How much is the fine for not keeping time records?

“How much does Labour Inspection fine for not keeping a time record?” is one of the first questions a staff manager asks after realising the control is done by hand, or not done at all. The fine is between €751 and €7,500 per workplace, because the law treats it as a serious offence. The inspector sets the exact amount according to several criteria, and it could rise much higher if the regime of fines per affected worker that has been floated alongside the new digital time-tracking decree goes ahead.

Quick answer

Type of offence	Fine	When it applies
Minor	€70 – €750	Formal defects in the record
Serious (not keeping it)	€751 – €7,500	No record, or an unreliable one
Very serious	€7,501 – €225,018	Falsifying records or obstructing the Inspection

Not keeping a time record almost always falls in the serious band. The minor one is for formal failures and the very serious one requires deliberate conduct such as manipulating data.

Not keeping a record is a serious offence

The legal basis is article 7.5 of the LISOS, which classes as serious the breach of rules on working time, overtime and, since 2019, time records. Article 40.1.b sets the financial range at €751 to €7,500.

Within that band there are three degrees:

• Minimum degree: €751 to €1,500
• Medium degree: €1,501 to €3,750
• Maximum degree: €3,751 to €7,500

The Inspection has been able to fine for this since 12 May 2019, when article 34.9 of the Workers’ Statute came into force. Technical Criterion 101/2019 is the internal guide inspectors follow in these visits, and it helps to know exactly what they check when they show up.

How the inspector decides the exact amount

The €751 to €7,500 range is wide on purpose. Article 39 of the LISOS requires grading the penalty with concrete criteria:

1. Intent. A company that thought it was complying with a spreadsheet is not the same as deliberate concealment.
2. Number of workers affected. It counts, even if it does not multiply the fine today.
3. Harm caused. If there is unpaid overtime behind it, the inspector moves up a degree.
4. Repeat offending. A first time is not treated like the third report in two years.
5. Turnover. Economic capacity shapes the final amount.

In practice, a good-faith small business with no prior record usually stays at the minimum degree. The trouble appears when the missing record comes alongside an overtime claim, because that is where the inspector sees real harm and the penalty climbs.

The detail that can multiply the bill

Today the fine is imposed per offence and per workplace, not per employee. The LISOS only fines per affected person when it says so expressly, and in the time-record article it does not. For a company with a large workforce, that difference is worth thousands of euros.

That balance is under review. Drafts of the new digital time-tracking decree have contemplated a regime that counts offences per affected worker. If it goes ahead, a single breach would no longer be capped at €7,500 but would carry a fine for each unrecorded employee. It is the change that should worry a mid-sized company most, but it has not been approved and has no date, so today it is a possible scenario rather than a rule in force.

The fine is not the most expensive part

A minimum-degree fine hurts, but it is manageable for almost any company. The big damage comes with the lawsuit that usually follows.

When an employee claims overtime and the company has no reliable record, the burden of proof shifts and the courts accept the worker’s version. At that point we are no longer talking about €1,500, but about rulings for years of unpaid hours plus interest, which far exceed any administrative fine. Before the visit or the claim arrives, it is worth reviewing the recording mistakes that end up costing money.

How Cleverfy solves it

Cleverfy turns the time record into solid evidence that lets you face the Inspection, and a judge, with confidence. These are the features that make the difference:

• Digital record with an unalterable audit trail, impossible to change without leaving a trace.
• PDF and Excel export ready to hand to the inspector on the spot.
• Automatic retention for the four years the law requires.
• Alerts for incomplete working days so no clock-in is left half done.
• Totalling of ordinary and overtime hours with the detail a claim demands.
• Access for staff and employee representatives, another point the Inspection checks.

Try Cleverfy free for 14 days → · See plans from €1.20/user →

If you are still starting from scratch, our step-by-step guide to complying with the record gets you ready in an afternoon.

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Legal note: informative article, not legal advice. Based on the LISOS (arts. 7.5, 39 and 40) and article 34.9 of the Workers’ Statute. The digital time-tracking reform is in progress and may change amounts and the unit of calculation.

Sources:

• LISOS, Art. 7.5 (serious offences)
• LISOS, Art. 40 (amount of penalties)
• Workers’ Statute, Art. 34.9