Labor and Employment Newsletter - Special Edition: Working time monitoring and the right to disconnect - July 2022
España -
Spain
Working time record keeping, the right to disconnect and the regulating role of the law
Federico Durán López
A few years on from when they came into force, neither working time record keeping nor the right to disconnect have implementing regulations able to provide a response to increasingly complex employment relationships.
Working time monitoring. An overview of relevant legislation
- Companies have had to keep working time records since 2019
A few recent judgments on working time monitoring
- An agreement on working time record keeping which included a correction factor of 2 hours a day is valid
- Record keeping of actual time worked cannot be made subject to authorization by a superior
- National Appellate Court determines validity of working time record keeping linked to application used to contact users in contact center industry
- End of working day cannot be determined by employer by setting an estimated time
- Connection failures that stop employees working remotely during working hours are measured as actual working time
Right to disconnect. An overview of relevant legislation
- 2018 Data Protection Organic Law enshrined right to disconnect in labor and employment law
- Digital Rights Charter recognizes right to disconnect
- Remote Work Law regulates right to disconnect and monitoring of working hours of remote workers
- Portuguese law on remote work governs the right to disconnect in the country
- European Parliament issues resolution with recommendations to the Commission on the right to disconnect
A few recent judgments on the right to disconnect
- Not replying to an email during a vacation period is not cause for dismissal on disciplinary grounds
- The right to disconnect is not breached by using WhatsApp if it is a habitual communication medium in the employment relationship
- Online training outside working hours is working time and therefore does not breach right to disconnect
- National Appellate Court declares that limits on right to disconnect cannot be imposed unilaterally by the employer
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