Establishing and calculating working time

The definition of working time

Working time is the period of time when a worker remains at the employer’s disposal in an establishment or in another place designated as the place of work.

A worker remains at the employer’s disposal from the moment when that person arrives at a specified time at the establishment, or at another place designated as the place of work, until that person’s working time is over, or later if the worker is required to work overtime.

Important to note! The time during which a worker commutes from the place of residence to the place of work and back is not considered working time.

For the purpose of calculating working time:

• a day is to be understood as 24 consecutive hours, starting from the time when the worker starts work in accordance with the applicable working time schedule
• a week is to be understood as 7 consecutive calendar days, starting from the first day of the reference period.

Working time standards and the duration of working time

During an average 5-day working week in the reference period adopted, the working time standards set out in the Labour Code are as follows:

• 8 hours a day (daily standard)
• an average of 40 hours a week (weekly standard).

A reference period is a time frame determined by the employer concerned during which working time is settled, for example 1 month or 3 months.

On the basis of these standards, an employer determines the number of hours and days to be worked in the reference period adopted, i.e. a worker’s working time. A worker’s working time is calculated:

• by multiplying 40 hours by the number of weeks per reference period, and then
• by adding to the number of hours obtained the product of 8 hours and the number of days remaining until the end of the reference period, from Monday to Friday.

Example

The number of hours to be worked in September 2020 is 176 (40 hours × 4 weeks) + (8 hours × 2 days).

A worker’s working time in a reference period determined as described above is reduced by the number of hours of justified absences from work during which work was to be performed, in accordance with the applicable working time schedule.

Important to note! Each holiday specified in the provisions on non-working days during a reference period falling on a day other than Sunday reduces working time by 8 hours.

The following holidays are non-working days:

• 1 January – New Year’s Day
• 6 January – Epiphany
• the first and second day of Easter
• 1 May – National Holiday
• 3 May – Constitution Day (national holiday)
• Pentecost Sunday
• Corpus Christi
• 15 August – Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• 1 November – All Saints’ Day
• 11 November – Independence Day (national holiday)
• 25 and 26 December – the first and second day of Christmas.

Example

The number of hours to be worked in August 2020 is 160 (40 hours × 4 weeks) + (8 hours × 1 day) – 8 hours (1 holiday).

The working time of workers employed on a part-time basis is calculated in the same way as that for workers employed on a full-time basis, and then reduced in proportion to the time basis.

The working time of night workers cannot exceed 8 hours a day if they perform work that is particularly hazardous or involves heavy physical or mental strain. These restrictions do not apply to:

• workers managing the establishment on behalf of the employer
• rescue operations conducted to protect human life or health, property or the environment or to remove a failure.

A night worker – a worker whose working time schedule covers at least 3 hours of night work every day or for whom at least 1/4 of working time in a reference period falls at night time.

Important to note! The working time standards may be modified by special provisions. The working time of adolescents under the age of 16 cannot exceed 6 hours a day. A lower working time standard (7/35) is also provided for in the Act of 27 August 1997 on vocational and social rehabilitation and the employment of persons with disabilities.

Rest periods and breaks

Daily rest

Workers are entitled to at least 11 hours of uninterrupted rest every day (daily rest).

Daily rest may be reduced:

• for workers managing the establishment on behalf of the employer, i.e. managing that establishment by themselves, and their deputies or workers who are members of a collegiate body managing the establishment
• for chief accountants
• if there is a need to carry out a rescue operation to protect life or health, property or the environment or to remove a failure.

If the daily rest of a worker has been reduced, that person is entitled to an equivalent rest period in a reference period.

Weekly rest

Workers are entitled to at least 35 hours of uninterrupted rest every week, including at least 11 hours of uninterrupted daily rest (weekly rest).

Weekly rest should fall on a Sunday. A Sunday covers 24 consecutive hours, starting at 6.00 a.m. on that day, unless a different time has been determined for the employer concerned. If work on Sundays is permitted, weekly rest may fall on a day other than a Sunday.

