Working Hours in Poland (Labour Code): Limits and Overtime

Polish working time law sits in Chapter VI of the Kodeks pracy (Labour Code) of 1974; its working time rules were last substantively amended in 2023. The headline numbers (8 hours per day, 40 hours per week) match the EU directive baseline, but Polish practice has several distinctive features: an unusually flexible reference period regime, strict overtime caps, and a detailed Article 149 recordkeeping requirement that survived CCOO without amendment.

This post walks through what Polish employers track, what Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy (PIP, the State Labour Inspectorate) checks, and where the 2023 amendments tightened the rules.

#Quick Reference

#How Many Hours Is the Work Week in Poland?

The short answer: 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, in what the Labour Code calls an average five-day working week (Art. 129 § 1). The 40 hours are an average over the reference period, up to four months as standard, so a single week may run longer as long as the period evens out.

Overtime sits on top of that norm, within two limits. Total working time, overtime included, may not exceed 48 hours a week on average over the reference period (Art. 131), and each worker may work at most 150 overtime hours a year unless a collective agreement or workplace rules set a different cap (Art. 151 § 3).

Per day, the Code sets no explicit ceiling beyond the 8-hour norm. The practical limit follows from the 11 hours of daily rest every worker must get in each 24-hour period (Art. 132): that leaves at most 13 hours of work, overtime included. The weekly counterpart is 35 hours of uninterrupted rest (Art. 133).

#The Reference Period

Article 129 sets the 40-hour week as an average over the reference period (okres rozliczeniowy). The flexibility this creates is unusual in Europe:

• Default reference period: 4 months
• Equivalent working time system (days of up to 12 hours): 1 month, extendable to 3 months, or to 4 months for seasonal or weather-dependent work (Art. 135)
• Extendable to 12 months under a collective bargaining agreement or an agreement with the trade unions, or with employee representatives where there are no unions (since 2013, Art. 150 § 3)

In a 12-month reference period, an employer can run 50-hour weeks during peak season and 30-hour weeks during off-season, as long as the year ends at 40 hours per week on average.

#Daily and Weekly Maximums

#Article 131: 48-Hour Weekly Cap

Including overtime, 48 hours per week averaged over the reference period. This is the EU directive minimum, implemented directly.

#Article 151: Overtime

Polish overtime rules are strict:

• 150 hours per worker per calendar year (Article 151 § 3)
• Higher caps possible by collective agreement (up to 416 hours, though rare)
• Premium: 100 percent for nights, Sundays, holidays; 50 percent for other overtime

Overtime is allowed only for "particular employer needs" or a rescue action to protect life, health, property or the environment, or to deal with a breakdown (Art. 151 § 1). Routine high workload does not justify overtime; structural understaffing is not a legal basis.

These two grounds are long-standing: they already appear in the 1998 consolidated text of the Code. No 2023 reform added a duty to log a business reason for each overtime hour. What the 2023 amendments did change: an employee raising a child under 8 (previously under 4) may not be given overtime without their consent (Art. 178 § 2).

#Rest Periods

#Article 132: Daily Rest

11 consecutive hours per 24-hour period.

#Article 133: Weekly Rest

35 consecutive hours per 7-day period. Sunday is typically the rest day, with sectoral exceptions.

Polish law treats Sunday work restrictively, especially in retail. The 2018 Sunday Trading Restrictions Act phased out Sunday retail work; the number of permitted trading Sundays is set by statute and varies year to year (8 in 2026).

#Article 134: Breaks

15 minutes after 6 hours of work. Since April 2023, a working day of more than 9 hours brings a second 15-minute break, and one of more than 16 hours a third (Art. 134 § 1). CBAs and individual contracts often extend this.

The breaks are paid. This is unusual in the EU (most countries have unpaid breaks).

#Annual Leave

Polish leave depends on years of service:

• Under 10 years: 20 working days per year (4 weeks)
• 10 or more years: 26 working days per year (5 weeks plus)

The 10-year threshold counts all employment history (including study time, military service, certain unpaid periods), not just service at the current employer. Since 2026, periods of self-employment and of mandate (civil-law) contracts count too, once confirmed by a ZUS certificate (Art. 302¹; for private employers from 1 May 2026). Most office workers in Poland reach 26 days within their first 5 to 10 years of professional life.

#Article 149: Recordkeeping

Article 149 of the Kodeks pracy requires employers to maintain time records for every employee. The records must include:

• Daily working time: the hours worked each day, including the start and end time of work (required by the regulation on employee documentation since 2019)
• Overtime worked: with the time and the type (Sunday, holiday, etc.)
• Holiday and absence days: vacation, sick leave, unpaid leave
• Time off in lieu: where granted

Records are kept for the period of employment plus 10 years from the end of the calendar year in which the employment ended (Art. 94 pt 9b). For staff hired from 2019 onwards, the 2019 amendment replaced the 50-year retention period for personal and payroll files with this 10-year rule.

#CCOO and Poland

Article 149 already required daily working time records before CCOO. The 2019 ECJ ruling did not necessitate new legislation in Poland; PIP's interpretation simply hardened. Post-2019, the inspectorate has consistently emphasised that the records must be daily-level and reliable.

