Should the daily working hours of employees be recorded?

Do I have to go on recording the daily working hours of my employees?

These questions are the ones that our clients are raising after the Supreme Court’s ruling on 23 March 2017, establishing that companies are not required to keep a daily record of their worker’s hours.

Previous judgement:

This Judgement modifies the approach followed by the Inspectorate of Work and Social Security. That approach imposed an obligation on companies to record the working day through:

  • The National High Court ruling on 4 December 2015,
  • and by the respective Instruction 3/2016

that established the criteria of keeping the daily record of a worker’s hours mandatory; regardless of the type of working time and the effects of the infringement.

What now, based on Articles 12.4 and 35.5 of the Statute of Workers Rights?

It seems that, now, companies must keep a record:

  • of overtime hours worked by full-time workers
  • and the registration of the working day of part-time employees.

How will the Inspectorate of Work act from now onwards?

Consider the Judgement of 23/2017: 

Regarding the obligation to register the full-time workers’ hours, it is clear that the Register is NOT mandatory.

However, this Judgment that has had much a major repercussion on society and the media, has not been unanimously approved by the Supreme Magistrates Court.

On the other hand, we must consider that according to Article 1.6 of the Civil Code, it is necessary that the Supreme Court passes more than one judgement in the same sense for a sentence to be established as a doctrine.

Furthermore, to date, there is no evidence that Instruction 3/2016 has been set aside or modified in the terms of Judgment 3/2017.

Therefore, the Inspectorate of Work can continue to demand control of the workers’ hours.

Consequently, we recommend from Pérez Parras Economists & Layers Firm that companies will go on registering workers’ hours, mostly when they have invested a not negligible amount of money in employees’ registration time control systems. The latter, just means a benefit for the company that accredits the fulfilment of its legal obligations in Labour Law.

Hence, if you find yourself in this situation and want us to help you, do not hesitate to consult us and we will study your case and assist you.