Unpaid overtime falls with time control

Overtime for salaried employees fell throughout 2019. This is exactly the period during which companies were obliged to record all the hours worked by their employees for inspection by the Inspectorate. The sources consulted agree that this measure has helped to reduce overtime, although they admit that other factors may also have played a role. But there is a big difference between the second half of the year (-9.3%) and the first (-11.6%): in the second half of the year, especially in the last three months, the fall was due to the significant drop in unpaid overtime. From July to December, unpaid working time above the agreed working day fell by 13.3% compared to the same half of 2018, according to the INE.

Well into May last year, one of the most controversial labour measures adopted by the Spanish government came into force: it obliged all companies to keep a record of their employees' working hours, a measure that was in force throughout the second half of the year. During that time, employees worked 4.75 million hours of unpaid overtime, some 725,000 fewer than in the same period of the previous year, according to the labour force survey (EPA).