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Fingerprints – a possible solution for recording working hours in line with the ECJ’s “time clock ruling”? It all depends on necessity
Whether when opening apps, authorising bank transfers or stored on an identity card – as a digital ‘door opener’, our fingerprint is increasingly coming to the fore as a means of identification. It is always with us, can be uniquely identified and – you cannot lose it. It therefore stands to reason that fingerprints could also be used to address the issue of time and attendance recording. In its judgement of 14 May 2019, Case C-55/18 – which was widely discussed across the country under the headline ‘The return of the time clock’ – required Member States to oblige employers to ‘introduce an objective, reliable and accessible system for measuring the daily working time performed by each worker’. Only in this way can it be ensured that the objective of Directive 2003/88 – compliance with minimum rest periods and thus the protection of workers’ health – is guaranteed. The specific arrangements for such a system or its form are left to the Member States themselves.
The question of how employers can fulfil this obligation arises in many places. Is anything permitted that is technically possible – or is it not? The Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Labour Court (LAG) recently had to address this issue, ruling on the matter in its judgement of 25 August 2020 (Ref. 10 Sa 2130/19).
Read the full article in the latest online edition of the Deutscher AnwaltSpiegel:
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