The working day or working time refers to the number of hours that the employee dedicates to their work tasks in a single day. It can also refer to the weekly, monthly, or annual computation of time worked.

It is necessary to differentiate the working day from the work schedule. It can be said that the working day is the number of hours that the employee provides their services, while the schedule establishes the start and end times.

Legal regulations distinguish between:

• Ordinary working hours

• Special working hours

• Overtime hours

• Complementary hours.

The working day must be agreed upon in collective bargaining agreements or employment contracts in each specific case, but it can never exceed an average of 40 hours of effective work per week on an annual basis. 

• Ordinary hours are those agreed upon between the employer and the employee through the employment contract, being specified therein. 

• Overtime hours are all those hours that the employee works after completing the established limit of ordinary hours. 

• Complementary hours are those hours of work that are performed in addition to the ordinary hours agreed upon in a part-time employment contract. 

There is a limit set at 80 overtime hours per year. However, this limit does not apply in cases of urgent need or to prevent extraordinary damages. 

As a general rule, working overtime is voluntary. Therefore, unless agreed upon between the employer and the employee or established by a collective bargaining agreement, it is not mandatory. It will be mandatory if it is for urgent tasks or to prevent damages.

Through an agreement between the company and workers' representatives, an irregular distribution of the workday is possible. If there is no specific agreement, the company may irregularly modify the workday with a limit set at 10% of the total annual working hours.

For underage workers, the workday cannot exceed 8 ordinary hours, taking into account training hours. If they hold multiple jobs, the sum of both workdays cannot exceed this figure.

Minors cannot perform night work under any circumstances.

There must be a minimum of 12 hours of rest between one workday and the next. We must also consider that if the continuous daily workday exceeds six hours, rest periods of at least 15 minutes must be established, which will only count as effective work time when so established by the collective bargaining agreement. We must also take into account that the weekly rest shall be a minimum of one and a half uninterrupted days, which can be accumulated.

Something little known by both employers and employees is that the WEEKLY rest period and the DAILY rest period are distinct and serve different purposes, and both rest periods must be enjoyed independently of each other, meaning they cannot overlap. Therefore, the 12 hours of minimum daily rest must begin to be counted once the workday has ended.

Let's look at an example. Our contract establishes a work schedule from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM from Monday to Saturday. Our collective bargaining agreement or contract states that we are entitled to 36 hours of weekly rest. When we finish our workday at 2:00 PM on Saturday, we must count the 12 hours of DAILY rest for that day, that is, until 2:00 AM on Sunday. From 2:00 AM on Sunday, we will count the 36 hours of our weekly rest. Therefore, by calculating the rest periods in this way, it turns out that we should return to work the following Tuesday, not Monday.

The company's failure to comply with this non-overlapping obligation can lead to a claim for compensation for damages caused to the workers for the unenjoyed rest periods.

Let us remember that the specific duration of the weekly and daily rest is established in the contract or the collective bargaining agreement.

A night shift is any work performed between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The employer must inform the labor authority if night work occurs.

Shift work occurs when the company has a succession of workers in the same jobs in a continuous production process. If it takes place over 24 hours, it must be noted that night shifts cannot be worked for more than two consecutive weeks unless it is on a voluntary basis.

Time recording applies to all employees in general, regardless of their category or professional group, to all sectors of activity, and to all companies, whatever their size or work organization. Thus, companies are also obliged to keep a daily record of the working hours of "mobile" workers, sales representatives, temporary workers, remote workers, or any other situations in which the work is not carried out, in whole or in part, at the company's work center.

For workers with a part-time contract, the workday must also be recorded, and the company must provide a copy of the record along with the monthly payslip.

No.

No. Regarding the working time of member workers, it is up to the internal rules of the cooperative itself to regulate the length of the workday, minimum weekly rest, holidays, and annual vacations, with no provision for the subsidiary application of labor legislation nor, therefore, the obligation to record working hours.

In situations such as remote work, teleworking, and flexible employee schedules, the daily recording of the workday must still be carried out.

The user company is obliged to keep the records, and since the ETT prepares the payroll, the user company must communicate the records to the ETT for the correct preparation of the payslips.

The contractor company that employs the worker is responsible for keeping the record.

In relation to workers deployed outside the usual work center, with or without an overnight stay, the effective work time must be recorded. 

We must bear in mind that the period of simply being available to the company should not be included in the record. 

Any system or medium, on paper or telematic support, will be valid if it is suitable for meeting the legal objective, that is, to provide reliable, unmodifiable, and non-manipulable information afterward, either by the employer or by the worker. For this, the workday information must be documented in some type of written or digital instrument, or mixed systems where appropriate, that guarantee the traceability and reliable and invariable tracking of the daily workday once it has been recorded.

Only in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement or accord does it fall to the employer to establish their own system, which, in any case, must be submitted for consultation with the legal representatives of the workers, if any.

Yes, for 4 years, and any means of conservation is valid as long as its preservation and the subsequent reliability and invariability of its content are guaranteed, whether it is a physical medium or any other that ensures identical guarantees.

Yes, they must be able to access it at any time.

