Form OWT1 working time record

The statute names the form

Regulation 4(1) of S.I. No. 473/2001 provides that where no clocking-in facilities are in place, the record shall be kept in the form set out in Form OWT1 — or in a form substantially to like effect. That last phrase is what permits a sheet like this one, provided the content is complete and an inspector can understand it without difficulty.

Regulation 4(2) goes further and describes the workflow itself: where employer and employee agree, the employee may complete the form and present it to the employer for counter-signature and retention. That is why this sheet carries two signature lines.

Why it is worth keeping

Section 25(4) of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 reverses the burden of proof. Where an employer fails to keep records, the onus of proving compliance lies on the employer. The argument for keeping a record in Ireland is therefore not paperwork — it is that without one, a dispute starts from a losing position.

Records must be kept for three years, and section 25(1) requires them to be held at the premises or place where the employee works. A printable sheet that can be filed on site fits that requirement better than a record held only in the cloud.

Hours exclude breaks

Form OWT1 states it on its face: the number of hours worked excludes meal breaks and rest breaks. A sheet showing gross attendance is formally incorrect, so this tool records start, end and break separately and prints the net figure.

Section 12 gives a fifteen-minute break after more than four and a half hours, and thirty minutes after more than six — and the thirty may include the fifteen, so the two do not add up to forty-five. A break at the very end of the working day does not count.

No opt-out, and no substitute days

Unlike the United Kingdom, Ireland has no individual opt-out from the 48-hour average. Section 15 is addressed to the employer as a prohibition, so an opt-out switch would be misleading. There is also no general maximum working day in Irish law, which is why this tool does not flag one.

There are ten public holidays. St Brigid's Day is the first Monday in February, unless 1 February is a Friday. There is no Good Friday holiday. And when a public holiday falls at a weekend there is no entitlement to the next working day off: section 21 instead gives the employer a choice between a paid day off, a paid day off within a month, an additional day of annual leave, or an additional day's pay.

What happens to the entries?

They stay on your device. The times are held in the browser's local storage so the month is still there next time — nothing is transmitted.