Article on the employers’ right and obligation to record working time

In its judgment in the so-called Deutsche Bank case, the Court of Justice of the European Union held that employers are under an obligation to monitor their own compliance with the provisions of the Working Time Directive on periods of rest and a limitation of the maximum weekly working time to 48 hours. In the article, Assistant Attorney Louis Wolf Kristensen discusses the potential importance of the Deutsche Bank case to Danish law and Danish employers, including the legal requirements which apply to the recording of working time.

The article examines whether the obligation to record working time is implied in existing Danish legislation to the effect that the obligation already applies to employers today. Next, it is examined how the Danish Parliament and the two sides of industry can implement the obligation to record working time in legislation and collective agreements if the obligation is not already applicable law.

It is relevant for employers to consider how they are allowed to apply the statutory obligation to record working time, the purpose of which is to monitor the employers’ own compliance with the rules on periods of rest and limitation of the maximum weekly working time, and whether the statutory recording of working time can be used to monitor the actual working time by virtue of managerial authority. In that context, the article describes the labour law and data protection law issues which arise in connection with the different types of recording of working time.

Finally, reference is made to a case pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning the issue as to whether the Working Time Directive only applies to the individual employment relationship, or if it applies across all employees’ employment relationships. In terms of the obligation to record working time, the latter may imply that employers are also obliged to record the working time in employees’ other employment relationships.

Read the article (in Danish): "Arbejdsgiveres ret og pligt til arbejdstidskontrol - om EU-Domstolens dom i Deutsche Bank-sagen", U.2020B.313

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