Time Tracking Compliance

UK Working Time Regulations (WTR)

The UK Working Time Regulations 1998 require employers to:

• Keep adequate records to show they’re complying with the 48-hour average maximum working week
• Give workers the right to opt out of the 48-hour limit (with written consent)
• Provide minimum rest entitlements (11 hours between shifts, one day off per week, 20-minute break in shifts over 6 hours)
• Provide 5.6 weeks paid annual leave for full-time workers

Record-keeping obligation: Employers must keep adequate records showing compliance for 2 years. “Adequate” is not defined precisely in the regulations — but a contemporaneous time record (timesheet or electronic log) is the defensible standard. Reconstructed records are less defensible in an employment tribunal.

Health and safety sectors: For some sectors (road transport, aviation, junior doctors), specific working time limits and record-keeping requirements are stricter than the general WTR.

EU Working Time Directive

The EU Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC) sets similar requirements across EU member states. In May 2019, the European Court of Justice ruled that employers must implement an “objective, reliable and accessible system” for recording daily working time for all workers.

The ECJ ruling is more explicit than UK guidance on the requirement for time recording systems. EU member states have been implementing this requirement at different speeds. For UK employers post-Brexit, the ECJ ruling doesn’t directly apply, but the underlying WTR obligations remain.

US FLSA requirements

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to:

• Keep accurate records of hours worked by non-exempt employees
• Maintain these records for 3 years
• Pay overtime (1.5x) for hours over 40/week for non-exempt employees

The FLSA does not specify the method of record-keeping — paper, electronic, or any other form is acceptable. The records must be accurate and available for inspection.

State requirements vary: California requires daily overtime records (after 8 hours in a day), which means time tracking must capture daily hours, not just weekly totals.

What “adequate” time tracking looks like for compliance

For most employers in the UK and US, a compliant time tracking system needs to:

1. Record start and end times (or total hours) per working day, per employee
2. Be contemporaneous — recorded at or near the time of work, not reconstructed weeks later
3. Be retained for the required period (2 years UK WTR, 3 years US FLSA)
4. Be available for inspection by relevant authorities

Toggl Track, Clockify, Harvest, and Hubstaff all meet these requirements when configured for daily time capture. Screenshot monitoring (Hubstaff) goes beyond what compliance requires for most employers — it’s a management choice, not a legal obligation.

GDPR and employee monitoring

For UK and EU employers using monitoring-capable tools (Hubstaff, Time Doctor), GDPR and UK GDPR require:

• Informing employees in writing before monitoring begins
• Limiting monitoring to what’s necessary for the stated purpose
• Not using monitoring data for purposes other than those disclosed

Screenshot monitoring without employee disclosure violates UK GDPR and is grounds for an employment tribunal claim. Disclose monitoring in writing (employment contract or monitoring policy) before enabling any surveillance features.