Since the approval of the Royal Decree on March 8, 2019, the time control law has been in force for all companies. Despite its approval six years ago, the latest amendments to the time control law entail new developments and obligations for companies.
The aim of the time control law is the regularization of the hours worked by employees, thus ensuring that they do not work excessive overtime and that they are paid. To this end, until now there were different methods by which timekeeping could be carried out. However, with the new updates to the law, some of the methods will no longer be valid.
When the Royal Decree was passed, clocking in was possible by whatever method the company considered, for example, signing manually on sheets of paper was valid. In addition, signing in through excel spreadsheets, signing in with biometric systems, whether facial recognition or fingerprint scanners, were equally valid. We could also find the signing in through the web, mobile application or even by phone call, confirming attendance with a pin code.
After the arrival of the pandemic and with it the rise of teleworking, it became clear that manual timekeeping, on paper, was not going to be enough. The company must ensure that all employees can clock in, so work began on adapting the time and attendance law.
Changes for 2025
Maintaining the same objective of reducing fraud and labor exploitation, they added accessibility from anywhere and the right to digital disconnection. This is due to the fact that with remote work it is easier to access an employee at any time, thus regularizing the establishment of policies that prohibit contacting workers outside working hours.
These modifications were to come into effect as of January 1, 2025, but taking into account the adaptation period, it is expected to be mandatory by the end of the year or at the beginning of 2026.
The extension of the adaptation period is due to the fact that, with the presence of remote work and the obligation for time control to be carried out by all workers, with the exception of senior managers and cooperative members, digital means of time control will be necessary.
At this point, clocking-in methods such as paper sheets with the employee's signature or excel sheets, as well as biometric time and attendance, are no longer valid, as they either cannot be performed remotely or do not meet the new requirements.
The clocking must not only be accessible from anywhere, but must also guarantee inalterability, i.e. the employee must make the clocking, the person responsible must approve the hours, especially in the case of overtime, there must be the possibility of GPS positioning and, finally, it must be accessible at any time. Any employee, manager or inspector must be able to have immediate access to the clocking reports, which must be kept for 4 years.
Time Control Software
This is why the best option is to have a time and attendance system for clocking in, such as Odoo. With the Attendance application, it is possible to keep the time clocking from anywhere, thanks to the fact that Odoo is a system available in the cloud. By accessing from the browser or even from the mobile application, accessibility is guaranteed from any location to be able to carry out timekeeping.
In addition, the system is updated instantly, so if a live report of the last 4 years' clockings is required, it will be fully updated and with all the information available in a matter of seconds.
With the detail of overtime to be approved, the regulation of access rights and the activation of geolocation, Odoo meets all the requirements for time and attendance control that complies with the new regulations.
In addition, the full native integration of Odoo applications also allows to have a control of absences, in order to justify the hours that have not been clocked in if, for example, you have had a vacation day, personal business, sick leave, etc. It is possible to keep all the information available and centralized in the same software, which is highly useful for the company.
Apart from a clocking system, Odoo can also function as a human resources software thanks to all its applications and even, going one step further, as a complete ERP, integrating all the activity and information of the company in the same platform.