Since 2019, the Labour Code has expressly allowed electronic records: employers may keep employee documentation on paper or electronically, provided it stays confidential, intact, complete and available (Art. 94 pt 9a and 9b).

#Special Categories

#Young Workers (Chapter IX)

Workers under 18 covered by separate rules:

• 8 hours per day, 40 per week (down to 6 hours for under-16s)
• 14-hour daily rest
• 30-minute break after 4.5 hours

#Managerial Staff (Article 151⁴)

The Code separates two groups. Workplace managers run the workplace on the employer's behalf: a sole head and their deputies, members of a collective management board, and chief accountants (Art. 128 § 2). Department heads lead a separate unit within it. Both work beyond the 8/40 norm when necessary, without overtime pay (Art. 151⁴ § 1). Department heads still get overtime pay for Sunday and holiday work unless they receive another day off in return (Art. 151⁴ § 2).

Beyond pay, the two groups differ:

• Department heads keep the other rules: the 48-hour weekly cap, 11 hours of daily rest, 35 hours of weekly rest, and the records of their working hours.
• Workplace managers do not. The 48-hour cap does not apply to them (Art. 131 § 2), nor does the 11-hour daily rest (Art. 132 § 2). Their weekly rest may fall to 24 hours (Art. 133 § 2), and their working hours are not recorded (Art. 149 § 2).

Courts read "when necessary" narrowly: it covers an occasional need, not regular extra hours caused by how the work is organised. Those count as overtime.

#Telework

The 2023 amendment to the Labour Code on remote work (praca zdalna, Dz.U. 2023 poz. 240) formalised the framework for telework. Working time rules apply identically to telework; the recording duty extends to home-based work, so employee time tracking for remote workers needs the same daily detail as office work.

#The PIP Inspectorate

The Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy (PIP) enforces. Inspections are common in Poland; PIP carried out about 62,000 inspections in 2024, about 2,700 of them dedicated working time inspections.

Penalties under the Labour Code and the Kodeks postępowania w sprawach o wykroczenia (Code of Procedure in Petty Offences), as raised from 8 July 2026:

In PIP's dedicated working time inspections, the most common breach was faulty working time records, found in 47 percent of cases in both 2023 and 2024.

#Practical Compliance Checklist

1. Set the reference period explicitly. Up to 4 months, or up to 12 months by agreement. Document the choice and the basis (statute, CBA, or agreement with the trade unions or employee representatives).
2. Track daily start, end, breaks, and overtime per worker. Article 149 requires daily records.
3. Document overtime causes. "Particular employer need" must be specific; "high workload" alone is insufficient.
4. Cap overtime at 150 hours per year. Or document the CBA basis for a higher cap.
5. Honor the Sunday retail restrictions. A limited number of trading Sundays are permitted each year (8 in 2026); the rest are prohibited for general retail.
6. Retain records for 10 years. Mandatory under the 2019 amendment.

#Common Questions

Can the 12-month reference period really average extreme weeks? Yes, within limits. Working time including overtime still averages at most 48 hours a week over the period; daily rest still applies; the annual overtime cap (150 hours) still applies. So the flexibility is meaningful but bounded.

Are senior managers exempt? Partly, and it depends on the role. Department heads work beyond the 8/40 norm without overtime pay when necessary, but keep the 48-hour cap, the rest periods, and the records of their hours. Those who run the workplace on the employer's behalf (the head and deputies, board members, chief accountants) are also outside the 48-hour cap and the 11-hour daily rest, get at least 24 hours of weekly rest, and their hours are not recorded.

Does the Sunday retail restriction affect ecommerce? The 2018 statute restricts in-person retail. Ecommerce fulfilment with no customer-facing work is permitted, though warehouse work on Sunday is subject to the broader weekly rest rules.

What if I run only one shift? Working time records still required. The 8/40 norm and the rest periods don't change with shift count.

Are public holidays separate from the 20 or 26 leave days? Yes. Poland has 14 public holidays (Christmas Eve was added in 2025), separate from annual leave. A public holiday that falls on a day other than Sunday reduces working time by 8 hours (Art. 130 § 2), so a holiday on a Saturday gives employees another day off.

#Summary

• Polish Labour Code Chapter VI sets the 8/40 norm with reference periods of up to 4 months, or up to 12 months by agreement
• 48-hour weekly cap including overtime
• 150 hours overtime per worker per year baseline
• 11-hour daily rest, 35-hour weekly rest, 15-minute paid break after 6 hours
• Article 149 requires daily records for 10 years
• Sunday retail restricted to a limited number of trading Sundays per year (8 in 2026)
• PIP enforces with fines up to PLN 60,000

#Sources

• Kodeks pracy on isap.sejm.gov.pl
• Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy
• 2023 amendment to the Labour Code on remote work (Dz.U. 2023 poz. 240)
• Sunday Trading Restrictions Act (Dz.U. 2018 poz. 305)

#Where to Go Next

• The EU Working Time Directive explained for the framework Poland implements
• The ECJ CCOO ruling: why time tracking is mandatory for the case PIP cites in inspections