Uninterrupted weekly rest may cover fewer hours than 35, but cannot be shorter than 24 hours:

• for workers managing the establishment on behalf of the employer
• if there is a need to carry out a rescue operation to protect life or health, property or the environment or to remove a failure
• if the time when a worker performs work changes following that person’s transfer to another shift, in accordance with the applicable working time schedule.

Adolescent workers are entitled to at least 48 hours of uninterrupted rest every week, which should include a Sunday.

If a balanced working time system is applied:

• for work involving monitoring equipment or remaining partially on call, for which daily working time has been extended (up to 16 hours)
• for workers employed to guard property or protect persons as well as on-site fire brigade workers and on-site rescue services workers, for whom daily working time has been extended (up to 24 hours)

a worker is entitled – immediately after each period of performance of work under the extended daily working time – to a rest period corresponding at least to the number of hours worked, regardless of weekly rest.

Breaks

If the daily working time of a worker is at least 6 hours, the worker is entitled to a break of at least 15 minutes, counted as working time.

If the daily working time of an adolescent worker is longer than 4.5 hours, the employer must introduce an uninterrupted break of 30 minutes, counted as working time.

An employer may introduce a single break, not counted as working time, of up to 60 minutes, for consuming a meal or for arranging personal matters. Such a break is introduced in a collective agreement or work rules, or in an employment contract if the employer is not covered by a collective agreement or is not required to establish work rules.

Workers employed in conditions that are particularly arduous or particularly harmful should have reduced working time. In such a case, the employer may:

• apply lower daily standards (less than 8 hours a day) and weekly standards (less than an average of 40 hours a week)
• introduce breaks counted as working time.

In the case of monotonous work and work at a predetermined work-rate, working time may be reduced only by introducing breaks counted as working time.

Working time systems

Employers may apply:

• a basic working time system, under which daily working time is 8 hours and an average of 40 hours in an average 5-day working week in the reference period adopted, not exceeding four months
• a balanced working time system – if this is justified by the type of work or its organisation, daily working time may be extended:
• up to 12 hours in a reference period not exceeding one month; in duly justified cases, a reference period may be extended up to three months and up to four months for work dependent on the season or on weather conditions
• up to 16 hours in a reference period not exceeding one month for work involving monitoring equipment or remaining partially on call
• up to 24 hours in a reference period not exceeding one month for workers employed under the balanced working time system to guard property or protect persons as well as on-site fire brigade workers and on-site rescue services workers; in duly justified cases, a reference period may be extended up to three months and up to four months for work dependent on the season or on weather conditions
• a continuous work system, under which work cannot be interrupted due to production technology or the need to continuously satisfy the needs of the population. In such cases, working time may be extended to an average of 43 hours a week in a reference period not exceeding four weeks, with the possibility of extending daily working time on one day in certain weeks up to 12 hours. The number of hours corresponding to extended weekly working time cannot exceed 4 hours per each week in the reference period in which working time is extended
• a shortened working week system – may be applied at a worker’s written request. Under this system, workers may work less than 5 days a week, while at the same time daily working time is extended to 12 hours in a reference period not exceeding one month.
• a system of weekend work – may be applied at a worker’s written request. Under this system, work is performed only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and on holidays. Daily working time may be extended, but only up to 12 hours in a reference period not exceeding one month.
• a system of work split up over the day – may be applied if this is justified by the type of work or its organisation. Under this system, a predetermined working time schedule may provide for no more than one break a day. While the break is not counted as working time, a worker is entitled to remuneration equal to half of remuneration for idle time for the period of the break. The break cannot be longer than 5 hours.

Important to note! The system of work split up over the day cannot be combined with the balanced working time system or its modified versions, the continuous work system, the shortened working week system or the system of weekend work. Pregnant women and workers taking care of children under the age of four cannot be employed under the system of work split up over the day, unless they give their consent.

