The EU working-time recording obligation — and how to meet it.
Employers across the EU must systematically record their employees’ working time — not once new national laws arrive, but already today. This guide sums up what applies, who is affected, what must be recorded, and how to meet the obligation without paperwork.
Status: July 2026
What applies today?
The starting point is the European Court of Justice: in its “time clock” ruling (ECJ, 14 May 2019, C-55/18), it obliged member states to require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system measuring daily working time.
Germany’s Federal Labour Court answered the question of whether employers may wait for new legislation: no. Since the ruling of 13 September 2022 (1 ABR 22/21), German employers are already obliged to record start, end and duration of daily working time — derived from occupational-safety law, alongside the existing recording duties of the Working Time Act (overtime beyond 8 hours, Sunday/holiday work) and sector-specific minimum-wage rules.
Austria has required it for decades: § 26 of the Austrian Working Time Act (AZG) obliges employers to keep records of hours worked including rest breaks.
What must be recorded?
Court rulings and statutes add up to a clear catalogue:
Start, end and duration of daily working time — per employee, completely
Rest breaks (explicitly in Austria; in Germany they follow from start/end and statutory break rules)
Reliability: records must be objective and traceable — silent after-the-fact changes must not be possible
Retention: at least two years
Evidence: records must be producible when the authority asks
Who is affected?
In principle, every employer. The German ruling makes no exception by company size, and trust-based working hours do not remove the duty — they only mean employees may record their own times. The obligation applies unchanged when working from home.
The planned amendment to the German Working Time Act is set to spell the duty out: same-day recording of start, end and duration, electronically as the standard; relief and transition periods for businesses under ten employees are under discussion.
Important: as of July 2026 the German bill was still a draft. The recording obligation itself, however, already applies — through the 2022 Federal Labour Court ruling. Waiting for the law means waiting for details, not for the starting gun.
What happens if you don’t comply?
In Germany, violations of the recording and retention duties can draw fines of up to €30,000. Austria imposes administrative penalties under the AZG.
Just as relevant: the burden of proof. Without reliable records, employers stand on weak ground in overtime disputes — courts increasingly rely on whatever records exist.
Meeting the obligation with iXTime
iXTime supports you in fulfilling the recording obligation — each of the following is available today, in every plan:
Start, end & duration
Live timer or manual from–to entries — every working time documented with start, end and duration, on desktop and phone alike.
Breaks
One-click break capture (enabled per workspace). Without capture, the working-time report counts time between entries as break time.
Reliability
Every change is logged (who, when, old → new) and corrections are acknowledged by the affected member — nothing changes without a trace.
Close periods
Lock reviewed months for the whole team — admins included. Later corrections are deliberate and doubly logged.
Evidence on demand
The working-time report shows first start, last end, work and breaks per member and day — exportable as CSV, Excel or PDF.
Retention & GDPR
Data is retained for as long as your workspace exists — EU-hosted (Azure West Europe), GDPR-compliant, DPA included.
Does the obligation already apply — or only with new legislation?
It already applies. In Germany since the Federal Labour Court ruling of 13 September 2022; in Austria for decades via § 26 AZG. Upcoming German legislation will only specify how to record — notably the electronic form.
Are spreadsheets or paper timesheets enough?
They are not expressly banned today — but records must already be reliable and tamper-evident, which loose lists quickly fail. The German draft makes electronic recording the standard, with paper as the exception.
What about trust-based working hours?
They remain permitted — but recording still applies. Employees may record their own times; the employer stays responsible for providing a reliable system.
Does it apply to remote work?
Yes. The place of work does not matter — mobile and home-office hours must be recorded too, so the system should work everywhere, including on a phone.
How long must records be kept?
At least two years in Germany. In iXTime, time data is retained for as long as the workspace is active — which covers the period.
What does a violation cost?
Fines of up to €30,000 in Germany, administrative penalties in Austria — plus a weak evidentiary position in overtime disputes when records are missing.
Meet the recording obligation — without extra work for your team.
21 days free. No credit card. One price for the whole team.
This guide provides general information about the legal situation and is no substitute for legal advice in individual cases.
Sources: ECJ, judgment of 14 May 2019, C-55/18 · German Federal Labour Court, decision of 13 Sep 2022, 1 ABR 22/21 · German Working Time Act (ArbZG) §§ 3–5, 16, 22 · Austrian Working Time Act (AZG) § 26 · German draft amendment (status July 2026, not yet enacted).