A few months ago, we commented on the Spanish case of Federacion de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) v Deutsche Bank SAE. The European Court of Justice was considering the question of whether businesses are required to keep an accurate record of the hours their employees work each day.  

‍
The European Court of Justice’s decision

Last time we reported on this case, a senior legal officer at the ECJ had published the opinion that in order to comply with the law, employers are obliged to keep records of the actual time worked by their employees. This opinion has now been confirmed by court itself.

So what?

As things stand, it would appear that we have potentially failed properly to implement into English law the provisions of the Working Time Directive; after all, the Working Time Regulations 1998 do not currently require employers routinely to keep records of the actual hours their employees work.  We will have to wait and see (i) whether the government feels obliged to amend the Working Time Regulations 1998 or (ii) whether tribunals and courts start to hold employers to a higher standard in this area in any event.

If you want to discuss your arrangements for recording your employees’ working time, please get in touch.