How to track time and stay compliant in the EU

EU rules limit how long people may work and guarantee them breaks, rest and paid annual leave, and since a 2019 court ruling every employer in the EU has to record its employees’ working hours. This guide sets out what the European Working Time Directive requires, what the ruling added, and what a time recording system has to do to meet both.

European Working Time Directive (EWTD)#

The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) was originally passed in 1993 and updated in 2003 with the 2003/88/EC working time directive. Its purpose is to regulate labour and working time for employees.

The EWTD mandates minimum daily and weekly rest periods, and sets guidelines for breaks, night work, annual leave and the maximum number of weekly working hours. Each member state sets the details in its own law, and that law must meet the directive’s minimum standards.

The regulations in practice#

The directive was hard to enforce, because many employers simply did not keep track of their employees’ working hours. In 2019 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) concluded that without a time tracking system it is impossible to ensure that businesses comply with EWTD regulations. The ECJ ruled that all EU businesses must set up an objective, reliable and accessible time recording system.

That means every employer in the EU must track the time and attendance of their employees, meet the minimum standards defined in the EU directive, and comply with the national legislation implemented on the basis of it.

Minimum standards for working hours, rest and leave#

• A maximum of 48 hours of work per week, calculated as an average over a reference period of up to four months. Where a member state allows it, a worker can agree to work longer, but cannot be forced or pressed to.
• Workers must have at least 11 hours of uninterrupted rest between two working days.
• A minimum of 24 hours of weekly rest, which means at least one full day off per week.
• A rest break when the working day is longer than six hours. How long it is, and when it is taken, is set by collective agreements or national law.
• Workers are entitled to at least four weeks of paid annual leave a year.
• Additional protection for night workers, who must not work more than eight hours per night on average, and who must have regular health assessments and the possibility to transfer to day work if their health is affected by night work.

The European Commission has more on working conditions and the directive.

The challenges of implementing the EWTD#

Keeping track is hardest for people with irregular or flexible hours, and for those who work across countries or sectors. Meeting the limits can also mean changing how work is planned, shared out and staffed, and balancing what workers and employers each want from their hours.

The benefits of the EWTD#

Rested people have fewer accidents and fall ill less often from overwork, and limits on hours leave time for recovery and a life outside work. Across the EU, the directive also gives workers and employers the same minimum standards to work to.

Examples of working time violations#

• Unpaid working time. Not paying for time that is part of the job, such as putting on a required uniform, setting up the work area or attending a meeting.
• Unpaid overtime. Not paying for extra hours at the rate the contract or national law sets.
• Denied rest and leave. Not letting workers take the minimum rest periods and annual leave they are entitled to, such as 11 hours of daily rest, 24 hours of weekly rest and four weeks of paid annual leave a year.
• Excessive working hours. Forcing workers to work more than 48 hours per week, or to opt out of the limit without their consent.
• On-call time violation. Not counting the time workers spend on call, either at the workplace or at home, as working time, even if they are required to be available and ready to work at short notice.

These are common examples. If you are not certain your own arrangements stay on the right side of them, that is a question for an employment lawyer in the country concerned rather than for a software supplier.

Opting out of the 48-hour week#

Workers can opt out of the 48-hour week limit by signing an individual agreement with their employer, which must be voluntary and in writing. The agreement can be terminated by the worker at any time, with a notice period of up to three months. The employer must keep records of the workers who have opted out and the hours they have worked.

In some EU countries, such as France, Germany and Spain, opting out of the 48-hour limit is not allowed or is very restricted. In these countries, employers must keep to the 48-hour limit or face penalties.

How the UK version differs#

The UK version of the directive is the Working Time Regulations 1998, which follow it with some changes and exemptions. Some groups, such as the armed forces, the police and domestic staff in private households, are excluded from some or all of the rules.

How to comply with the EU time tracking law#

If your company is based in an EU member state, you must implement a system to track your employees’ work hours. That system has to record time accurately and generate detailed timesheets.

A time recording system usually covers some or all of these:

• Timekeeping. Record when work starts and stops, including breaks, by hand or automatically.
• Timesheets. Enter hours and what they were spent on, day by day or for the week.
• Reporting. See and export total hours, overtime and absence.
• Invoicing. Turn billable time and expenses into invoices.
• Scheduling. Plan shifts, assignments, deadlines and holidays.
• Approval. Send timesheets and requests to a manager to approve.

How to track time with M‑Files#

A time recording system built into M‑Files lets you:

• track how many working hours go to internal projects and how many to customer projects
• follow time per project against the budget plan
• produce the breakdowns of hours that payroll and client invoicing need
• run M‑Files reporting and analytics on the hours once they are recorded

In CtrlTime, people enter their hours in a calendar against any kind of record in M‑Files, and send each week’s timesheet to a manager or administrator for approval. It runs inside M‑Files, so they log hours in the program they already have open. See what CtrlTime does or book a demo.

Conclusions#

The Working Time Directive protects the health and safety of workers in the EU: it limits weekly hours and guarantees rest periods and paid annual leave. Since the 2019 ruling, meeting it means recording the hours your employees work, in a system that suits the way your organisation works and meets the national rules that apply to you.

If that system has to sit where your documents and projects already are, ask us to walk you through CtrlTime. We answer the same working day.