Normative Alert – New Regulation for the Authorization of Attendance Control Systems in the Workday

Ministerial Resolution No. 1443/2023 of December 26, 2023
“New Regulation for the Authorization of Attendance Control Systems in the Workday”

Ministerial Resolution No. 1443/2023 of the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security, dated December 26, 2023, approves the new Regulation for the Authorization of Attendance Control Systems in the Workday, revoking Ministerial Resolution No. 063/99 of July 9, 1999, on the same subject. The Resolution comes into effect 30 calendar days after its publication.

The Regulation is mandatory for public or private sector companies or establishments that have one or more workers subject to the labor regime of the General Labor Law and related regulations.

The attendance control systems, the operation and maintenance of which are the employer’s responsibility, can be either manual or electronic.

The systems subject to Administrative Authorization are:

  • Attendance logs
  • Biometric access attendance control
  • Facial recognition attendance control
  • Card access attendance control
  • Others that in accordance to technological advancements, fulfill this purpose

The electronic attendance control must be carried out through any identification mechanism, such as passwords, tokens, or any other method that ensures certainty about the individual’s identity, date, and location. In the event of difficulties with this system, an alternative method of registration must be considered.

The Ministerial Resolution also includes detailed requirements that must be met for each type of control system, and these requirements must be fulfilled for each branch or agency. Additionally, the Ministerial Resolution lays out the procedure that must be followed to obtain the corresponding authorization.

Duration:

– Attendance logs: as long as the log has usable pages

– Electronic systems: 3 years from the issue date of the Administrative Resolution.

For the renewal of the Authorization or in case of a change or modification of equipment, company name, and/or relocation of facilities, the requirements outlined in the Ministerial Resolution must be submitted again.

In the event of a complaint regarding the actual work schedule, at the request of the Labor Authority, the employer must make the attendance records of the staff available to the authority.

Failure to comply with the provisions established in the Regulation constitutes a violation of the Social Law.

The current work schedule, duration of breaks, and tolerance times must be displayed at a visible point in the workplace.

Additionally, the MR stipulates:

  • Authorization requests submitted prior to the effectiveness of the present RM, which to date do not have the corresponding Administrative Resolution, will be governed until the conclusion of the procedure by the provisions of RM No. 601/16 and 063/99. Said resolutions will remain valid as long as the book has usable pages. Additionally, it is ordered that these resolutions will have a validity no longer than 1 year from their issuance.
  • Ministerial Resolutions No. 601/16 of June 24, 2016, and No. 063/99 of July 9, 1999, are hereby completely revoked.