• a task-based working time system – may be introduced if this is justified by the type of work or its organisation, or by the place where work is performed. Under this system, an employer assigns specific tasks to a worker, determining the time necessary to perform them – in consultation with the worker – taking into account the working time standards of 8 hours a day and of an average of 40 hours a week in an average 5-day working week.

Please note! The types of working time systems applied by an employer should result from the in-house rules applied by that employer, for example, a collective agreement, work rules or a notice. The shortened working week system and the system of weekend work are applied under an employment contract.

If this is justified by objective or technical reasons or reasons relating to work organisation, a reference period may be extended up to 12 months in each working time system, in accordance with the general rules on the protection of workers’ safety and health.

Under the balanced working time system, the continuous work system, the shortened working week system and the system of weekend work, an employer should limit working time to 8 hours a day for:

• workers employed at workstations where the maximum permissible concentrations or intensities of agents harmful to health have been exceeded
• pregnant female workers
• workers taking care of children under the age of four, without these workers’ consent.

Workers whose working time has been reduced in this manner retain the right to remuneration for time not worked.

An employer must accept a request for work under the system of work split up over the day, for flexible working time or for an individual working time schedule, submitted in paper or electronic form by:

• a worker who is a spouse or a worker who is a parent of a child at the prenatal stage of development in the case of high-risk pregnancy
• a worker who is a parent of a child certified by a competent medical specialist as having a severe and irreversible impairment or an incurable, life-threatening disease which developed at the prenatal stage of the child’s development or during childbirth, also after the child has reached the age of 18
• a worker who is a parent of:
• a child certified as having disabilities or as having a moderate or severe disability, also after the child has reached the age of 18
• a child for whom an opinion stating the need for early childhood development support, a certificate stating the need for special needs education or a certificate stating the need for rehabilitation and education classes has been issued, also after the child has reached the age of 18.

The employer cannot refuse such a request unless this is impossible due to work organisation or the type of work performed by the worker. The employer must notify the worker in paper of electronic form of the reasons for the refusal.

Working time schedules

As part of the working time systems, an employer may apply different working time schedules for workers, which should be provided for in in-house rules applied by the employer, i.e. in a collective agreement, in work rules or in a notice.

However, not all workers are required to work according to working time schedules resulting from in-house rules. At a written request of a worker, the employer may establish an individual working time schedule in the framework of the working time system under which the worker is employed.

Shift work, whereby work is performed according to a working time schedule under which the time of work of individual workers changes after a specified number of hours, days or weeks, is allowed regardless of the working time system applied.

Please remember! An employer cannot employ pregnant female workers or adolescent workers to work at night – this prohibition is absolute. Workers taking care of children under the age of 4 cannot be employed to work at night without their consent.

A working time schedule may provide for different hours for starting work on days which are workers’ working days. A working time schedule may also provide for a time frame – in such a case, it is a worker who decides at what time to start work on a day which is that worker’s working day (flexible working time). In cases where work is performed according to such working time schedules:

• this cannot infringe a worker’s right to the minimum daily and weekly rest
• the repeated performance of work on the same day does not constitute overtime work.

A worker’s working time schedule may be established in writing or in electronic form, including for a period shorter than a reference period, but covering at least one month. The employer provides the worker with the working time schedule at least one week before the work starts in the period for which that schedule was established.

There is no obligation for an employer to establish a working time schedule if:

• a worker’s working time schedule results from the labour law, a notice or an employment contract
• the time necessary to perform the assigned tasks is determined by that employer in consultation with a worker, taking into account the daily and weekly working time standards (8 hours a day and an average of 40 hours a week respectively) – the working time schedule is established by the worker in such a case
• a flexible working time schedule is applied at a worker’s written request
• that employer establishes an individual working time schedule at a worker’s written request.

If, due to a working time schedule in the reference period adopted, a worker is not required to perform any work in the month concerned, that person is entitled to remuneration no lower than the minimum remuneration.

