemics, official orders, or large-scale outages of telecommunications networks or power supply). Payment obligations for services already rendered remain unaffected. If the event continues uninterrupted for longer than thirty (30) days, either party may terminate the contract extraordinarily.
§ 9 Warranty
(1) The provisions on lease agreements (Mietrecht, §§ 535 ff. BGB) apply to the contract, insofar as these GTC do not provide for deviating arrangements.
(2) The fault-independent liability for initial defects (§ 536a(1) BGB) is excluded. § 10 remains unaffected.
(3) Defects must be reported to the provider without undue delay after discovery, in text form (§ 126b BGB), describing the symptoms.
§ 10 Liability
(1) The provider is liable without limitation
- a) in cases of intent and gross negligence (Vorsatz und grobe Fahrlässigkeit),
- b) for injury to life, body, or health,
- c) under the provisions of the Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz / ProdHaftG), as well as
- d) to the extent of a guarantee assumed by the provider.
(2) In the event of slightly negligent breach of a material contractual obligation (Kardinalpflicht / wesentliche Vertragspflicht), the provider’s liability is limited in amount to the foreseeable damage typical for this type of contract at the time the contract was concluded. Material contractual obligations are those obligations whose fulfillment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose compliance the customer may regularly rely.
(3) In all other respects, the provider’s liability for slight negligence (leichte Fahrlässigkeit) is excluded.
(4) For the customer’s professional decisions on the basis of notices, warnings, exports, or evaluations provided by the service, the provider is liable only in accordance with the foregoing paragraphs. The customer remains responsible for the legal, tax, payroll-related, social-security-related, and work-organizational review in the individual case.
(5) The foregoing limitations of liability also apply in favor of the employees, representatives, and vicarious agents of the provider.
(6) The customer is obliged to take reasonable measures to avert and mitigate damage, in particular to ensure a regular backup of data that is independent of the service.
§ 11 Data protection and commissioned processing
(1) The provider processes personal data that the customer enters into the service or has generated (in particular employee data (§ 26 BDSG)) exclusively in accordance with instructions on behalf of the customer. In this respect, the customer is the controller (Verantwortlicher, Art. 4 no. 7 GDPR), and the provider is the processor (Auftragsverarbeiter, Art. 4 no. 8 GDPR, Art. 28 GDPR).
(2) The details of the commissioned processing are governed by the data processing agreement / DPA (Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag / AVV, Art. 28 GDPR), which forms part of this contract in the version available at shiftdesk.app/avv at the time the contract is concluded (Art. 28(9) GDPR — electronic format). A version amended later is validly incorporated only in accordance with these GTC or the amendment mechanisms regulated in the DPA.
(3) The processing of personal data for which the provider is itself the controller (Verantwortlicher, Art. 4 no. 7 GDPR) (e.g. the customer’s registration and invoicing data) is described in the privacy policy at shiftdesk.app/datenschutz.
§ 12 Confidentiality
(1) The parties undertake to treat confidentially all trade secrets of the other party (§ 2 no. 1 GeschGehG) that come to their knowledge in the course of performing this contract, to take appropriate protective measures, and to use them only for the purposes of this contract.
(2) The obligation continues to exist beyond the end of the contract for a period of three years.
(3) Excluded is information that is publicly known, that was already known to the receiving party before disclosure, or that must be disclosed on the basis of statutory provisions or an official or judicial order.
§ 13 Amendments to these GTC, prices, and services
(1) The provider may amend these GTC insofar as the amendment is necessary or reasonable for the customer due to changed statutory requirements, supreme-court case law, technical further development of the service, security requirements, changes to the subprocessors used, or other objective reasons.
(2) Amendments are communicated to the customer in text form (§ 126b BGB) at least two months before their planned entry into force. The notification contains the content of the amendment, the date of entry into force, and a reference to the consent requirement.
(3) Amendments become effective only if the customer expressly consents to them (express consent / ausdrückliche Zustimmung). Mere continued use does NOT constitute consent.
(4) If the customer does not consent, the contract is continued on the previous terms, insofar as this is technically, legally, and economically reasonable. If continuing on the previous terms is not reasonable for the provider, the provider may terminate the contract with ordinary notice effective at the time of the planned entry into force of the amendment.
(5) Price changes and material service changes are communicated separately. In the event of price changes and material service changes, the customer has a special right of termination (Sonderkündigungsrecht) effective at the time they take effect.
§ 14 Termination of contract, data export, data deletion
(1) Until the end of the contract term, the customer may download the data they have entered and generated via the export functions provided in the application.
(2) After the end of the contract, the provider makes available to the customer the option of a data export once more for a period of thirty (30) days. The customer is obliged to secure, within this period and via the provided export functions, data that they are required to retain due to their own statutory obligations (in particular working-time records under § 16(2) ArbZG, payroll documents under § 41(1) EStG, documents under § 28f SGB IV).
(3) After expiry of this period, the provider deletes the customer’s personal data in accordance with the requirements of the DPA. Excluded are exclusively data whose retention is subject to a statutory obligation of the provider itself (§ 4(5)). Upon the customer’s separate, documented instruction in text form (§ 126b BGB), the provider may retain data in restricted form for a limited time in accordance with the DPA.
(4) Anonymized and aggregated data that do not allow any inference about the customer or individual natural persons may be further used by the provider beyond the end of the contract to improve the service.
§ 15 Final provisions
(1) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
(2) The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising out of or in connection with this contract is Bielefeld, insofar as the customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law, or a special fund under public law, or has no general place of jurisdiction within Germany.
(3) Should individual provisions of these GTC be or become wholly or partially invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected. A severability-clause replacement takes place within the scope of what is legally permissible.
(4) Amendments and supplements to this contract require text form (§ 126b BGB). This also applies to any amendment of this text-form clause.
(5) The provider is entitled to engage subcontractors to render the contractually owed services. In the area of commissioned processing, the provisions of the DPA take precedence.
As of: 13. Juni 2026