Find out the sanction risk your company faces for non-compliance with working time recording regulations and with the Law 2/2023 whistleblowing channel.
Answer a few questions about your time record and your whistleblowing channel. At the end you'll see the violations detected and the amount you are exposed to.
Not every breach carries the same weight. These are the scenarios that generate the most fines, both in working time recording and under Law 2/2023.
€751 - €7,500
The most common offence: not recording the working day, recording it incompletely, or failing to keep records for four years. It is classed as a serious offence and the fine is imposed per workplace.
Art. 7.5 LISOS · Art. 34.9 Workers' Statute
€7,501 - €225,018
Rounding to whole hours, logging estimated times instead of actual ones, or systematically altering clock-ins stops being a formal error and becomes a very serious offence.
Art. 8.1 LISOS · Grading under art. 39 LISOS
€751 - €225,018
If the record shows more hours than agreed and those hours are neither paid nor compensated, the offence is serious; if repeated or fraudulent, very serious. It can also trigger a Social Security contribution assessment.
Arts. 7.5 and 8.1 LISOS
€53,766 in damages
Biometrics are only admissible where no viable alternative exists (app, QR, card, web) and the need is documented with a prior impact assessment. The High Court of Galicia, in ruling 144/2026, awarded €53,766 to a worker required to use facial recognition.
GDPR · LOPDGDD · High Court of Galicia 144/2026
Up to €7,500
Requiring answers to messages or calls outside recorded hours is punishable, even if that time is never clocked. Inspections in 2026 have already penalised habitual out-of-hours contact.
Art. 88 LOPDGDD · Art. 20 bis Workers' Statute
€600,001 - €1,000,000
Companies with 50 or more employees have been required to run an internal whistleblowing channel since December 2023. Not having one, or preventing it from working, is a very serious infringement: up to €1,000,000 for the company and up to €300,000 for the individuals responsible.
Law 2/2023, of 20 February · Directive (EU) 2019/1937
Article 40.1 of the LISOS splits each grade into three tranches. Which one applies depends on the circumstances of the case.
| Grade | Minimum | Medium | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | €70 - €150 | €151 - €370 | €371 - €750 |
| Serious | €751 - €1,500 | €1,501 - €3,750 | €3,751 - €7,500 |
| Very serious | €7,501 - €30,000 | €30,001 - €120,005 | €120,006 - €225,018 |
Amounts in force under article 40.1 of the LISOS. An isolated, non-systematic breach is usually classed as minor; no record at all, a defective record, or failure to keep records for four years are classed as serious.
The Labour Inspectorate doesn't pick the amount at random: article 39 of the LISOS sets the grading criteria.
Number of people affected
The more workers involved, the higher the tranche applied.
Systematic nature
A one-off slip doesn't weigh the same as a practice repeated over time.
Repeat offending
Having been penalised before for the same conduct aggravates the classification.
Harm caused
The financial and organisational damage suffered by the workforce is assessed.
Working time recording and the whistleblowing channel aren't recommendations: they are obligations with their own penalty regimes.
Most fines aren't the result of bad faith, but of systems that don't survive an inspection.
This is a very common question. What does change the picture is the new digital record: it will let the Labour Inspectorate consult records remotely, which sharply raises the odds that a breach gets detected. On top of that, a deficient record can be turned against the company in an overtime claim, since it weakens its evidential position.
To fix the root of the problem, take a look at our pages on time tracking, shift management, work schedules, absences, whistleblowing channel and document management.
The most common questions about penalties, amounts and inspections.
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