EU Working Time Directive

The EU Working Time Directive provides a complex set of employment rules and regulations that govern the number of hours an employee can work and ultimately dictates the way all companies within the EU must operate.

All Tensor time and attendance systems come complete with sophisticated software to help your company meet the requirements of the EU Working Time Directive.

All companies are ultimately looking for an easy and accurate method of recording their employees’ hours and breaks for payroll, job costing and legislation purposes. Failure to comply with the EU Working Time Directive, or to provide up to 2 years of documentation and proof that workers have followed the legislation can result in Court Action.

History of the EU Working Time Directive

The EU Working Time Directive was first drafted in 1993 and was introduced to improve the living and employment conditions of workers within the EEC. The most commonly known clause within the Directive is that which is associated with the 48-hour working week and the opt-out associated with it.

The battle over this opt-out has split Europe down the centre between those countries who wish to keep it, and those who wish to abolish it. However, the battle seems to have come to an end with the opt-out likely to be removed by 2008.