Mandatory Working Time Register: Implementation, Retention and Labour Inspectorate Defence

Implementation of the mandatory daily working time register required since RDL 8/2019: start and end of working day, 4-year retention, Inspectorate access and fines of €751 to €7,500 per worker.

Why the mandatory working time register is the first item Labour Inspectors verify in every employment audit

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Responsible team
RDRaquel Dominguez Pardo· Senior Associate - Legal DivisionCMCarlos Martinez Valero· Partner - Legal Division
Our approach

Our working time register implementation and Labour Inspectorate compliance process

01

Current system audit

We review the existing register system (if any), retention and access procedures, and compliance with EU Directive 2003/88/EC and RDL 8/2019. We identify gaps and classify them by sanction risk level.

02

Register system design

We design the register procedure adapted to the company: tool (digital, paper, biometric), register policy for in-office and remote workers, incident management and correction procedure for erroneous records.

03

Implementation and training

We coordinate the system rollout, train HR and managers on their obligations and system use, and prepare company-wide communication about the new procedure.

04

Inspectorate preparation

We prepare supporting documentation for a Labour Inspectorate visit: retention and access procedure, resolved gaps report and Inspectorate visit response protocol.

The challenge

Royal Decree-Law 8/2019 requires all companies, without exception by size or sector, to record the daily working hours of each worker including the exact start and end times. Records must be retained for four years and made available to the Labour Inspectorate at any time. Absence of a register or a deficient system that cannot demonstrate data reliability is a serious infraction with fines of between €751 and €7,500 per affected worker, and may additionally generate retrospective overtime claims.

Our solution

We audit the existing working time register, identify compliance gaps and design the procedure adapted to each company: timekeeping tool, register policy, retention and access procedure, and Inspectorate inspection response protocol.

Royal Decree-Law 8/2019 requires every employer in Spain, without exception by company size, sector or type, to record the daily working time of each employee, specifying the exact start and end times of the working day. Records must be retained for four years and made available to the worker, their representatives and the Labour Inspectorate at any time. The Court of Justice of the European Union had interpreted the Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC) as requiring this standard of objective, reliable and accessible timekeeping to give effect to the maximum working time rights guaranteed by EU law. Non-compliance is a serious infraction under the LISOS, with fines of between €751 and €7,500 per affected worker — a potential exposure of hundreds of thousands of euros for medium-sized companies.

What a compliant system must record and retain

The minimum record requirement is the exact start time and exact end time of each worker’s daily working day. Total hours alone is insufficient — the CJEU and Labour Inspectorate both require specific times. The system must be reliable (not manipulable without an audit trail), accessible to workers and exportable for Inspectorate review.

Any technical medium is accepted: paper registers with employee signature, digital timekeeping apps, biometric systems or custom IT solutions. The key is that the system is genuinely operated — records that exist in the system but do not reflect reality expose the company to both the timekeeping infraction and retrospective overtime claims.

Remote workers: specific requirements

For remote workers, the working time register obligation applies equally. RD 18/2025 reinforces this, confirming that the register must be accessible from any device and location. Systems that condition registration on physical office presence or use of corporate on-site equipment do not satisfy the requirement for remote workers.

This service is part of our employment law advisory practice.

Track record

The experience behind our work

The Labour Inspectorate visited us and requested working time records for the previous three years. Because BMC had helped us implement the system correctly, we were able to present all the documentation without any issue. Without that prior preparation, it would have been a very difficult situation.

Manufacturas del Sur, S.L.
Operations Director

Experienced team with local insight and international reach

Concrete deliverables

Working time register compliance auditRegister system designImplementation and employee communicationLabour Inspectorate preparation and response protocol

Working time register compliance audit

Review of the existing system, retention procedures and data reliability to identify compliance gaps and classify them by sanction and litigation risk.

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Register system design

Design of the register procedure adapted to the company's structure, including choice of tool, register policy for in-office and remote workers, and incident management procedures.

