Breach of working hours: penalties for the employee and the company
Breaching working hours has two sides that many SMEs confuse. On one hand, there is the employee who habitually arrives late, is absent without justification or fails to keep to their schedule. On the other, there is the company itself that fails to keep proper time records and exposes itself to fines from the Labour Inspectorate (Inspección de Trabajo). Both situations carry specific legal consequences, and in this article we explain which penalties apply in each case, based on the legislation in force in 2026.
Penalties for breaching working hours
When we talk about penalties, we need to draw a clear distinction as to who is in breach. It is not the same for the employee to disregard their schedule as it is for the company to fail to document its workforce’s hours. Let’s look at each in turn.
Penalties for the employee
The employer has the power to penalise employees who breach their employment obligations, including the obligation to comply with the agreed schedule. This power is set out in article 58 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (the Spanish Workers’ Statute), which refers to the grading of offences and penalties established in the applicable collective bargaining agreement.
The most common penalties for breaches of working hours are:
- Verbal or written warning for minor offences (an isolated instance of lateness).
- Suspension from employment and pay for a set number of days for serious or repeated offences.
- Disciplinary dismissal in the most serious cases.
It is important to be clear that the company cannot apply any penalty it sees fit. Article 58.3 of the Estatuto itself expressly prohibits:
- Penalties consisting of the reduction of holiday entitlement or any other curtailment of the employee’s rights to rest.
- Fines against pay (multas de haber), that is, deducting money from the salary as a punishment.
Any penalty must be defined in the collective bargaining agreement, be proportionate to the offence committed and respect the limitation periods. In addition, for serious and very serious offences it is mandatory to notify the employee in writing, stating the date and the facts that gave rise to it.
Disciplinary dismissal
Disciplinary dismissal is the most severe penalty and is governed by article 54 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores. It applies only where there has been a “serious and culpable breach” of the employment contract. In terms of working hours, the most frequent grounds are:
- Repeated and unjustified absences from work.
- Persistent lack of punctuality, where it is continued and unjustified.
For a dismissal of this kind to be declared fair, the company must be able to substantiate the facts. And this is precisely where time records take on decisive value: without a reliable clocking-in system, it is very difficult to prove before a court that an employee had accumulated instances of lateness or absence. Time tracking software provides an objective record of every entry and exit, something that can make all the difference if the matter ends up in court.
Penalties for the company for failing to keep time records
Since the time-recording obligation came into force (Real Decreto-ley 8/2019), all companies are required to record their employees’ working hours daily, including the start and finish times. Failing to do so, or doing so incorrectly, is a punishable infringement.
The fines are governed by the LISOS (Ley sobre Infracciones y Sanciones en el Orden Social, the Spanish law on social order offences and penalties) and their amounts have been updated. In 2026 the amounts in force are:
| Grade of infringement | Amount |
|---|---|
| Minor | €70 – €750 |
| Serious | €751 – €7,500 |
| Very serious | €7,501 – €225,018 |
Failing to keep time records, or keeping them poorly, is considered a serious infringement, with fines starting at €751 and reaching up to €7,500. And it is worth bearing in mind an important nuance: the Labour Inspectorate interprets the penalty as applicable per affected employee, not just once per company. In a workforce of several employees, the figure can quickly spiral.
The most serious cases —tampering with records or obstructing the work of the inspectorate— are classified as very serious infringements, with fines that can exceed €225,000.
Against this risk, the cost of having a digital clocking-in tool is marginal. What’s more, if your workforce works remotely, remember that the Ley 10/2021 on remote working requires the same time recording for teleworking.
How do you keep time records and get employees to clock in?
The simplest and safest way to meet the legal obligation and, at the same time, have evidence of any breach on the employee’s part is to implement digital clocking-in software.
With a tool such as LapsoWork, your employees clock in from their mobile, computer or a tablet at reception, and each record is stored with its time stamp. This allows you to:
- Comply with the time-recording legislation without paperwork or spreadsheets.
- Detect instances of lateness and absence objectively, with data that serves as evidence.
- Manage holidays, leave and shifts on the same platform.
- Retain the records for the four years the law requires.
A good clocking-in system does not just protect you against the Labour Inspectorate: it also gives you the peace of mind of always having your team’s actual working hours documented. If you want to see how it works, you can request a no-obligation demo and find out how easy it is to get it up and running in your company.