For workers employed on a part-time basis, the amount of this remuneration is calculated in proportion to working time.

Read more about the rules on remunerating workers and about minimum wage.

Work on Sundays and holidays

Sundays and holidays are, as a rule, non-working days. Work on these days is allowed only as an exception:

• if a rescue operation needs to be carried out to protect life or health, property or the environment
• if a failure needs to be removed
• in the case of necessary repairs, in transport and in communication
• if workers guard property and protect persons
• in agriculture and breeding
• in the case of continuous work and shift work
• in on-site fire brigades and in on-site rescue services
• in the case of work that is necessary due to its usefulness to society and the daily needs of the public (in particular in establishments providing services to the public, in the catering industry, in hotels, municipal establishments, healthcare centres and other healthcare units for persons who require round-the-clock or all-day healthcare services, social assistance organisational units, family support and foster care organisational units offering round-the-clock care, and cultural, educational, tourism and leisure establishments)
• for workers employed under the working time system in which work is performed only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays
• in the case of work:
• consisting in the provision of services with the use of electronic means of communication within the meaning of the provisions on the provision of services by electronic means, or with the use of telecommunications devices within the meaning of the telecommunications law, which are received outside Poland, if Sundays and holidays are working days in accordance with the provisions applicable to the recipient of the services
• ensuring that these services may be provided.

Work on a Sunday or a holiday is work performed between 6.00 a.m. on that day and 6.00 a.m. on the following day, unless a different time has been determined for the employer concerned. An employer may determine another time for starting work on Sundays and holidays in a collective agreement or work rules, or in a notice (if the employer is not covered by a collective agreement or is not required to establish work rules).

In each working time system, if a working time schedule covers work on Sundays and holidays, workers are granted a total number of days off work in the reference period adopted corresponding at least to the number of Sundays, holidays and non-working days in an average 5-day working week falling within that period.

Please remember! Work on Sundays and holidays is forbidden in retail outlets, except on certain Sundays in a year specified in the legislation. Work until 2 p.m. is allowed on 24 December and on the Saturday immediately preceding the first day of Easter.

If a worker works for the employer on Sundays or holidays:

• the employer should grant the worker another day off work:
• in exchange for work on a Sunday – within 6 calendar days preceding or following such a Sunday
• in exchange for work on a holiday – within the reference period
• if a day off work granted in exchange for work on a Sunday cannot be used within this period, the worker is entitled to a day off work up until the end of the reference period
• if a day off work in exchange for work on a Sunday or a holiday is not granted until the end of the reference period, the worker is entitled to an allowance for overtime work of 100% of the remuneration
• the worker should have a free Sunday at least once every four weeks. However, this does not apply to workers employed under the system of weekend work.

Leave

Employers must grant workers leave in situations specified in the legislation. In particular, a worker is entitled to leave:

• to donate blood – if the worker is a blood donor, for the time specified by a blood donation centre and the time necessary to conduct periodic medical examinations ordered by the blood donation centre if they cannot be conducted outside the working hours
• for:
• 2 days – in the event of the worker’s wedding or the birth of his or her child, or the death and funeral of the worker’s spouse or child, father, mother, stepfather or stepmother
• 1 day – in the event of a wedding of the worker’s child or the death and funeral of his or her sister, brother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandmother, grandfather, as well as another dependant or person under the worker’s direct care
• the time necessary to conduct compulsory medical examinations and receive preventive vaccines specified in the provisions on combating infectious diseases, on combating tuberculosis and on combating venereal diseases.

Workers retain the right to remuneration for the duration of this leave.

Workers may also take leave for the time necessary to, for example:

• appear before a government or local authority, a court, the public prosecutor’s office, the police or an authority conducting proceedings for minor offences
• take part in rescue operations and take the necessary rest after they are completed as well as – for a total of no more than 6 days during a calendar year – take part in fire safety training.

