Since 1 July 2024, registering employee working hours isn't optional — it's Danish law. If you run a business with employees in Denmark, you need a system that records daily hours for each person. Failing to have one isn't just a gap in your processes — it's a legal exposure.
What Changed
The EU Court of Justice ruled in 2019 that member states must require employers to have an objective, reliable, and accessible system for measuring daily working time. Denmark implemented this through an amendment to the Arbejdstidsloven, which came into force on 1 July 2024.
The law requires employers to record daily hours per employee and retain those records for at least five years. The system must be objective (not self-reported), reliable (records cannot be altered after the fact), and accessible (available for inspection by Arbejdstilsynet on request).
Who Has to Comply
All employers. There is no size exemption. This applies whether you have three employees or three hundred. Subcontractors in construction, cleaning companies, landscaping crews — the law does not carve anyone out.
If your employees work regular fixed hours at the same location every day, you may qualify for a simplified arrangement — but the requirement to have a system in place still applies. When in doubt, document everything.
What Arbejdstilsynet Checks
Danish labour inspectors can request time records during a site visit or following a complaint. They will look for three things: Does a system exist? Can you produce records for a specific employee on a specific date? Are the records consistent — not obviously filled in retrospectively?
Fines for non-compliance can reach 10,000 DKK per employee, per violation — and violations can stack across multiple employees and multiple periods. The inspectors are not looking to catch small mistakes; they are looking for employers who have no system at all.
What Counts as a Compliant System
The law requires your system to be objective, reliable, and accessible. This rules out:
- ✗Memory. “I know how many hours they worked” is not a record.
- ✗Paper timesheets filled in at week's end. Self-reported and retrospective — fails the “objective” and “reliable” tests.
- âś—Editable spreadsheets. If the record can be changed after the fact, it does not meet the reliability standard.
What qualifies: GPS-timestamped digital records are the strongest option. The timestamp is set by the system at the moment of check-in or check-out — not by the employee, and not retroactively. Electronic access control and biometric time clocks also qualify when implemented correctly.
How GeoTid Covers It
GeoTid satisfies all three criteria the law requires:
- ✓Objective. The GPS timestamp is set by the system when the employee checks in or out — not entered manually.
- âś“Reliable. Records are append-only. A check-in cannot be retroactively changed or deleted.
- ✓Accessible. You can export any employee's records for any date range in seconds — ready for an inspector on the same day they ask.
- ✓7-year retention. GeoTid retains records for seven years — exceeding the five-year Arbejdstilsynet minimum and satisfying the Bogføringsloven requirement at the same time.
Records are stored on EU servers with full GDPR compliance. Your employees' data stays in Europe, and you can export or delete it at any time. See the full feature list at /features.