Mandatory registration of working hours for all companies
Patrick Gordinne Perez2024-12-30T04:37:08+00:00From 2019, all companies must comply with the new regulations on time and attendance and time recording.
Mandatory time recording for all companies
The Royal Decree Law 8/2019 on urgent measures for social protection and the fight against precariousness in the working day, endorsed in the BOE-No. 61 of reference A-2019-3481, reforming four articles of the Workers’ Statute (articles 4, 12, 34 and 35), which makes it compulsory for all companies to monitor working hours, including full-time employees.
The Labour and Social Security Inspectorate has stated that all companies, irrespective of their professional sector or size, will be required to register their working hours.
They see the mandatory recording of working hours as a means of checking whether overtime is being worked and whether it is being compensated or paid to the worker.
It does not assess the medium in which this record must be kept, but it does state that it must include the specific start and end times of the working day and any interruptions in the working day and be a system that allows the data to be provided to an inspectorate at any time.
Pre-established work schedules will not be accepted as a means of recording working hours. The record must be “objective, reliable, daily and real”.
They will also be able to request the annual working day register, in order to assess whether the hours have been correctly compensated and to detect excesses of irregular working hours.
The register must include the specific start and end times of the working day.
Although it is not indicated in the text, the Inspectorate recommends that specific fields be included to record stoppages, so that the worker’s actual working day can be clearly seen.
Something important to bear in mind is that the system must be kept for 4 years and be immediately available for any inspection that may take place in the company, in order to avoid manipulation, i.e. it will not be possible to present out-of-date reports or timetables a posteriori.
However, we remind you that for part-time workers, their specific obligations to record the working day remain in force.
Example of a time record

The worker does not want to clock in
Company obligation
As you know, all companies, regardless of their size, are obliged to record the working hours of all their employees (except for some employees with a special employment relationship, such as senior management staff).
Failure to comply with this obligation is a serious offence, which the Labour Inspectorate can impose fines of between 751 and 7,500 euros.
Refusal of the worker to fill in the working day register
Despite the above, there are companies that have encountered workers who refuse to clock in and out. This is the case:
- If the company has notified the obligation to clock in (to comply with the law), the worker cannot refuse to do so. And if he does so, he may be sanctioned for not following the company’s orders, according to the provisions of the collective agreement (repetition could even lead to dismissal).
- However, the company cannot force employees to use their private mobile phone to clock in (e.g. via an app). According to the courts, it is abusive to force an employee to bring his or her private mobile phone with internet connection to perform work-related functions; this violates the note of outsider status that must exist in the employment relationship (the means of production belong to the employer and not to the employee).
Therefore, a worker’s refusal in this case would be justified and the company would not be able to sanction him (disobedience by a worker is justified if the employer commits an abuse of rights).
What to do if an employee does not want to clock in
If you want your employees to record their working day using a computer application, the company can only impose this obligation if the device (whether mobile phone or laptop) is owned by the employee.
Such a solution is interesting for companies with sales staff or employees who spend part of their working day away from the workplace.
Time recording and access control
The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has issued a guide of good practices for day registration and access control in your company.
See what they are and how you can implement them.
Avoid collecting personal data
Mandatory time recording
All companies must keep a record of their employees’ working hours (and some companies also use this record to control access to the workplace).
It is not specified what type of system companies should implement for time recording, but in recent years there has been a proliferation of systems involving the collection and processing of employees’ personal data (e.g. fingerprint or facial recognition recording).
Systems for time recording
Wherever possible, however, try to ensure that the recording obligation does not involve the collection, processing and storage of employees’ personal data.
For example, manual systems involving the use of swipe cards by employees or the use of software systems that facilitate clocking in from a computer are preferable.
However, if you wish to implement systems that involve the collection of personal data, be aware of the data protection obligations involved.
If you cannot avoid collecting personal data
What personal data you can collect in time recording
First of all, you should be clear about what kind of personal data you will collect for the purposes of time recording or access control and check whether such data are sensitive (i.e. whether they are special category data). ¡
In principle, the processing of special categories of personal data is prohibited, unless one of the exceptions provided for in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies.
Take measures
For example, the fingerprint (which is a method commonly used by companies to gain access to premises) is a biometric data and therefore its use would be prohibited as it is a special data.
However, your company can implement a system that requires the use of the fingerprint if you take additional measures:
- You must seek the employee’s explicit consent to the processing of this data.
- The employee may refuse, in which case the employer should provide an alternative (e.g. access by card or through a numerical code provided by the company).
- The employer should also verify that no more data is being collected than is really necessary and that the data collected is for a single purpose only, i.e. that it is not used for other purposes not related to the recording of working time or access control.
Not least
Make sure that the contract with the supplier of the time recording or access control system covers all issues related to the service.
This will usually involve the licence for the use of the programme (warranties, software maintenance, possible updates) and, in case the system involves the collection of personal data of employees (such as the use of fingerprints), it will also involve the implementation of additional clauses regulating the collection and processing of such data on behalf of your company.
If you wish to implement time recording and access control systems that involve the collection of personal data, please note the data protection obligations involved.