As of May 12, companies will be required to record, daily and mandatorily, the working-hours tracking of their employees. The measure adopted by the Government amends the Workers' Statute and requires companies to keep a daily record of their workers' schedules, including: the start and end time of their shifts, and also requires them to keep this attendance record for a minimum period of 4 years.
The measure arises to prevent unpaid overtime. In 2018 alone, "6.4 million overtime hours were worked in Spain. For 48% of the workers who worked overtime, it was neither paid nor declared to Social Security," the Government laments.
What does recording and tracking worked hours mean for companies?
On the employees' side, they are required to clock in within a set time frame, outside of which the company has no right to demand anything from the worker or to contact them. This record for each worker will be daily and must include the clock-in and clock-out times, as well as:
• The company's identity.
• The employee's identity.
• Thorough tracking of the working hours stipulated by contract.
• Specification of the regular and supplementary working hours performed, broken down by workday.
• Signature of the company's legal representative.
• The employee's signature.
On the employer's side, they will be required to report monthly on the hours worked, both regular and overtime—worked by each employee per workday—and must send a copy of the summaries of the daily employee time records to both their workers and the union representatives. In addition, they will have to keep this documentation for a minimum of 4 years as the law establishes.
For mobile workers
In the case of professions such as drivers, sales reps, and mobile teams, the fact of not having a specific workplace will subject them to certain workday-recording obligations that, quite predictably, involve the use of telematic services to ensure thorough tracking of working hours.
Serious penalties: fines of 6,250 euros
The employer's failure to record their employees' hours constitutes a very serious offense carrying a fine of 6,250 euros for the company, and these are not individualized.