Overtime: Key Aspects for Employers and Employees

Working time and related issues constitute an essential part of labor rights. Overtime, which refers to working hours beyond the standard amount of work time, requires special attention from both employers and employees.

 

The issues related to working time constitutes one of the most extensive sections of the Labor Code, which regulates the right to rest and the maximum amount of time an employee can be at the disposal of the employer in the workplace or at another designated place of work.

 

An employer may apply, among others, the basic system of working time, in which the daily working time is 8 hours and on average 40 hours in a typically five-day working week within an accounting period not exceeding four months. According to the principles established in Polish legislation, work performed beyond the employee’s standard working hours results in the creation of overtime hours. The employer is obliged to plan the employee’s working time in a way that enables them to perform their duties arising from the position held within the time frames established by regulations. Therefore, there is no possibility of planning overtime – it is permissible only in the following cases:

 

• the necessity of carrying out rescue actions to protect human life or health, property or the environment, or to rectify breakdowns, and
• specific needs of the employer, resulting, for example, from increased sick leave in the team or the urgent, one-time completion of specific work.

 

In the event of a situation justifying the assignment of work during overtime hours, priority should be given to granting the employee time off in exchange for working overtime:

 

• at the employee’s request – in a 1:1 ratio (for every 1 overtime hour worked, the employee is entitled to 1 hour off), or
• at the employer’s initiative – in a 1:1.5 ratio (for every 1 overtime hour worked, the employee is entitled to 1.5 hours off).

 

The receipt of overtime worked on Sundays and holidays not considered working time for the employee requires the employer to provide a day off:

 

• in exchange for work on Sunday – within 6 calendar days preceding or following such Sunday,
• in exchange for work on a holiday – within the accounting period applicable in the workplace.

 

If it is not possible to grant time off for overtime worked by the end of the accounting period adopted by the employer, then the employee should be paid compensation in the form of:

 

• remuneration for overtime hours, representing the equivalent of the employee’s hourly rate in that month multiplied by the number of overtime hours, and
• an allowance for working during overtime hours, in the amount of:
• 100% for overtime worked:

1. 1. at night,
   2. on Sundays and holidays not considered working days for the employee, according to the applicable work schedule,
   3. on a day off granted to the employee in exchange for work on Sunday or a holiday, according to the applicable work schedule,
   4. due to exceeding the average weekly working time norm,

 

• 50% for overtime worked in other cases.

 

Example:

Employee X earns a basic salary of PLN 10.000,00 gross. In March 2024, they worked 5 hours compensated with a 50% allowance. Therefore, for working overtime hours, they will receive:

1. 1. remuneration for overtime hours in the amount of PLN 297,62 (PLN 10.000,00 divided by 168 hours to be worked in March 2024 * 5 overtime hours) and
   2. an allowance for working during overtime hours in the amount of PLN 148,81 (PLN 10.000,00 divided by 168 hours to be worked in March 2024 * 5 overtime hours * 50%), totaling PLN 446,43.