Questions and answers
Working-time recording in Spain: questions and answers
Since 12 May 2019, every employer in Spain must keep a daily record of when each employee starts and finishes work (article 34.9 of the Workers' Statute). These are the answers small employers ask for most.
Checked against the law in force on 24 October 2026. This page explains the rules; it is not legal advice.
Do I have to record working time if I have only one employee?
Yes. The obligation applies to every employer from the first employee, whatever the size of the business and whatever the contract: full-time, part-time or temporary. Only a few special employment relationships, such as senior management, have their own rules.
What exactly must be recorded?
The specific time each employee's working day starts and finishes, every day. How the record is organised is set by the collective or company agreement, or by the employer after consulting the workers' representatives. The article does not require breaks to be recorded, but recording them is how you show that the time between start and finish was not all working time.
How long must I keep the records, and who can see them?
Four years. During that time they must be available to your employees, their legal representatives and the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate.
Can I keep the record on paper or in a spreadsheet?
Today the law does not require a format: paper, a spreadsheet or an app are all allowed, as long as the record is reliable, made each day, and cannot be changed afterwards without it showing. An inspector can question a record that looks filled in after the fact, or that anyone could edit without a trace.
What does a labour inspector ask for?
The daily start and finish of each employee over the period being checked, as a document they can keep, and sometimes on the spot at the workplace. Overtime, part-time hours and rest periods are checked against it.
What are the fines?
Not keeping the record, or keeping it wrongly, is a serious infringement (article 7.5 of the Law on Infringements and Sanctions in the Social Order, LISOS), fined from €751 to €7,500 (article 40.1.b).
Is a digital record now compulsory?
Not yet. The Government has prepared a royal decree that would make the record digital, but on 24 October 2026 it had not been approved or published in the BOE. The obligation in force is still article 34.9: a daily, reliable record, in any format. Recording digitally already, with every change visible, leaves less to change if the decree is approved.
Is Tiemio enough to comply?
Tiemio keeps each employee's daily start and finish, their breaks, and every correction with who asked, who approved and why; it keeps them for four years and produces the monthly timesheet an inspector asks for. You still decide how working time is organised, tell your employees how it is recorded, consult their representatives if you have them, and make sure everyone records their time each day.