Work Time Records: Poland vs Denmark LOV 89 Guide 2026

Working time records are at the heart of every employment relationship, yet the rules governing them differ significantly depending on which side of the Baltic you are operating on. For Polish workers employed on Danish construction sites, and for the Danish managers overseeing them, understanding the gap between ewidencja czasu pracy under Poland's Kodeks Pracy and the Danish framework built around LOV 89 is not a bureaucratic nicety, it is a legal obligation that carries real consequences when ignored. This guide walks through both systems step by step so that everyone involved knows exactly what is required.

Step 1: Understand Which Law Applies to You

The first question is always jurisdiction. A Polish worker posted to Denmark by a Polish staffing agency remains subject to Polish social insurance rules administered by ZUS, but the working conditions on Danish soil, including working time records, fall under Danish law. This is the core principle of the EU Posted Workers Directive, transposed into Danish legislation. In practice it means that the Danish employer or the principal contractor on site must ensure that time records meet Danish standards, while the Polish agency handles ZUS contributions back home.

Poland's Kodeks Pracy requires employers to keep a detailed ewidencja czasu pracy for every employee. This record must capture daily start and finish times, overtime hours, night work, and any time off in lieu. The Polish State Labour Inspectorate, known as PIP (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy), enforces these rules and can inspect records during on-site visits or audits. Understanding how PIP operates is useful background, but once a worker crosses into Denmark, Arbejdstilsynet, the Danish Working Environment Authority, becomes the primary enforcement body on working time matters.

Step 2: Know What LOV 89 Actually Requires

LOV 89, formally the Danish Act on Working Time, implements the EU Working Time Directive into Danish law. The landmark CJEU ruling in the CCOO case confirmed that EU member states must require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system for measuring each worker's daily working time. LOV 89 reflects this obligation. Under it, Danish employers must record the actual hours worked by each employee, not just planned schedules, and retain those records so that Arbejdstilsynet can verify compliance during inspections.

Where Polish law focuses heavily on a paper or digital register kept by the HR department, Danish practice under LOV 89 is more flexible about the format but equally strict about the substance. The record must show when work started, when it ended, and any rest breaks taken. For construction sites in particular, where shifts can vary dramatically due to weather, project phases and subcontracting chains, this level of detail matters enormously. You can read more about how these hours translate into pay obligations in our article on Overtime Night & Holiday Pay on Danish Construction Sites 2026.

Step 3: Gather the Required Documents

Whether you are a worker or a manager, you need to know which documents underpin a compliant time-recording system in each country. Under Kodeks Pracy, the Polish employer must maintain a personnel file (akta osobowe) alongside the working time register. The register itself is typically a monthly sheet or a digital equivalent that the employee signs or confirms. PIP inspectors expect to see these records going back at least three years.

On the Danish side, LOV 89 does not prescribe a single mandatory form, but Arbejdstilsynet guidance makes clear that records must be kept for a period that allows meaningful inspection. For posted workers, an additional layer applies: the Danish Register of Foreign Service Providers (RUT) requires the posting agency to notify Danish authorities before work begins. Failure to register in RUT is a separate infringement from any time-record violation, but both can surface in the same inspection. If you are also navigating the tax side of posting, our guide on When a Polish Staffing Agency Becomes a Danish Tax Payer: SKAT Rules 2026 covers when a Polish agency acquires Danish tax obligations.

Step 4: Set Up Your Recording System

For a Polish manager running a crew in Denmark, the practical step is to implement a single time-tracking system that satisfies both sets of rules simultaneously. A digital platform that logs GPS-stamped clock-in and clock-out events is increasingly common on Danish construction sites and tends to satisfy Arbejdstilsynet's requirement for an objective, reliable record. The same data can be exported in a format that meets the monthly summary expected under Kodeks Pracy for the Polish payroll and ZUS reporting back home.

Consider a hypothetical example: an agency employing thirty Polish carpenters on a Copenhagen project might use a shared app where each worker scans a site QR code at arrival and departure. That single action creates a timestamped record visible to the Danish principal contractor for LOV 89 purposes and exportable as a monthly CSV for the Polish HR team to attach to the ewidencja czasu pracy file. No double data entry, no gaps.

Pay rates are tightly linked to hours recorded, so accurate records also protect workers financially. For current benchmarks, see our overview of Minimum Hourly Rates for Construction Workers in Denmark 2026.

Step 5: Submit Notifications and Keep Records Safe

Once your system is live, the administrative submissions follow. In Poland, the ewidencja czasu pracy does not need to be filed with any authority proactively, it sits in the personnel file and is produced on demand during a PIP inspection. In Denmark, RUT notification is submitted online before work begins, and time records are held on site or in a readily accessible digital location for Arbejdstilsynet.

Retention periods matter. Polish law requires keeping working time records for a minimum of three years after the employment relationship ends. Danish practice under LOV 89 also requires records to be available for a meaningful period, and industry collective agreements (overenskomster) can extend this further. Always check whether the relevant Danish collective agreement for construction, typically the Bygge og Anlæg sector agreement, imposes additional obligations.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The most frequent error is assuming that a Polish-compliant register automatically satisfies Danish requirements. It does not. Polish records are often structured around planned working time with deviations noted, whereas LOV 89 demands a record of actual time worked from the outset. A second common mistake is failing to register with RUT before the first worker sets foot on a Danish site, which exposes the agency to fines even if the time records themselves are perfect. A third pitfall is neglecting night work and rest period documentation: both Kodeks Pracy and LOV 89 contain specific rules on minimum rest between shifts, and inspectors from both PIP and Arbejdstilsynet look for this data explicitly.

The actionable takeaway is straightforward. Before any posting begins, map the requirements of both systems side by side, choose a digital recording tool that captures actual start and finish times with a reliable timestamp, ensure RUT registration is complete, and brief site supervisors on the importance of accurate daily entries. When Arbejdstilsynet or PIP inspectors arrive, and in active sectors they do arrive, having clean, consistent records is the fastest way to close an inspection without penalty. For authoritative guidance, consult Arbejdstilsynet directly at at.dk, review Polish PIP resources at pip.gov.pl, and check EU-level posted worker rules via the European Commission's posted workers portal.