What does the Labour Inspectorate check in time records?

“What does the Labour Inspectorate look at when it reviews the time record?” is the question every HR manager should ask before an inspection visit. The inspector is not satisfied with a sheet of paper existing: they look at six specific things, and a single failure is enough for an infringement report. Here is a point-by-point breakdown of what they review and how to have everything in order when they arrive.

Quick answer

What it reviews	What it expects to find
Existence	A daily record for the whole workforce, available at the visit
Content	Specific start and end time, not just the daily total
Reliability	Truthful, objective data that cannot be changed after the fact
Retention	Four years, available to staff, representatives and the Inspectorate
Consistency	That it matches payslips, schedules and declared overtime
Consultation	Workers’ representatives consulted on the system, where there are any

The legal basis the inspector applies

Since 12 May 2019 every company has been required to record daily working hours under article 34.9 of the Workers’ Statute. To make inspectors act consistently, the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate published Technical Criterion 101/2019, the internal guide they follow on every visit, which sets out what they check.

There is still no mandatory format. The record can be kept on paper, in a spreadsheet or with a digital system. The substantive requirements, however, are not optional, and that is where companies that believe they are compliant fall short.

1. That the record exists and is to hand

The first step is to confirm that there is a daily record and that it can be shown at the moment of the visit. An inspector can turn up unannounced, and “we have it, but it’s at the accountant’s” does not count: the record must be available for consultation at the workplace itself.

It must also cover the whole workforce. A typical mistake is to leave out part-time staff or people who work remotely, when these are precisely the groups where tracking hours matters most.

2. That it captures the specific schedule, not just the total

The record has to reflect the start time and the end time of each day’s work. Noting only “8 hours” does not comply: the law requires the specific schedule, because that is the only way to tell whether working-time limits were exceeded or rest periods were not respected.

Here the inspector cross-checks the record against the minimum rest between working days and the daily working-time limits. If the clock-in data shows people leaving at midnight and starting again at seven, there is a rest-period problem that the report will record even if the record itself is properly kept.

3. That it is reliable and unalterable

This is the point that leads to the most infringement reports. Technical Criterion 101/2019 requires the system to be reliable, truthful and objective, and to guarantee that the data is not altered after the fact. A spreadsheet that anyone rewrites on Friday to balance the week is the textbook example of what the Inspectorate will not accept.

A record that can be tampered with does not just expose the company to an administrative fine. In an overtime claim in court, if the worker argues it was filled in by hand or changed later, that record loses almost all its evidential value and the company is left without the proof that was meant to protect it.

4. That it is kept for four years and is accessible

The law requires records to be kept for four years. During that time they must be available to three parties: the workforce, their legal representatives and the Inspectorate. A system that only the administrator can see, or from which the history cannot be extracted, fails this requirement even if it records the day-to-day correctly.

5. That it matches the rest of the documentation

The record is not looked at in isolation. The inspector cross-checks it against payslips, shift rotas, the hours agreed in the contract and the overtime declared to Social Security. If needed, against the testimony of the workforce too.

It is this gap between what the record says and reality that ends up in an infringement report. A record showing a flat forty hours a week for the entire workforce, month after month, in a sector with peaks, raises more suspicion than it clears: it looks like it was filled in to tick the box.

6. That workers’ representatives were consulted on the system

A detail many companies overlook: Technical Criterion 101/2019 tasks the inspector with verifying that the way the record is organised and documented was negotiated with the workers’ legal representatives or put to them for consultation, where there are any. If there is a works council or staff delegates, the system is put to them before it is introduced.

What happens if something fails

Not keeping a record, or keeping one that is not reliable, is a serious offence: between €751 and €7,500 per workplace. You can see exactly how much the Inspectorate fines and how it sets the amount.

But the fine is rarely the biggest cost. 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. That puts far more at stake than an administrative penalty. Before the visit, review the time-recording mistakes that end up costing money.

How Cleverfy solves it

Cleverfy is time-tracking and working-time recording software for small businesses and the self-employed. It covers every point the Inspectorate looks at:

• Digital record with an unalterable trail, impossible to change without leaving a trace.
• Real start and end time of each working day, captured by the system.
• Automatic retention for the four years the law requires.
• Access for staff and their legal representation, another of the requirements checked during the visit.
• PDF and Excel export ready to hand to the inspector on the spot.
• Totals of regular and overtime hours that match the payslips.

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

With the new Royal Decree on time recording still going through the approval process, that record will also have to be digital and unalterable, so adapting now means getting ahead. If you are starting from scratch, our step-by-step guide to complying with time-recording rules gets you ready in an afternoon.

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Legal note: this article is for information only and does not constitute legal advice. Based on article 34.9 of the Workers’ Statute and Technical Criterion 101/2019 of the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate. The digital time-recording reform is still going through the approval process and has not yet been published in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

Sources:

• Workers’ Statute, Art. 34.9
• LISOS, Art. 7.5 (serious offences)