Request this service

Implementation and employee communication

Coordination of system rollout, training for HR and managers, and preparation of company-wide communication about the new procedure and its obligations.

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Labour Inspectorate preparation and response protocol

Preparation of supporting documentation for an Inspectorate visit, including the retention procedure, resolved gaps report and response protocol for inspection visits.

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Publications

Analysis and perspectives

Service Lead

Raquel Dominguez Pardo

Senior Associate - Legal Division

Master in Legal Practice, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Law Degree, Universitat de Barcelona
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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

The daily working time register has been mandatory since 12 May 2019, when Royal Decree-Law 8/2019 entered into force. The obligation applies to all companies without exception: there is no minimum workforce threshold, no sector exclusion and no distinction between public and private companies. All workers in an ordinary employment relationship must be subject to registration, including part-time workers (for whom registration was already mandatory before 2019), workers with flexible hours and remote workers. Senior management with company representation powers is the only group for which collective agreements may establish exceptions.
The register must record, as a minimum, the exact start time and the exact end time of each worker's daily working day. It is not sufficient to record the total number of hours worked without indicating the specific times. The Court of Justice of the European Union (judgment of 14 May 2019, Case C-55/18) imposed this requirement as a condition of effective enforcement of the right to maximum working time limits. Breaks within the working day (meal breaks, rest breaks) do not need to be mandatorily recorded as working time if the applicable collective agreement treats them as unpaid rest time, but the system must be consistent with the collective agreement.
Article 34.9 of the Workers' Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores), as amended by RDL 8/2019, requires retention of working time records for four years. This period is independent of the employment contract's duration: records for an employee who has left must still be retained for four years from the date of each record. The retention obligation extends to records for all employees, including part-time workers, and the company must ensure records are accessible to the worker, their representatives and the Labour Inspectorate at all times.
RDL 8/2019 and the Labour Inspectorate's doctrine accept any registration system that guarantees data reliability and integrity: paper-based registration with employee signature, digital timekeeping (card, PIN, mobile app), biometric system (fingerprint, facial recognition), or any other technological system. The key requirements are that the system does not allow subsequent manipulation of records without an audit trail, that workers have access to their own records, and that the company can export and present them to the Inspectorate in the required format. Systems that only record network presence or computer activity without an explicit start and end time do not satisfy the obligation.
The absence of a working time register or a system that does not meet legal requirements is classified as a serious infraction under Article 7.5 of the LISOS. Fines range from €751 to €7,500 per affected worker. If a company has 50 workers without a proper register, the maximum fine can reach €375,000. Additionally, the absence of registration creates a presumption that unrecorded overtime has been worked, which may give rise to individual workers' retrospective claims for additional hours alleged to have been worked. Courts have accepted that the reversal of the burden of proof prejudices the company when it cannot produce the records.
Royal Decree 18/2025, published in January 2025, introduces specific provisions on cross-border telework within the European Union and reinforces coordination between working time registration and the remote work agreements under Law 10/2021. For remote workers, RD 18/2025 confirms that working time registration is mandatory regardless of the location from which work is performed, and requires the registration system to be accessible to the worker from any device and location, without the company being able to condition registration on physical presence in the office or the use of corporate equipment installed at the workplace.
Yes. The company has both the right and the obligation to access working time records to verify their correct completion and to detect possible breaches of agreed hours or overtime working. However, real-time monitoring of worker activity (beyond recording start and end times) requires compliance with data protection obligations: informing workers of the processing carried out, applying the minimisation principle and respecting privacy in the workplace (Art. 87 LO 3/2018). Record access must be addressed in the working time register policy and communicated to workers.
The registration obligation lies with the company, not the worker. If the system is available but the worker does not use it, the company can and must take disciplinary action to ensure compliance, but administrative liability before the Labour Inspectorate rests with the employer. The company must demonstrate that it has a reliable system and has taken steps to ensure its use. Cases of workers who systematically fail to clock in or who modify records must be managed as breaches of the contractual duty to follow employer instructions, with the appropriate disciplinary procedure.
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