Time and attendance control of employees

The registration of the working day, which entered into force on May 12, has sown chaos between freelancers and SMEs. So much so that the Ministry of Labor has developed a guide to clarify some of those doubts about employee time and attendance control.

The new legislation obliges everyone who has an employee or more to keep complete control of the hours they work, entirely affecting freelancers and SMEs.

We analyze the main doubts raised by companies, workers and unions and the solution provided by the Government.

1. The hourly record applies to all workers, regardless of the day they do, the sector and the company to which they belong.

All workers, regardless of their day, sector or company, must register their time of entry and exit, including mobile workers who make their day outside the workplace (carriers or commercial). However, the following exceptions are established:

– Senior management personnel who will not be required to register their workday.

– Personnel of intermediate managers who have agreed with the company to a regime of free disposition of the company will be obliged to register their workday, and the excess they make will be deemed compensated by their remuneration.

– Workers who have a specific regime, such as part-time workers who were already required to register their workday, merchant marine workers and those who perform cross-border interoperability services in rail transport.

– Self-employed workers and cooperative members.

– Workers who have recognized reconciliation measures and make changes in working hours to compensate for those days that are overworked; for those who have a shorter workday, it will be understood that their workday is monthly.

– Workers who perform teleworking will register their working day through telematic means.

2. The obligation to register the working day of the workers corresponds to the company.

The company must be the one that makes available to workers the means for them to register their workday. And in the case of temporary work companies, the user company must do it, and if it is subcontracting, the subcontractor company must do it.

3. The adequate working time is between the time of entry and exit of the worker.

Adequate working time is considered between entry and exit, recommending independently accounting for mandatory or voluntary breaks, so they are not regarded as good active time.

In the case of workers who work outside the work centre, they must register their effective work day without considering the time available to the company to be compensated with allowances.

4. The company will make available to workers the means to comply with the day’s registration.

The company, unilaterally or by agreement between the organization and the workers, will choose the time control system that is free as long as it guarantees the correct registration of the working day of the workers. It can be from systems in paper or telematic support such as computer applications, paper documents, cards, etc.

The company must make these daily records available to the workers, keep them for four years, and display them to the Labor Inspectorate in case of Inspection.

5. Overtime must be accounted for and paid to workers.

In addition to being obliged to register the daily work, companies must report the performance of overtime paid by giving the worker the corresponding receipt.

Companies that do not comply with these obligations could face two different types of sanctions:

– Slight penalty of between 60 and 625 euros when the company does not deliver the work records to the workers or inform them of it.

– Severe penalty of between 625 and 6,250 euros when irregular schedules are noticed or the employees’ overtime is not paid.

However, the Ministry of Labor has announced that those companies that do not have a system for registering workers ‘hours and that are subject to Inspection may not be sanctioned provided they demonstrate that they are negotiating with the workers’ representatives the implementation of a system that guarantees the control of schedules. For this, the Inspection will give them one or two months to implement that system. If you have a ny question, please use the form below.