🔹 Introduction

 According to the Labor Code, the employer is obliged to keep a record of working time for each employee employed under a labor contract. This includes, among other things, vacation leaves, overtime, on-call duties, business trips, and other elements essential for the proper calculation of wages and benefits.
 

🔸 1. Legal basis

• Labor Code – art. 149
• Regulation of the Minister of Family and Social Policy of December 10, 2018 on employee documentation (Journal of Laws 2018, item 2369)
• Drivers' Working Time Act (for mobile employees)
• GDPR – rules for storing personal data

🔸 2. Record of working time – general principles

 📌 The employer keeps records separately for each employee, in the form of:

• paper (e.g., files, prints),
• electronic (e.g., HR system, Excel, eHR),
• maintaining chronology and data integrity.

The record should include:

• the number of hours worked,
• overtime hours,
• on-call duties,
• vacation leaves, parental leaves, special leaves,
• sick leaves,
• business trips,
• justified and unjustified absences.

🔸 3. How to keep a record of vacation leaves? 

✅ Employer's obligations:

• The record should indicate the number of vacation days and hours due and taken,
• The register includes all types of leave: vacation, on-demand, maternity, parental, paternal, childcare (art. 188 of the Labor Code), special, unpaid.

📋 Best practices:

• Collecting leave requests (in paper or electronic form),
• Automatically updating the vacation balance after the request is approved,
• Providing the employee with information about their balance (e.g., via the e-HR system).

📌 Mandatory storage of records for 10 years after the termination of employment.
 

🔸 4. How to record overtime?

✅ What to record:

• The number of hours exceeding the norms (daily and weekly),
• The days of the week and specific times of starting and ending work,
• Indication of whether the overtime arose from a work order, on-call duty, emergency, etc.

📌 Requirements:

• The employer cannot pay an overtime allowance without a record,
• Lack of a record = violation of regulations (art. 281 of the Labor Code, fine of up to 30,000 PLN).

📌 Employees managing on behalf of the employer (e.g., directors) do not have the right to an overtime allowance, but their working time should also be recorded.
 

🔸 5. How to keep a record of business trips?

 Business trips should be recorded, as they affect:

• working time (if the trip takes place during working hours),
• the right to a diet and reimbursement of expenses,
• occupational health and safety and rest periods.

✅ The record should include:

• the date and time of the start and end of the trip,
• the destination and purpose of the trip,
• indication of whether it was working time,
• a breakdown of incurred costs (accommodation, transport, diets),
• the employee's signature and approval by the supervisor.

📌 Travel time outside working hours does not count towards working time, but may be the basis for compensation (e.g., a lump sum).
 
 

🔸 6. Supporting tools and systems

📌 It is worth implementing systems that facilitate recording and reporting, e.g.,:

• Teta HR, Symfonia, Enova365, Sage HR,
• Excel with formulas and macros,
• custom e-HR systems in the company.

📚 Legal basis

• Labor Code, art. 94 point 9a, art. 149–151
• Regulation MPiPS of December 10, 2018 on employee documentation
• Drivers' Working Time Act (for mobile employees)
• GDPR – data protection in HR systems