Taming the Tick-Tock: Regulating Time Management in the European Union

Time. A precious resource and a measure of productivity. Employers and employees have long danced around the delicate issue of tracking working hours. 

Before 2019, time-tracking in the European Union existed in a gray area devoid of compulsory regulations. The lack of a mandatory time-tracking system created a gaping compliance loophole that allowed employers to evade their legal obligations to their workers and deny them the compensation they were rightfully owed. 

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Essential time-tracking system 

2019 changed all of that as the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that every employer must have a mandatory time-tracking system in place after an issue arose between the Spanish trade union - Comisiones Obreras and the Spanish subsidiary of Deutsche Bank. 

The ECJ ruled that all European Union (EU) member states must provide a specific working time documentation system to record all employees' daily working time, thus ensuring an objective, simple, reliable, and accessible system enabling the work hour duration to be measured every day. No specific system to track time was stated in the ruling, and companies were free to implement any system they deemed fit for their organization. 

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A broader solution 

The time-tracking regulation is part of a broader regulation known as the European Working Time Directive (EWTD). This regulates employee working conditions and requirements such as paid leave and rest breaks. It also ensures the safety and health regulations held by the employees.  

Before introducing the time-tracking regulation, employers would easily find ways to surpass the EWTD regulations by not accounting for employee working hours. The 2019 regulation stops this violation of employees' rights by effectively accounting for time worked each day. 

The EWTD ensures that workers receive a compulsory rest break after six hours of work during working hours. It also highlights daily and weekly rest periods of 11 hours and 24 uninterrupted hours, respectively. For night workers, the EWTD states that "average working hours must not exceed eight hours in any 24 hours." 

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Time-tracking in other states 

Compulsory time-tracking regulations existed in multiple member states, such as Poland, Finland, Portugal, etc., before the ruling, and countries like Spain and Greece implemented them after the verdict. 

• Spain: Spain was the first country to implement the obligatory time-tracker rule post the ECJ ruling. Now, employers must track and preserve time records for at least four years, which must be available to employees, the government, and trade unions. Companies that don't adhere to these regulations face fines between 625-6250 euros. 

• United Kingdom: Legally, employees are obligated to work less than 48 hours a week; anything more must only be done at the employee's will, and they must agree to it in writing. Employers must keep records for a minimum of two years. 

• Germany: Employees in Germany work eight hours per day or 48 hours per week; anytime over these standard hours is considered overtime. Overtime is limited to two hours a day. The workday includes a 30-minute obligatory break, and employee contracts were signed for the remaining 7.5 hours. Employers can be fined up to 15,000 euros for not complying with these regulations. 

• Portugal: Under the collective agreement, working hours can be extended by up to 4 hours per day and up to 60 hours per week. Additionally, a work-time banking system allows for an increase of up to 200 hours per year, with a limit of 2 extra hours per day and 50 extra hours per week, or 150 hours per year for group time banking, as per the Labor Code, Law No. 7/2009, Sec 208 & 210. The employer must have a register of overtime work and also keep a record of working hours for five years. 

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A comprehensive solution 

In the ever-shifting landscape of EU regulations, where intricacies abound across member states, one thing remains clear: the need for an agile and flexible time-tracking solution.

Enter Neeyamo Time, a game-changer in efficient time entry management across various locations and employee types. Get ready for a highly configurable deploy-ready time solution with a pre-configured pay rule library with a reliable point of reference. 

It also provides country-specific real-time rules and supports multiple methods of capturing time, including punch, duration, exception, and positive. Additionally, it accommodates different devices for time capture, such as access cards, biometrics, face recognition, manual remote clock-in, and auto-populate. 

Your quest for an all-inclusive, productivity-enhancing platform ends here. Speak to an expert now by writing to irene.jones@neeyamo.com or reach out here for queries.