A retailer in Germany which owns 40 fully automated mini-shops, has been forced to comply with a ruling by the highest administrative court in the state of Hesse that has said that Sonntagsruhe (Sunday, the legally protected rest day) must be observed even if no workers are involved, reports The Financial Times. The judges said regional supermarket chain Tegut’s small self-service store qualified as a “shop” under German law, and therefore must abide by legislation on opening hours.

“This is entirely grotesque,” Tegut management board member Thomas Stäb told the Financial Times. He said that the small robo-shops were “basically walk-in vending machines” that should not be affected by the ban. During the week, staff visit shops to service them for a few hours a day, but on Sundays no employee interaction is necessary, Stäb said.

The legal battle was triggered by Germany’s service sector union Verdi after the first automated store opened in Fulda four years ago. The union fundamentally opposes Sunday shopping, arguing that retail staff, who already have to contend with highly flexible working hours during the rest of the week, need Sunday as a guaranteed day off to spend time with family and friends.

Despite the ruling, more than a dozen of the supermarket chain’s automated shops stay open on Sundays in other German states such as Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, as the judgment only applies to Hesse. Even on Hessian territory, legal loopholes allow three shops that are near train stations to open on Sundays.