Additional remuneration for overtime in Poland

Overtime is simply unplanned time spent in the workplace, which was not included in the schedule of duties. Such a case requires appropriate compensation in the form of an appropriate supplement to remuneration, additional normal remuneration or time off work. Having overtime is not shocking, but it leads to one, quite intriguing dilemma - how to calculate the remuneration for additional hours spent at work and will its amount vary depending on individual factors?

Fifty or one hundred percent?

For work performed overtime, the employer is obliged to pay the employee an add-on of 50% or 100% of the basic remuneration. Determining which percentage threshold should be chosen during the settlement of working time, is fortunately not complicated.

If the average weekly working hours are exceeded, the employer will be obliged to pay an employee an add-on of 100% of the remuneration. The same situation will happen when overtime is performed during the night, on Sundays and other holidays, as well as other non-working days that were given in return for work on a Sunday or holiday.

An add-on of 50% of the basic remuneration is due to the employee if the overtime is performed on any other day not specified above.

Overtime and normal pay

In the legal language, we will not find a precise and detailed definition of the term "normal remuneration". However, it was formulated in the case law of the Supreme Court, which shows that it is a type of remuneration which the employee receives in a systematic manner. This may apply to basic salaries, which are strictly based on personal recruitment, as well as fixed wages, ie various types of statutory bonuses and allowances. The employer is obliged to pay the employee normal remuneration for each hour of overtime worked. This results from art. 80 of the Labor Code, which stipulates that any work requires appropriate payment.

As can be seen, the calculation of additional remuneration for overtime is not as complicated as it might seem. First of all, you should define and determine which percentage you need to apply to a given employee's overtime and decide how much the final salary should be.

It should be remembered that the calculation of overtime becomes much more complicated in the case of piecework and commission systems – which is done based on separate rules.

Our personnel & payroll services can help you with that!