Poland Overtime Rules: The 8-Hour Day, the 50% and 100% Supplements, and the 150-Hour Limit (2026)

November 10, 202610 min read

Poland Overtime Rules: The 8-Hour Day, the 50% and 100% Supplements, and the 150-Hour Limit (2026)

The short answer: Poland's Labour Code (Kodeks pracy) sets working time at 8 hours a day and an average of 40 hours in a five-day week. Work past those norms is overtime. Overtime is paid at normal pay plus a supplement: 50% on an ordinary working day, and 100% at night, on Sundays, on public holidays, and for hours past the weekly average. It is capped at 150 hours a year per employee unless your work rules or contract set a different figure, and the whole week, overtime included, may not average more than 48 hours. Every employer has to keep a working-time record for every employee, hand it over on request, and store it for 10 years after the job ends. Not keeping it is an offence with a fine of PLN 1,000 to PLN 30,000. Punch builds that record one punch at a time.

Readers of our guides to Germany's 8-hour day, France's 35-hour week and Spain's 80-hour cap will find Poland different from all three. Germany and Spain leave the overtime rate to agreements. Poland writes it into the statute, and it is among the highest statutory rates in Europe. Here is how it works for a small crew.

The 8-Hour Day and the Average 40-Hour Week

Article 129 of the Kodeks pracy says working time may not exceed 8 hours a day and an average of 40 hours in an average five-day working week, measured over a reference period of up to 4 months. The reference period can be extended to as much as 12 months where objective, technical or organisational reasons justify it, by collective agreement or agreement with employee representatives.

Four limits sit around those norms:

48 hours a week, overtime included. Under article 131, total weekly working time may not exceed an average of 48 hours across the reference period.
11 hours of daily rest. Article 132 gives every employee at least 11 consecutive hours of rest in each 24-hour period.
35 hours of weekly rest. Article 133 gives at least 35 consecutive hours of rest each week, which includes the daily 11.
A paid 15-minute break. An employee whose day runs at least 6 hours gets a break of at least 15 minutes, and it counts as working time.

One detail catches small employers. The Polish working day, the doba, is the 24 hours that start when the employee begins work under their schedule. A painter who starts at 8:00 on Monday and is asked in at 6:00 on Tuesday has worked two hours inside Monday's doba, on top of Monday's eight. Those two hours are overtime, even though neither day looks long on paper. Only exact start times show it.

The 50% and 100% Supplements

Article 151 defines overtime as work beyond the working-time norms, or beyond the longer daily schedule set by the working-time system the employee is on. It is allowed in two cases: rescue work to protect life, health, property or the environment or to fix a failure, and the employer's special needs.

Article 151¹ sets what it pays. On top of normal pay for the hour, the employee earns:

A 100% supplement for overtime worked at night, on Sundays and public holidays that are not working days under the employee's schedule, and on a day off given in exchange for Sunday or holiday work.
A 50% supplement for overtime on any other day.
A 100% supplement for each hour that exceeds the average weekly norm in the reference period, unless that hour was already compensated as daily overtime.

So an electrician earning PLN 40 an hour is owed PLN 60 for a ninth hour on a Wednesday, and PLN 80 for the same hour on a Sunday that was not a scheduled working day.

The supplement is calculated on the pay that follows from the employee's personal grade, set as an hourly or monthly rate. Where the contract does not separate that component out, the base is 60% of pay.

Time Off Instead of Pay

Article 151² allows overtime to be settled with time off, and the ratio depends on who asks.

At the employee's written request, the employer may give time off equal to the overtime worked. One hour for one hour.
Without a request, the employer may give time off by the end of the reference period at one and a half times the overtime worked. One and a half hours for each hour. This may not reduce the employee's pay for a full month of working time.

In both cases no supplement is owed. Both cases also need the same thing: a record of exactly how many overtime hours were worked and when the time off was taken.

The 150-Hour Limit

Overtime worked for the employer's special needs may not exceed 150 hours in a calendar year for each employee. A collective agreement, the work rules, or the employment contract, where the employer has no collective agreement and is not required to have work rules, may set a different annual number. Whatever number applies, the 48-hour weekly average and the daily and weekly rest periods still hold.

Managers who run the workplace on the employer's behalf work outside normal hours where necessary without overtime pay. That exception is narrow. It does not reach a crew lead or a senior technician.

Night Work

The employer sets the night period: 8 hours between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Each hour worked in it earns a night supplement of 20% of the hourly rate that follows from the minimum wage. Because the hourly rate is the monthly minimum divided by that month's working hours, the supplement moves from month to month. In 2026 it runs from about PLN 5.22 to PLN 6.01 an hour.

