European Court of Justice’s ruling on the recording of working time

At a glance

• The European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that Spanish law, which exempts employers from establishing a system enabling the duration of the daily working time of each domestic worker to be measured, does not comply with the provisions of Directive 2003/88 (Working Time Directive).
• The national law prevents domestic workers from being able to objectively and reliably determine the number of hours worked and their distribution of overtime.
• The ECJ noted that Member States have a margin of discretion when ensuring the implementation of the rights laid down in the Working Time Directive. Within this discretion, Member States may set specific features of the required time recording.

On 19 December 2024, the ECJ dealt with a reference for a preliminary ruling submitted by the Spanish High Court of Justice on the recording of working time (Case C-531/23).

In the underlying proceedings, a Spanish domestic worker brought an action for payment of overtime and unpaid holiday leave. The Spanish courts found that the plaintiff had not provided sufficient evidence to prove the hours worked or the wages claimed, since Spanish law exempts certain employers, including those who employee staff in private households, from the obligation to keep records of working hours.

The ECJ ruled that Spanish legislation, which exempts employers from the obligation to set up a system for measuring the duration of each domestic worker's daily working time, does not comply with the provisions of the Working Time Directive. The national legislation deprives domestic workers of the possibility of objectively and reliably determining the number of hours worked and the distribution of overtime.

The ECJ noted that Member States have a margin of discretion when ensuring the implementation of the rights laid down in the Working Time Directive. Within this margin of discretion, Member States may lay down specific features of the required record keeping, either on the basis of the sector of activity concerned or on the basis of the specific characteristics of certain employers, in particular their size. The ECJ emphasised the need to ensure that this legislation provides effective means for workers to ensure compliance, in particular with regard to the maximum weekly working time.