Pau Coderch
In this article+
In 30 seconds
- 01Since 12 May 2019 every restaurant records the real start and finish time of each employee, every day.
- 02The record is kept for four years, and not keeping it is a serious offence under article 7.5 of the LISOS (Spain’s law on labour offences and penalties), with a fine of €751 to €7,500 under article 40.1.b.
- 03The compulsory digital record that the Ministry of Labour is preparing had not been published in the BOE (Spain’s official state gazette) as of 19 September 2026. Today any reliable system is valid, and an app with an automatic timestamp is the easiest one to defend.
What RD-Ley 8/2019 is and why it affects your restaurant
Real Decreto-ley 8/2019, of 8 March, on urgent measures for social protection and against job insecurity in working hours, brought clocking in to every company.
Its article 10 added section 9 to article 34 of the Estatuto. It came out in the BOE on 12 March 2019 and the record applies from 12 May, under its sixth final provision.
Before that, you had to record overtime and part-time hours, but not the ordinary working day. For a restaurant one specific thing changes: the rota is no longer enough. You need the real time each person started and finished, every day, written down in a way that cannot be changed without leaving a trace.
The same real decreto-ley, in its article 11, added the working-time record to the serious offence in article 7.5 of the LISOS. Since then, not clocking in carries its own fine.
What the record has to contain
The law asks for little and asks for it precisely: "the specific start and finish time of each worker’s working day".
The minimum for each person and each day:
- Who: the worker’s name or identifier.
- Which day: the date of each day worked.
- Specific start time, the real one, not the one on the shift plan.
- Specific finish time, the real one.
- Overtime, if there is any, kept separate from ordinary hours.
- Advisable in hospitality: the start and finish of each part of a split shift.
Who has to clock in at a restaurant
Everyone with an employment contract: cooks, waiting staff, bar staff, cleaners, managers, your own delivery riders, part-timers, fijos discontinuos (permanent seasonal staff) and the student who works weekends. The type of contract and the number of hours make no difference.
Self-employed people do not clock in, because the rule covers employed work. But a "self-employed" person who works fixed shifts on your timetable and with your equipment is a falso autónomo (bogus self-employed), and that is a bigger problem than the record. The only real exceptions are senior management roles, which do not exist in a neighbourhood bar.
How the record is organised and documented
Article 34.9 says who decides the system: the collective agreement, a company agreement or, if there is neither, the employer after consulting the workers’ legal representatives. In a bar with no staff representative you decide, but the law asks for the record to be "organised and documented". That means having it in writing.
A sheet of one or two pages is enough. Have each person sign it when they join and keep it to hand in case the Inspección de Trabajo (Spain’s labour inspectorate) visits. The minimum it should cover:
- Which system is used and which devices people clock in from.
- When people clock in: at the start and end of the working day, and for each part of a split shift.
- Which breaks are recorded and which count as working time under your collective agreement.
- What to do if someone forgets to clock in, who corrects it and how the reason is noted.
- How each person can check their own record and how the data is kept for four years.
The key point
Since 12 May 2019 every restaurant records the real start and finish time of each employee, every day.
Overtime and part-time contracts
Overtime is recorded day by day, totalled for the pay period, and a copy is given to the worker with the payslip, under article 35.5 of the Estatuto.
Article 35.2 limits it to eighty hours a year, not counting hours compensated with rest within the following four months. A record that shows 44 hours on a 40-hour contract means you have to pay for them or compensate them.
Part-time is more delicate. Article 12.4.c bans overtime for part-timers, except to repair accidents or urgent damage (article 35.3), and requires you to record day by day, total each month and hand over a copy with the payslip. If there is no record, the contract is presumed to be full-time unless proven otherwise.
That presumption opens two fronts: the worker can claim wage differences for the last year, which is the time limit in article 59 of the Estatuto, and Social Security can assess contributions going back up to four years, under article 24 of its general law. The record protects you too: if someone claims hours they did not work, it is your evidence.
Keep it for four years and have it available
Records are kept for four years from each entry, available to workers, representatives and the Inspección.
The Inspección asks for the last few months during the visit and can require the full four years. Not being able to produce them is an offence in itself.
That is why the data has to be off the premises, backed up, and exportable in minutes by person and period.
Forgotten clock-outs, corrections and split shifts day to day
In hospitality the record does not fail through bad faith, it fails at one in the morning.
Someone closes the kitchen and leaves without clocking out, or the waiter on a split shift clocks in at midday and not in the evening. If there is no rule, the gap stays and that day shows up with no record.
A correction is legitimate if it leaves a trace: who makes it, when, what time they enter and why. Deleting and rewriting is not. Check for missed entries every night at closing or, at the latest, the next day, when everyone still remembers what time they left.
On a split shift, record each part: two clock-ins and two clock-outs. That way the record shows the real hours and not a twelve-hour day that nobody worked.
How Menuveo does it
In Menuveo each correction is added with its reason and the original entry is kept. The team clocks in from their phone or from a shared tablet, with clock-ins, clock-outs and breaks for each part of the shift.
The key point
The record is kept for four years, and not keeping it is a serious offence under article 7.5 of the LISOS (Spain’s law on labour offences and penalties), with a fine of €751 to €7,500 under article 40.1.b.
