Working-hours recording (ArG)
The recording duty under the Labour Act requires the employer to record working and rest times per employee in such a way that the enforcement and supervisory bodies can inspect them — and to retain the records for five years.
Definition
The law prescribes no form: what is required are «registers or other documents» from which the necessary details are apparent. What has to appear in them is governed by Article 73 of Ordinance 1 — the daily and weekly working time performed including overtime and when it fell, the rest days or compensatory rest days granted, and the timing and duration of breaks of half an hour and more.
Two relaxations exist alongside. Businesses with fewer than fifty employees can agree simplified recording, in which only the daily working time performed is noted. And employees who largely determine their own working time and earn more than CHF 120,000 gross a year can waive it entirely — provided a collective agreement allows it and the waiver is agreed in writing.
The wording
The employer must keep available to the enforcement and supervisory authorities the registers or other documents from which the details required for the enforcement of this Act and its ordinances are apparent.
The numbers
- five years
- retention period, counted from the end of the documents’ validity Art. 73 para. 2 ArGV 1
- 50 employees
- limit below which simplified recording of daily working time can be agreed Art. 73b ArGV 1
- CHF 120,000
- gross annual income from which a full waiver of recording is possible Art. 73a para. 1 let. b ArGV 1
- from 30 minutes
- breaks of half an hour and more must be recorded with timing and duration Art. 73 para. 1 ArGV 1
Where to read it
What the software must be able to do
Time tracking only meets the duty if it holds daily working time with start and end, shows breaks from half an hour with their timing, recognises rest days, and keeps the records unalterably for five years. Monthly totals do not meet it. Whoever uses simplified recording additionally needs the agreement for it — and for a waiver, the written individual agreement together with the gross annual income.
Checked Aug 2026
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