In such cases, employers issue a certificate stating the amount of remuneration lost due to leave and workers may receive financial compensation from the relevant authority on those grounds – unless the rules applied by the employer concerned allow workers to retain the right to remuneration for leave.

A worker should inform the employer for what reason and how long that person will be absent from work, if the reason for this absence is known in advance or foreseeable.

If a worker cannot report to work, that person should immediately – but no later than on the second day of absence from work – inform the employer for what reason and how long he or she will be absent.

Failure to meet this deadline may be justified by special circumstances preventing the worker from informing the employer about the reason for absence in a timely manner. Such special circumstances include being bedridden in cases where a worker has no household members or that person’s household members are absent, or another random event.

If the rules applied by the employer concerned do not specify how workers are to inform the employer about the reason for their absence, workers must notify the employer in person or request another person to do, by phone or by another means of communication, or by post. In the latter case, the date of postmark is considered the date of notification.

The following evidence, inter alia, may justify a worker’s absence from work:

• a medical certificate issued in accordance with a template set out by the Social Insurance Institution (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych), via an IT system made available by the Social Insurance Institution free of charge, in the form of an electronic document signed with a qualified electronic signature, a trusted signature or a personal signature, or using a method for certifying the origin and integrity of data available in the IT system made available by the Social Insurance Institution free of charge
• a decision of a state sanitary inspector, issued in accordance with the provisions on combatting infectious disease – if the worker is in isolation for reasons specified in these provisions
• a declaration by the worker – if circumstances justifying the need for the worker to take personal care of a healthy child under the age of 8 due to the unforeseen closure of the crèche, children’s club, nursery school or school attended by the child occur
• a personal summons to appear before the authority competent for matters relating to the general defence obligation, a government or local authority, a court, the public prosecutor’s office, the police or an authority conducting proceedings for minor offences – as a party or a witness in proceedings conducted before these authorities, containing a confirmation that the worker appeared before these authorities
• a declaration by the worker confirming that a business travel took place at night and ended less than 8 hours before the start of work, thus preventing the worker from getting a night’s rest.

Records of working time

Employers must keep records of workers’ working time. The records are maintained to correctly determine remuneration and other work-related benefits and should be made available to workers upon request.

Records of hours worked are not kept for the following workers:

• workers covered by the task-based working time system
• workers managing the establishment on behalf of the employer
• workers who receive a lump-sum payment for overtime or for night work.

On-call duty

An employer may request a worker to do on-call duty outside the working hours determined by that employer. During on-call duty, the worker remains ready to perform work under the employment contract outside normal working hours at the establishment or at another place designated by the employer.

Important to note! On-call time is counted as working time only if the worker actually worked while on duty. If the worker did not work while on duty, the on-call time is not counted as working time.

On-call duty cannot infringe a worker’s right to:

• daily rest (at least 11 hours)
• weekly rest (at least 35 hours).

These restrictions do not apply to workers managing the establishment on behalf of the employer.

For on-call duty, a worker is entitled, in the first place, to time off work equivalent to the length of on-call duty. If this issue is not regulated in a collective agreement or work rules, the employer determines when a worker may take time off – its date cannot be too remote and the employer should try to consult the worker.

If the employer cannot grant time off to a worker, the employer must pay that worker remuneration for on-call duty. The basis for calculating this remuneration is the hourly rate of remuneration resulting from the pay grade. If an hourly or monthly rate was not specified when determining the remuneration conditions, the basis for calculating the remuneration for on-call duty is 60% of the remuneration. The hourly rate of the remuneration expressed as a percentage is calculated in accordance with the rules applied to determine remuneration for leave. In such a case, 60% of the remuneration for leave is the basis for determining the hourly rate and the amount of compensation for on-call duty.

Compensation for on-call duty is not payable:

• if the on-call duty took place at home
• to workers managing the workplace on behalf of the employer – regardless of the place of duty.

