Global Compliance Desk – European Union
European Court Ruling on Recording of Working Time
The EU Working Time Directive stipulates that the average working time for a worker for a 7-day period must not exceed 48 hours including overtime and that an employee is entitled to a minimum 11 consecutive hours of rest in every 24-hour period. The Directive requires employers to set up a system for recording the actual number of hours worked each day for workers who have not expressly agreed to work overtime. Without a system for measuring the number of hours worked, there can be no guarantee that all the limits laid down by the Directive (in relation to maximum weekly working time, rest breaks, daily and weekly rest periods, etc.) will actually be observed or that workers will be able to exercise their rights.
Judgment in Case: C-55/18 Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) v Deutsche Bank SAE – Court of Justice of the European Union
This ruling stems from the case filed by the Services Federation of the CCOO confederation (FS-CCOO) in Spain against German multinational, Deutsche Bank. The union challenged the Bank over the need to record working time to ensure that overtime hours were properly noted. The Bank argued that Spanish law did not require it to record working time.
In its ruling the ECJ noted the right of every worker to a limit on working hours as detailed in the Working Time Directive and in order to ensure the effectiveness of the rights provided for in the Working Time Directive and the Charter, the 28 Member States must require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured. It is for the Member States to define the specific arrangements for implementing such a system, in particular, the form that it must take, having regard, as necessary, to the particular characteristics of each sector of activity concerned, or the specific characteristics of certain undertakings concerning, inter alia, their size.
