This is the government reform for workers to file

The Executive approves a decree with the regulations for the registration of working hours, which obliges companies to control and pay overtime

The decree on social protection and against job insecurity that the Government plans to approve this Friday includes the obligation on the part of companies to record the working hours of workers and keep that record for four years. This is a measure that the Executive already contemplated in the labor counter-reform that it was preparing and that the abrupt end of the legislature has prevented it from being carried out. In the explanatory memorandum of the draft decree, the implementation of the registry is justified as a measure to combat job insecurity. Labor flexibility, the text states, cannot lead to non-compliance with the regulations on maximum working hours and overtime.

The decree also echoes some statistics such as the Active Population Survey (EPA) for the fourth quarter of 2018, in which more than half of employees reported working more than 40 hours a week and many of those hired full-time partial they said that their actual working hours did not coincide with those declared. Furthermore, a 48% of people who work overtime declare not to be paid, which, according to the Executive, not only has the effect of making the worker's employment situation precarious, but also affects the coffers of Social Security, which does not receives the contributions corresponding to those hours worked.

These are the modifications that the Government introduces to force the registration of the day:

A new function

Firstly, the Executive adds to the powers it already has regarding the organization and duration of the day, that of establishing "specialties in the obligations of recording the day." To do this, it modifies article 34 of the Workers' Statute in its seventh section. This specifies that the Minister of Labor is in charge of setting these standards, "after consulting the most representative trade union and business organizations."

Check-in and check-out time

To the same article, a new section is added (the ninth) that determines how the registration of the day must be made. The first thing it points out is that "it must include the specific entry and exit time of each worker."

Collective negotiation

The decree specifies that the implementation of the registry will be done through collective bargaining with prior consultation with the workers' representatives. In the absence of these, the employer will be responsible for giving instructions to organize and document the record of each worker's day.

Available for four years

The employer will have the obligation to keep the records for four years. During this period, they are available to workers, unions, labor inspection and Social Security.

Serious offense

The text also modifies the Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order, which from now on will include the registration of working hours as one of the reasons that, in the event of transgression by the company, entails a serious penalty. These types of sanctions carry fines of between 626 and 6,250 euros for companies and are not individualized. That is, if the inspection finds that the rule has been breached, even if it affects many workers, it imposes a single fine.

Two months term

Finally, the decree states in its final provision that the rule for recording the day will apply two months after the publication of the text in the Official State Gazette, which will occur in the coming days.