Overtime that falls at night earns both: the night supplement and the 100% overtime supplement, calculated separately.

The Minimum Wage: PLN 4,806 Now, PLN 4,950 in January

The 2026 minimum wage is PLN 4,806 gross a month, with a minimum hourly rate of PLN 31.40 for civil-law contracts, both in force since 1 January 2026. The Council of Ministers regulation of 14 September 2026 sets the 2027 figures: PLN 4,950 a month and PLN 32.30 an hour from 1 January 2027. The night supplement rises with it.

The Working-Time Record: Every Employee, 10 Years

Article 149 requires the employer to keep a working-time record for each employee, so that pay and other entitlements can be worked out correctly, and to make it available to the employee on request. Under the regulation on employee documentation, the record covers:

hours worked, with the start and end time of work
hours worked at night
overtime hours
on-call hours, with start, end and place
days off and the reason for each
leave and other absences, excused and unexcused

Hours do not have to be logged for employees on task-based working time, for managers who run the workplace, or for employees paid a lump sum for overtime or night work. Their days off and absences still do.

The record is kept for the whole period of employment and for 10 years from the end of the calendar year in which the job ended. Under article 281, an employer who does not keep it commits an offence against employee rights, with a fine of PLN 1,000 to PLN 30,000. In a pay dispute, an employer without the record is left answering the employee's own account of their hours.

How Punch Handles Polish Working Time

Punch is built for the record every rule above depends on.

A Poland preset, in złoty. Choose Poland at signup and Punch applies its Kodeks pracy preset: hours past 8 in a day and past 40 in a week at 1.5x. The 100% supplement for night, Sunday and holiday overtime depends on the calendar and your schedule, so apply it by hand or set your own thresholds and rates under Custom in Org Settings. The preset's footer says the same, and notes that the 150-hour limit is a compliance cap, not a pay trigger.

Exact start and end times. Your team punches in, punches out for the break, and punches out at the end of the day from their phone. The start and end time article 149 asks for is on the record for every person, every day, to the minute, which is also what the doba rule, the 11-hour rest and the night period are measured against. Every later change a manager makes is kept beside the original punch.

Overtime by day, week and pay period. Reports roll up per person, so the hours past 8, the hours past 40, and the running total against 150 are a glance, not a reconstruction.

A job-site geofence, not a camera. Punch-in can be limited to a geofence around the site. There is no photo at punch and no facial recognition.

Approvals before payroll. Managers approve hours one by one or bulk approve a whole pay period, then export to QuickBooks Online, Square, or a QuickBooks or Excel CSV for your accountant or payroll office.

No signal, no gap. Punches made in a basement or on a rural site sync when the phone reconnects. A shared iPad in kiosk mode, with a PIN for each worker, covers a workshop door or a yard gate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the overtime rate in Poland?

Normal pay plus a 50% supplement for overtime on an ordinary working day, and plus a 100% supplement for overtime at night, on Sundays and public holidays that are not scheduled working days, and for hours past the average weekly norm.

How many overtime hours are allowed in Poland?

150 hours in a calendar year per employee for the employer's special needs, unless a collective agreement, the work rules or the contract set a different figure. Total working time, overtime included, may not average more than 48 hours a week.

Can overtime be settled with time off?

Yes. At the employee's written request, hour for hour. Without a request, the employer gives one and a half hours off for each overtime hour, by the end of the reference period. No supplement is owed either way.

Does a small employer have to keep a working-time record?

Yes. Article 149 has no small-business exception. The record is kept for each employee, shown to them on request, and stored for 10 years after the year the employment ended.

What is the fine for not keeping it?

PLN 1,000 to PLN 30,000, as an offence against employee rights under article 281 of the Labour Code.

What is the minimum wage in Poland?

PLN 4,806 a month in 2026, with a PLN 31.40 minimum hourly rate. From 1 January 2027 it is PLN 4,950 a month and PLN 32.30 an hour.

Keep a Polish Record That Holds Up

Polish working time is a set of lines drawn across the hours your crew actually works: 8 a day, an average of 40 a week, 48 with overtime, 11 hours of rest, 150 overtime hours a year, 50% and 100% on top, and a record kept 10 years that proves every one of them.

Punch records every punch in, punch out and break, applies the Poland preset or your own rates, rolls up the day and the week, and exports approved hours straight to payroll. Pricing is flat per workspace, with no per-user line item, and every plan includes every feature. The 14-day free trial starts on signup, no credit card required.

Start tracking Polish hours correctly with Punch →

Poland Overtime Rules: The 8-Hour Day, the 50% and 100% Supplements, and the 150-Hour Limit (2026)