Just like every labour legislation has got its working time regulations, it also needs to provide for situations when the employee exceeds his or her working hours. This is referred to as overtime work.
Formally, overtime work is permitted only when:
- it is required by particular needs of the employer;
- it is necessary to set up a search and rescue team in order to save life or health, or to protect property or repair a breakdown.
Polish Labour Code sets a cap on the amount of overtime work an employee may perform. There is a weekly cap and a yearly cap.
The weekly cap is 8 hours of overtime work. Altogether the amount of hours to be worked during a week (including regular and overtime hours) may not exceed 48.
The yearly cap is 150 hours of overtime work required by particular needs of the employer. However, this limit may be – and often is – extended in an individual employment contact, the collective labour agreement or the employer’s internal regulations.
The Labour Code provides for several options of compensation for overtime work, depending on the employee’s position and the time when extra work was performed. I will write more about this in the next post.
I guess every labour law legislation has a chapter dedicated to working time. So does Polish Labour Code.
Five-day work week
The standard working time scheme is based on five working days in a week. Every week has seven days so two of them are free. First, it’s Sunday because it counts as a holiday/day off work by statute (with some exceptions, of course). Second, in planning the working time, the employer must provide for an additional day off work. It can be any day from Monday to Saturday – usually it’s Saturday, though.
Standard working time
The standard working time in a five-day work week is maximum 8 hours a day and, on average, 40 hours a week, within a clearing period not exceeding 4 months, as adopted by a particular employer. This means that the number of working hours may be more or less than 40 in a particular week, but altogether during the clearing period the average weekly working time may not exceed 40 hours.
The number of hours worked in a week, including overtime, may not exceed, on average, 48 hours during a clearing period adopted by a particular employer.
Apart from the standard working time scheme, the Labour Code allows for several additional schemes the aim of which is to make working time schedules more flexible. For example, the employee may apply to the employer for an individual working time schedule or a shortened work week. In a shortened work week system the employee works less then 5 days a week, but longer than 8 hours (though no longer than 12 hours) a day, within a clearing period not exceeding 1 month.
Rest breaks
Employees are entitled to daily and weekly rest breaks.
Daily rest breaks last no less than 11 hours.
Weekly rest breaks last for a continuous time of 35 hours, including at least 11 hours of continuous rest in every 24 hours. As a rule, weekly rest breaks should cover Sunday.
Employees whose daily working time amounts to at least 6 hours are entitled to a rest break of 15 minutes, which counts as working time.
Employers have the option to introduce an additional break of up to one hour per day, not counting as working time, for employees to have meals or deal with personal matters during work. Such breaks may be provided only via a collective labour agreement, internal working by-laws or the employment contract.
What kind of working time scheme are most common in your country? Drop me a work in the comments!
In the entry on 2012 changes to Polish labour law I wrote that
vacation leave accrued in the foregoing calendar year will have to be used up by the end of September of the following year, which gives additional 6 months – by the end of 2011 accrued vacation leave had to be used up by the end of March
This seems quite simple but the lawyers started to think by when accrued leave for 2011 should be used: by the end of March 2012 or by the end of September 2012?
There are several arguments in favour and against each of the options. The National Labour Inspection has taken the stand that the new legislation will apply only to vacation leave earned in 2012, so the leave accrued in 2011 should be used in accordance with the old rules, i.e. by the end of March 2012.
What I think?
In my opinion vacation leave accrued in 2011 may be used by the end September 2012. Why? The most important argument in favour of that opinion is that vacation leave accrued in 2011 becomes outstanding on January 1, 2012, i.e. on the day when the new legislation is already in force. I can see no rational reason to postpone the time by which accrued leave should be used – and by almost a year (which is a long time), when the new legislation does not provide for such extension. There is no legal retroaction here, as the supporters of the National Labour Inspection’s standpoint claim.
And what do you think?
The beginning of each year traditionally sees a new rate of minimal wages being set.
With respect to 2011, the 2012 minimal wages rose by about 8 per cent – from 1386 PLN to 1500 PLN. Gross 1500 PLN equals to net (i.e. upon deduction of tax and social insurance contributions) 1111 PLN, which is 79 PLN more than in 2011. Looking at it from the employer’s viewpoint, the new minimal wage will cost them an additional amount of 262 PLN, which includes social insurance contributions to financed by the employer from their own resources. As a result, the employer’s total cost of 2012 minimal wages will be 1762 PLN.
The employers’ organizations point out that due to a rise in the minimal wages the companies will be more reluctant to hire new employees, particularly those without qualifications and in less economically developed regions. The employers may also resort to other forms of employment that employment contracts.
Employees may work on a full-time or part-time basis, whichever is agreed with the employer. There are no particular restrictions in this respect and the choice of the working time scheme is left to the parties to the employment contract.
However, you should bear in mind that full-time or part-time employment affects mutual rights and obligation of the employee and the employer.
First, it is forbidden to discriminate part-time employees or favour full-time employees with respect to entering into or terminating the employment contract, employment terms, promotion or access to professional training.
Second, employers are required to inform their employees about opportunities of full-time or part-time employment.
Third, part-time employment affects the rules of overtime work and paid vacation leave. Eg. the amount of vacation leave of a part-time employee should be calculated in proportion to that employee’s working time, with fractions being rounded up to a full day of leave. Further, basically a part-time employee working longer than stated in their employment contract will not be considered as working overtime provided that the 8-hour-per-day limit has not been exceeded. In this case the employment contract should indicate the number of hours above the contractual working time, exceeding of which earns the part-time employee the right to overtime premium.
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