If the record is kept on paper, it is advisable for the employee to sign the record daily, or at least for each employee to write down the start and end time of the workday in their own handwriting.

It is common for the labor inspectorate to consider a record invalid if it does not reflect the actual hour and minute of entry and exit, that is, those records that only note a seemingly perfect entry and exit time on a regular basis (for example, enters at 08:00 and leaves at 14:00), can be perceived by the inspectorate as a falsified and invalid record.

The daily record must be made by the worker; it is not valid for it to be recorded or noted by managers, supervisors, or similar personnel.

Keep in mind that if your workers exceed the ordinary workday at any time, whether daily or weekly, they will be working overtime, so the record must break down what corresponds to ordinary hours and what to overtime hours.

Due to the obligation to record working hours, it is particularly easy for the Labor Inspectorate to count the hours worked each day, week, or year to issue an infringement notice for undeclared overtime, if these exceed the maximum daily, weekly, or annual workday established by contract or collective bargaining agreement.

Part-time workers are prohibited from working overtime.

In the case of part-time workers, it is mandatory.

The workday will be recorded day by day and totaled monthly, providing a copy to the worker, along with the payslip, of the summary of all hours worked each month, both ordinary and complementary.

In the case of full-time workers, it is not mandatory to provide a copy, but they have the right to request one whenever they wish.

For the employment contract of a full-time worker, it has no effect.

For the employment contract of a part-time worker, the contract will be presumed to be full-time.

In terms of company liability, it may be sanctioned by the labor inspectorate.

For full-time workers, the record does not need to total the time worked monthly, unlike with part-time workers.

For full-time workers, it is not mandatory to give them a copy of the monthly record; for part-time workers, it is.

The way the company keeps the record for full-time workers can be agreed with the representatives, but the record for part-time workers is not negotiable and is legally established.

Part-time records must be totaled; full-time records do not.

Complementary hours are those hours agreed upon in writing between an employee and an employer to work more hours than were initially agreed upon in a part-time contract. 

There is no official template for agreeing to complementary hours; instead, it can be done through any type of written agreement that is normally

 attached to the employment contract. In any case, the collective bargaining agreement may establish a template. 

A. Complementary hours mutually agreed upon between the company and the employee

These can only be formalized for part-time contracts with a work schedule of no less than ten hours per week on an annual basis and may not exceed 30% of the ordinary working hours of the contract.

Collective bargaining agreements may set different percentages, with a minimum of 30% and a maximum of 60% of the contracted ordinary hours.

B. Hours offered to the employee by the employer

These are only foreseen for indefinite-term part-time contracts with a work schedule of no less than 10 hours per week on an annual basis.

In this case, the number of hours may not exceed 15% of the ordinary hours of the contract, which can be extended to 30% by collective bargaining agreement.

The employee's refusal to work these hours will not constitute sanctionable misconduct.

In any case, and as a limit to complementary hours, the sum of ordinary and complementary hours may not exceed the hours of a full-time employee.

A. The employer may only require the performance of complementary hours when it has been expressly agreed upon with the employee.

B. The complementary hours agreement must state the number of complementary hours that the employer may require.

C. The distribution and manner of performing the agreed-upon complementary hours must adhere to what is established in the applicable collective bargaining agreement and in the complementary hours agreement. Unless otherwise established in the agreement, the employee must be informed of the day and time of the complementary hours with three days' notice.

D. The performance of complementary hours must, in all cases, respect the limits regarding working hours and rest periods:

• There must be a minimum of twelve hours between the end of one workday and the beginning of the next.

• When the duration of a continuous daily workday exceeds six hours, a rest period of no less than fifteen minutes must be established during it.

• The workday for night workers may not exceed an average of eight hours per day over a reference period of fifteen days. Night work is considered to be work performed between ten o'clock at night and six o'clock in the morning.

• Workers will be entitled to a minimum weekly rest period of one and a half uninterrupted days.

Complementary hours actually worked will be compensated as ordinary hours. 

For this purpose, the number and remuneration of the complementary hours worked must be recorded on the individual pay slip and in the Social Security contribution documents. 

The complementary hours agreement may be terminated by the employee's resignation, with fifteen days' notice, one year after its celebration, when the following circumstances exist:

• Caregiving responsibilities; care for children under eight years of age or disabled adults, as well as relatives up to the second degree.

• Training needs, in the manner determined by regulation, provided that a scheduling conflict is proven.

• Incompatibility with another part-time contract. 

In the event of the employee's refusal to perform the complementary hours because the rules provided for in the legislation and explained in this entry are not being met, despite having been agreed upon, it will not constitute sanctionable misconduct.

The essential differences are as follows:

Complementary Hours

• Contract: Exclusive to part-time contracts.

• Remuneration: Paid at the same rate as a standard working hour.

• Limit: A percentage of the agreed-upon working hours (generally 30%).

• Obligation: Mandatory if they have been agreed upon in writing.

Overtime Hours

• Contract: Exclusive to full-time contracts.

• Remuneration: Paid at a premium rate above a standard working hour or compensated with rest time.

• Limit: 80 hours per year.

• Obligation: Voluntary, unless otherwise agreed upon or in cases of force majeure.