Working time records in Europe: what employers must keep, and how GDPR applies
Since 2019, EU employers need an objective and accessible system for measuring daily working time. Here is what that means in practice, and how to do it without over-collecting data.
Short answer
Are employers in the EU required to record working time?
Yes. Following the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling of May 2019 (case C-55/18), employers must set up an objective, reliable and accessible system to measure the daily working time of each worker. Member States implement this differently, so the exact format and retention period depend on national law.
Key takeaways
- The 2019 CJEU ruling requires a system that is objective, reliable and accessible to the worker, not simply an internal spreadsheet.
- The Working Time Directive frames the limits records are meant to prove: average 48-hour weeks and minimum daily rest.
- Spain requires a daily working time registry kept for four years; other Member States set their own rules.
- GDPR applies to timesheets: collect only what the purpose requires, document retention, and let people see their own data.
What changed in 2019
In May 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in case C-55/18 that Member States must require employers to set up a system allowing the daily working time of each worker to be measured. The Court described it as objective, reliable and accessible.
The reasoning is practical: without a record, a worker cannot demonstrate that limits on working hours and rest periods were exceeded, which makes the rights granted by the Working Time Directive difficult to enforce.
What the records are meant to prove
The Working Time Directive sets the boundaries a record makes verifiable, notably an average working week that must not exceed 48 hours including overtime, and minimum daily and weekly rest periods.
This is why simple monthly totals are usually not enough. If the limit is expressed per day and per week, the record has to allow a daily and weekly reading, which is exactly what a timesheet with dated entries provides. See the full feature set that supports this.
- Daily working time per worker, not just a monthly total
- A form the worker can consult without asking permission
- A trace of corrections, so a modified entry is not indistinguishable from an original one
- Retention for the period required by your national law
National rules differ, so check yours
Implementation is national. Spain, for example, requires a daily record of working time for employees, to be kept available for four years. France has long-standing rules on recording hours for employees whose schedule is not collectively fixed, with obligations that vary by working time arrangement.
Before designing your process, confirm three points for each country you employ in: what has to be recorded, how long it must be kept, and who is entitled to consult it. This article is general information, not legal advice.
GDPR applies to timesheet data
A timesheet is personal data about an identified worker, so the usual principles apply. Purpose limitation means the data collected to comply with working time obligations should not quietly become an input to performance ranking.
Data minimisation is the principle most often ignored. Recording hours per project is proportionate; recording location, application usage or screenshots to infer the same hours is a different category of processing that needs a much stronger justification and is frequently challenged by supervisory authorities.
- State the purpose of the processing in writing and stick to it
- Collect the minimum needed: dated hours, project, optional note
- Give each worker access to their own records
- Define a retention period and delete beyond it
- Document who has access to what, by role
A process that satisfies both concerns
The compliant version and the version people accept are the same design. Ask for a daily declared entry, keep it fast enough to be done the same day, make each person's own history visible to them, and log corrections rather than overwriting silently.
Add exports on your side. Being able to produce a dated, per-worker record in a readable format is what turns a tool into evidence, whether the request comes from an inspection, an audit or a dispute over overtime.
Frequently asked questions
Is a spreadsheet enough to comply with working time record obligations?
It can be, but it is fragile. A spreadsheet has no audit trail, so a figure changed after the fact is indistinguishable from the original entry, and it is rarely accessible to the worker in the sense the case law describes.
How long must working time records be kept?
It depends on national law. Spain requires four years, for example, while other Member States set different periods depending on the document. Confirm the rule for each country where you employ people and apply the longest applicable period.
Can we use monitoring software to prove working time?
Technically yes, legally it is risky. Activity monitoring, screenshots or location tracking collect far more personal data than the obligation requires, which conflicts with data minimisation and is regularly sanctioned in the EU. Declarative recording achieves the same compliance goal with much less exposure.
Keep reading
The Simple Timesheet mobile app is here, on iOS and Android
Our biggest release yet: a free native app that lets your team log hours in ten seconds, from anywhere, with instant sync to the web app.
4 min read
How to track time in a small team without micromanaging
Time tracking gets rejected when it feels like surveillance. Here is how small teams introduce it as a planning tool instead, and get accurate data within two weeks.
6 min read
How to calculate billable hours and utilization rate
The two numbers every service business should know, with the formulas, a worked example and the mistakes that make them lie.
6 min readPut this into practice, for free
Simple Timesheet is free forever for up to 10 users. Create your team, add your projects, and log your first hours in three minutes.
No credit card required