Overtime work

Work performed in excess of the working time standards applicable to a worker, as well as work performed in excess of extended daily working time resulting from the working time system and schedule applicable to a worker, for example under the balanced working time system, is considered overtime work.

Overtime work is permitted in cases where:

• there is a need to carry out a rescue operation to protect life or health, property or the environment or to remove a failure
• the employer has special needs.

Important to note! The following workers cannot work overtime:

• pregnant female workers
• adolescent workers
• workers taking care of children under the age of 4 – unless these workers give their consent for such work
• workers employed at workstations where the maximum permissible concentrations or intensities of agents harmful to health have been exceeded due to the employer’s special needs.

For work performed on a non-working day resulting from a working time schedule in an average 5-day working week due to:

• a need to carry out a rescue operation to protect life or health, property or the environment or to remove a failure
• the employer’s special needs

a worker is entitled to another day off granted until the end of the reference period, at a time agreed with that worker.

If a worker performs work to make up for leave granted at that person’s written request to arrange personal matters, this does not constitute overtime work. Making up for leave cannot infringe the worker’s right to daily and weekly rest.

Limits on overtime work

Overtime work is limited:

• per day – due to the need to guarantee 11 hours of daily rest to workers, working time together with overtime work cannot exceed 13 hours per day.
• per week (in a reference period) – weekly working time together with overtime hours cannot exceed an average of 48 hours in the reference period adopted. This restriction does not apply to workers managing the workplace on behalf of the employer.
• in a calendar year, the number of overtime hours worked in connection with the employer’s special needs cannot exceed 150 hours for a worker.

A different number of overtime hours in a calendar year may be determined. This may done in a collective agreement or work rules, or in an employment contract if the employer is not covered by a collective agreement or is not required to establish work rules. However, the average weekly working time standard of 48 hours cannot be exceeded.

For a worker employed on a part-time basis, the parties determine in the employment contract the permitted number of working hours in excess of the working time specified in the contract. If this number of hours is exceeded, the worker is entitled, apart from normal remuneration, to an allowance for overtime work.

Compensation for overtime work

For overtime work, a worker is always entitled to normal remuneration for each hour worked. Normal remuneration is understood as remuneration regularly and continuously paid to workers. In addition, overtime work must be compensated by either an allowance (100% or 50%) or time off work.

Important to note! For workers who permanently perform work outside the establishment, remuneration and the allowance for overtime work may be replaced with a lump-sum payment. The amount of this lump-sum payment should correspond to the planned duration of overtime work.

• Allowance of 100% of remuneration is payable to a worker for overtime work:
• at night
• on Sundays and holidays which are not the worker’s working days, in accordance with the applicable working time schedule
• on a day off work granted to the worker in exchange for work on a Sunday or a holiday, in accordance with the applicable working time schedule
• for each hour of overtime work in excess of the average standard weekly working time of 40 hours in the reference period adopted, unless this standard has been exceeded as a result of overtime work for which the worker is entitled to an allowance of 50%.
• Allowance of 50% of remuneration

A worker is entitled to an allowance of 50% of remuneration for overtime work on days which are the worker’s working days, in accordance with the applicable working time schedule (this covers ‘working’ Sundays and holidays). The exception is overtime work at night (for which the allowance of 100% of remuneration is due).

• Time off at a worker’s request

The amount of time off granted at a worker’s written request is equal to the number of hours worked. In such a case, time off may also be granted outside the reference period in which overtime work took place.

• Time off without a worker’s request

The amount of time off granted without a worker’s request is half as high as the number of hours worked. However, this cannot result in the remuneration due to the worker for the full monthly working time being reduced. In such a case, time off must be granted by the end of the reference period at the latest.

Please note! If necessary, workers managing the establishment on behalf of the employer and heads of separate organisational units perform work outside their normal working hours without the right to the remuneration and allowance for overtime work. Only heads of separate organisational units are entitled to the remuneration and allowance for overtime work for overtime work on a Sunday or a holiday, if they have not been granted another day off work in exchange for work on such a day.