What data an attendance register must contain in 2026, who fills it in, whether it can be electronic, the fines you risk without one and how it differs from the monthly timesheet.
Translated from Romanian. This article covers Romanian labour and tax law; the Romanian version is canonical and is updated first.
The attendance register (condica de prezență) is the document through which an employer proves, day by day, who turned up for work and between which hours. In 2026 the practical question is no longer “do I need one?”, but “what must it contain in order to hold up during an inspection?” — and whether it can be kept electronically. Here are the answers.
The Labour Code (Codul Muncii), through article 119, requires the employer to keep a record of the hours worked daily by each employee, showing the start and the end time of the working schedule, and to make it available to labour inspectors whenever it is requested.
The law speaks about a record, it does not impose a standard form called a “condică”. The attendance register is the traditional way in which employers meet this duty — but it is not the only accepted form.
To serve its purpose, the record must contain, as a minimum:
What it must not contain: excessive personal data. Attendance records fall under GDPR, so the data minimisation principle applies — you collect what is necessary for the legal purpose, no more.
The actual filling in is usually done by the employee (signing on arrival and on leaving) or by a person designated at the site. Legal responsibility for the existence and accuracy of the record belongs, however, to the employer — you cannot invoke the fact that an employee forgot to sign.
The duty applies per workplace: if you have three locations, you need a record at each one, not just a single centralised record at head office.
The law does not require paper. A record kept electronically has the same legal value, provided it is real, complete and available on request. Moreover, the authorities may ask for documents in electronic format, and a company with orderly digital records answers in minutes, not days.
The practical advantage of the electronic version is that it solves the structural weakness of paper and Excel: real-time recording, impossible to fill in retroactively, with a history of changes. A paper register completed at the end of the month, with the same pen and the same handwriting for every day, is exactly the kind of document that raises questions during an inspection.
The terms are frequently confused:
They do not replace one another: the register feeds the timesheet, and the timesheet feeds payroll. If you only have the monthly summary, without a daily record, the duty under art. 119 is not met.
Failure to keep a record of working hours and to present it to inspectors is sanctioned as an administrative offence, with a fine. The real risk is, however, greater than the fine itself: if the actual schedule does not match the declared one — for example, a part-time contract for someone working full time — the situation may be classified as undeclared work, where penalties rose substantially in 2026 (up to 40,000 lei per person, with a cumulative cap of up to 1,000,000 lei).
Is the attendance register mandatory in Romania? What is mandatory is the daily record of working time (art. 119 of the Labour Code). The register is the traditional way of keeping it; you may also use an electronic solution, with the same value.
What fines do you risk if you have no attendance register? The absence of the record is sanctioned as an administrative offence. Separately and far more seriously, a mismatch between the actual and the declared schedule may be classified as undeclared work, with fines increased from 2026.
Can the attendance register be electronic? Yes. The law does not require paper. An electronic record is valid if it is real, complete and can be made available to inspectors on request.
Who has to fill in the attendance register? In practice, the employee or a designated person. Responsibility for the existence and accuracy of the record remains with the employer.
What is the difference between an attendance register and a timesheet? The register records arrival and departure daily; the timesheet is the monthly aggregation (totals of hours, overtime, absences) that underpins the payroll register.
Workly replaces the paper register with a record that cannot be filled in retroactively: the employee marks attendance through a Kiosk with a rotating QR code or an NFC card on entering the site — including those without a smartphone — and the system records the exact moment, with an auditable history of any change.
The record is kept per workplace, absences (annual leave, sick leave, time off by agreement) go into the same register, and the monthly timesheet is generated automatically from the daily data, without manual compilation. When the labour inspectorate (ITM) asks, you export the record in seconds instead of reconstructing whole months. Personal data is encrypted and automatically purged when the retention period expires, in line with GDPR.
Do you also need the classic version? See our articles with an attendance register template and a monthly timesheet template.
Informational article, accurate at the date of publication. Not legal advice. The duties concerning working time records and the level of penalties may change — always check the framework in force (the Labour Code, the Labour Inspectorate) or consult a specialist.
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