Information Note on the new Instruction of the Labour Inspectorate 3/2016
Following the approval of Royal Decree 16/2013 of December 20 on Measures to Promote Stable Employment and Improve the Employability of Workers, the obligation for companies to register the working hours of part-time workers was established.
Until now, companies were only required to monitor and record working hours for part-time contracts. The situation was different for full-time contracts, where, in practice, monitoring was only required for overtime work.
However, following recent rulings by the National Court, the obligation to keep records has been extended to all employees. Therefore, companies must maintain comprehensive records for all their employees, regardless of their work schedule or whether they work overtime.
I. Content of the Obligation.
The National Court points out that:
• Companies are required to keep a daily record of the hours worked by each employee, including the specific entry and exit times.
· Companies must implement control systems to prepare and manage the record of working hours.
This whole situation has led the 2016 Control Plan of the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate to tighten controls and increase its actions in reviewing compliance with this obligation in order to prevent fraud in the performance of overtime.
The verification of the existence of the record must be possible at the workplace, to prevent its subsequent manipulation.
II.Recording systems.
There is no official model and no single method for carrying out the registration has been imposed, so it can be implemented in multiple ways:
· In manual records, the worker must sign the entry and exit time, stating data such as name and surname, specific work schedule, details of the working hours performed for each work day, daily signature of the worker and signature of the legal representative of the company.
Electronic or computerized records are becoming increasingly common, as they allow for secure monitoring of employees' actual working hours with a reduced risk of manipulation. They also offer the advantage of reliable data collection for verifying hours actually worked. These electronic or computerized records include, among others, attendance control systems, time clocks, cards, fingerprint scanners, and other electronic means for employee registration.
The records must be kept for the legally established period of four (4) years. In addition, due to the nature of the data, these systems must comply with data protection obligations.
III.Sanctions.
Regarding non-compliance with registration measures , the labor inspection could issue an infringement report considering the existence of a serious infringement of article 7.5 of the Law on Infringements and Sanctions in the Social Order, with fines ranging from €626 to €6,250, as well as settlement reports in those cases where the situation reveals instances of underpayment of social security contributions, without prejudice to other sanctions for infringements committed, where applicable, for exceeding the maximum limit of 80 annual overtime hours, performing undeclared overtime hours or not paying the correct remuneration for them.
Therefore, we recommend that if you are not yet compliant with the aforementioned regulations, you do so as soon as possible. We remain at your disposal to assist you with implementation and to provide you with further information, should you require it.
Meritxell Arnal
Labor Area
Àmbit Assesor
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A Àmbit Assessor, SL has 40 years dedicated to the tax, comptable and labor consultancy of the Pime.
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