Penalties for not clocking in: what the LISOS says
Not keeping the record, keeping it incomplete or not being able to produce it is a serious offence under article 7.5 of the Ley sobre Infracciones y Sanciones en el Orden Social (LISOS). The amount is set by article 40.1.b: from €751 to €7,500, in three grades. These are the figures in force since 1 October 2021 under Ley 10/2021, and they remain so in the consolidated text of the BOE as of 19 September 2026.
The grade is decided using the criteria in article 39.2: negligence and intent, fraud or collusion, failure to act on earlier warnings from the Inspección, turnover, workers affected, harm caused and amount defrauded. Repeat offending is dealt with separately, in article 41, and allows the fine to be raised to as much as double without going above the maximum for serious offences.
On top of the fine comes whatever the record itself uncovers: overtime that was never paid or declared for contributions, part-timers working full-time hours. We cover this in the guide to fines for not clocking in.
Swipe to compare →
| Grade | Amount per offence | Situation it usually fits (indicative) |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | €751 to €1,500 | Occasional missed entries or errors, few people affected, no financial harm |
| Medium | €1,501 to €3,750 | Incomplete or unreliable record, several workers affected |
| Maximum | €3,751 to €7,500 | No record at all, hidden overtime, harm to workers or earlier warnings ignored |
The compulsory digital record: where it stands
The Ministry of Labour published on its public consultation portal the draft "Real Decreto por el que se desarrolla el texto refundido de la Ley del Estatuto de los Trabajadores en materia de registro de jornada" (a royal decree developing the Workers’ Statute on working-time records). The draft asks for digital means, for each person to clock in personally and directly, and for guarantees of authenticity and traceability.
As of 19 September 2026 that real decreto has not been published in the BOE, so it is not in force. What binds you today is article 34.9 as Real Decreto-ley 8/2019 left it, and paper is still legal if it is filled in at the real time.
If you are going to change system, choose a digital one now, with the system clock and traceable changes. It complies today and leaves you ready if the real decreto is approved; check the BOE when you read this.
What the Inspección de Trabajo asks for on a visit
The inspector can enter the restaurant during working hours without notice.
They tend to arrive during service, with the dining room full, because that is when they see the real workforce.
- The working-time record for the last few weeks or months and, if needed, for the four years.
- A staff list with each person’s contract and working hours.
- How the record is kept: the system, who manages it, what happens with missed entries.
- A cross-check of the record against payslips, rotas and Social Security contributions.
- Interviews with the employees present, without you in the room.
- A check of who is working at that moment against who is shown as clocked in.
How Menuveo does it
With Menuveo, each worker’s hours download as a PDF or Excel file, with the history of corrections, to show on the visit or send to your gestoría (the local firm that handles your payroll and paperwork).
The key point
The compulsory digital record that the Ministry of Labour is preparing had not been published in the BOE (Spain’s official state gazette) as of 19 September 2026. Today any reliable system is valid, and an app with an automatic timestamp is the easiest one to defend.
How to comply without the hassle: paper, Excel or an app
The law does not require a particular system.
It requires the one you use to be reliable and impossible to change without a trace.
How Menuveo does it
Menuveo’s clocking in is part of the Pro plan, alongside the digital menu and the rest of the system: each person clocks in from their own phone or from a shared tablet, and the records can be kept for the four years.
Swipe to compare →
| System | Complies with the law | What goes wrong in practice | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signed paper sheet | Yes, if it is filled in every day at the real time | It does not prove when it was written; it gets lost | Nobody, except as a one-week emergency |
| Shared Excel file | Yes, with the same minimums | Anyone can change a cell without a trace | A venue with one very disciplined person |
| Clocking-in app | Yes | You have to add the team and spend five minutes explaining it | Any restaurant with more than one employee |
Mistakes we see in restaurants and how to avoid them
None of them is bad faith.
All of them are costly if they coincide with a visit.
- Clocking the planned shift: the time has to come from the system.
- Missed entries with no procedure: a gap in the record is a day with no record.
- A record that does not match the payslip: 44 hours recorded and a 40-hour payslip with no overtime.
- Leaving out the weekend extras: they are staff and they clock in.
- Data only on the restaurant’s computer: one theft or breakdown and you lose four years.
- Not giving part-timers a monthly copy: article 12.4.c of the Estatuto requires it along with the payslip.
- Starting and giving up: three months of records followed by six blank ones show that you knew.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. It appears in the record and has to be shown separately from ordinary hours, with a summary for the pay period and a copy for the worker, under article 35.5 of the Estatuto.
It is valid if they fill it in every day at the real time and you keep it for four years. The problem is proving it: if the Inspección sees the same handwriting all week, it can treat it as an unreliable record.
Yes, with more consequences. Article 12.4.c requires you to record day by day, total each month and give a copy. With no record, the contract is presumed to be full-time.
No, because the rule covers employed work. But if they work fixed shifts on your timetable and with your equipment, the Inspección can treat them as bogus self-employed.
The duty to guarantee the record is yours, but you can require them to use the system like any other work instruction. Before it gets that far, explain that it protects them too.
Four years from each entry. Counting from today, you have to be able to show a record in 2030.
No. As of 19 September 2026 the real decreto that would require it has not been published in the BOE; today any reliable system that meets article 34.9 of the Estatuto is valid.
Yes. It records the start and end of the working day with the history of changes, warns when hours are exceeded, lets you keep the records for four years and exports the hours per worker as PDF or Excel.