Registration of working time at DTU

Average working time and resting time

According to the EU Working Time Directive of 2003 (2003/88/EC), employers must register working time to ensure a maximum weekly working time of 48 hours, a minimum daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours, a weekly day off of at least 24 hours, and the right to breaks. The directive protects employees against working excessive hours and ensures a work-rest balance.

In a case from the 7th of January 2025, the Arbitration Board concluded that an annual norm applies to senior officers and senior executive officers in the academic collective agreement. For this group of employees, the 48-hour rule must therefore be calculated over 12 months pursuant to an agreement on certain aspects of the organisation of working time.

As a result of DTU's flex time agreement, there is no differentiation between AC senior officers and senior executive officers and other TAP in relation to the reference period.

Registration of working time and time allocation at DTU

At DTU, we already register working time in Fusion. Employees, whether they are self-organizers or not, must continue the current practice of time allocation on projects.

It is important that the current practice of time allocation on projects continue for those employees who are attached to such projects. Time allocation on projects is an essential part of the departments’ and DTU’s’ financial resources, and this is not included in the EU working time directive.

Total working time is registered

At DTU, working time is registered in Fusion [LINK] in accordance with our collective agreements on working time, overtime, and DTU’s flex time agreements. Academic staff is not included in the collective agreements provision on overtime and therefore they are exempt from registering working time in Fusion.

DTU’s technical/administrative staff members are already required to register their working time in Fusion and comply with provisions on working time and overtime laid down in the applicable collective agreements. DTU’s flex time agreement and principle of self-management allow technical/administrative staff members to plan their work efficiently and create a healthy work-life balance.

DTU's guidelines on working hours and flex time applies to administrative staff, except for managers with personnel responsibility. According to the collective agreement, academic staff are not allowed to enter into flex time agreements and are therefore not covered.

The difference between working hours in a collective agreement understanding and working hours in accordance with The Working Time Directive can be described as "atypical working time". The "atypical working hours" at DTU will be working hours that are not included in the registration in Fusion, because they are not remunerated or remunerated separately.

Atypical working hours will typically occur at DTU in connection with imposed overtime or additional work or on-call time, but can also occur as e.g. travel time in situations where the travel time of a day exceeds the 13 hours that according to the DTU travel guidelines can be counted towards working hours.

On-call duty is when the employee does not perform ordinary duty, but must be available for call-out.

Agreements on on-call time often include an agreement on special remuneration, but the hours are not included in time registration in DTU Fusion, and are therefore not transferred to additional and overtime work or flex balance.

In situations where there is a need to register "atypical working hours", where there is no registration during CAS time, the manager and employee must discuss how the registration should be made, e.g. on an Excel sheet, and how the manager can carry out ongoing follow-up of this. In this way, the working hours are included in the calculation of the 48-hour limit, even if they are not registered in Fusion, where only the effective working hours are registered.

Employees register their total daily working hours, but not their clock-in and clock-out times.

The new law, which necessitates a compliant time registration system, only demands registration of the total working time.