Courier or app driver: who is your employer and what contract do you have?

Who this applies to

• Couriers who deliver food or shopping ordered through an app, on foot, by bicycle, scooter or car.
• Drivers who carry passengers in a car on jobs from a ride-hailing app.
• Especially people who do not know who the other party to their contract is, or who receive money from a different company than the one whose name is in the app.

A few Polish terms that appear in this guide:

• Employment contract (umowa o pracę) (employment relationship, "etat") - a contract under the Labour Code. It gives you, among other things, paid leave, protection against dismissal and at least the minimum wage.
• Contract of mandate (umowa zlecenia) - a civil-law contract under the Civil Code (Kodeks cywilny). It does not give you rights under the Labour Code, but it usually gives you insurance with ZUS and the minimum hourly rate.
• B2B - cooperation between two businesses. You run your own business (sole proprietorship) and issue invoices or bills.
• ZUS - Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych, the state pension, disability and accident insurance.
• PIP - the National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy). OIP - District Labour Inspectorate (okręgowy inspektorat pracy), its office in a region.

What to do

1. Find out who the other party to your contract is. Find the contract (on paper or in an e-mail, in the app, in a messaging app). Check the company name, its address and its NIP (tax number) or KRS (court register) number. Also check who transfers money to you. That company is your principal or employer, not automatically the app.
2. Understand the model with an intermediary.
   • Passenger transport: Polish law requires two licences. The app has an intermediary licence and may pass transport jobs only to carriers with a licence (Article 5d of the Road Transport Act). A carrier may carry passengers through its drivers, including people it does not employ under an employment contract but who personally carry out the transport on its behalf (Article 5c(1)(4)). This is why a driver without their own licence usually has a contract with the carrier, that is, the fleet partner, and not with the app.
   • Food delivery: there is no such rule for couriers. A courier may have a contract directly with the platform or with an intermediary company. Everything depends on what you signed.
3. Check what contract you have and what follows from it.
   • Contract of mandate: the company that concluded the contract with you should register you for social insurance. A contractor under a contract of mandate is compulsorily covered by pension, disability and accident insurance (Article 6(1)(4) and Article 12(1) of the Social Insurance System Act). Exception: a pupil or student under 26 (Article 6(4)). Not registering a person who performs paid work for insurance is illegal employment (Article 2(14) of the Labour Market Act). In 2026 the minimum hourly rate for a contract of mandate is PLN 31.40 gross, but there are exceptions (see below).
   • B2B: as an entrepreneur you are insured on the basis of your own business (Article 6(1)(5)). The partner does not register you with ZUS. If you do not employ anyone, you also have the right to the minimum hourly rate (Article 1(1a) of the Minimum Wage Act).
   • Employment contract: the employer has all the obligations under the Labour Code, including paying at least the minimum wage and keeping working time records.
4. Record your hours and collect evidence. Take screenshots from the app: log-ins, jobs, messages from the coordinator, rules on penalties and account blocks, settlements. You can note your hours in the working hours table.
5. Assess whether in practice this is a job on an employment contract. Answer the questions in the section below and use the Mandate or employment tool. The tool does not replace an assessment by the PIP or a court.
6. Decide where to turn.
   • If you are not receiving money or do not know why an amount was deducted, see Fleet partner does not pay or makes deductions: what to do?.
   • If the cooperation is ongoing and you believe you should have an employment contract, you can file a complaint with the PIP (details below).
   • If the cooperation has already ended, see The cooperation has already ended. How do you establish that it was an employment contract?.

When the cooperation has the features of an employment relationship

Under Article 22 § 1 of the Labour Code, an employee performs work of a specified kind "under the direction" of the employer and at a place and time set by the employer, for pay. The name of the contract does not matter (Article 22 § 1(1) of the Labour Code). The whole relationship is assessed, not a single feature.

Questions worth asking yourself:

• Do you decide yourself when you switch on the app, or does someone set your rota or require a minimum number of hours?
• Can you refuse a job without a penalty, loss of points or an account block?
• Does someone assign you a zone or a place where you have to wait?
• Do you receive instructions from a coordinator: how to work, how to dress, how to explain an absence?
• Can you send someone else in your place?
• Who pays for the car, bicycle, fuel and bag, and who bears the risk when there are few jobs?

The more answers show that the company decides, the more features of an employment relationship there are. Freedom to choose your hours and jobs points rather to a civil-law contract. The final assessment is made by the PIP or a court. More in the guides Contract of mandate or employment contract? How to check what really binds the parties and B2B contracting and the employment contract: when self-employment is really a job.

What the PIP can do from 8 July 2026

• Whom it can inspect. The PIP can inspect the company you work for, even if it employs nobody under an employment contract and you have a contract of mandate or your own business (Article 13(1) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate). This covers the fleet partner that concluded the contract with you. Whether the PIP can find that you also work "for" the app itself, the Act does not say directly. It depends on the findings of the inspection.
• Instruction. If the features of an employment relationship dominate in the relationship, the labour inspector, after hearing the parties, may issue an instruction (polecenie) to remove the violations, which in practice means concluding an employment contract (Article 11(2) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate).
• Decision. If the instruction is not carried out, the District Labour Inspector may issue a decision (decyzja) establishing an employment relationship (Article 11(1)(7a) and Article 19(1)(4)). As a rule, the employment contract has the date of the decision. If the company ends the cooperation during the inspection, the date of the contract is the day the inspection began (Article 34(2f) and (2g)). The decision does not cover past years. For the earlier period you can go to the labour court.
• Minimum rate. The PIP also inspects payment of the minimum hourly rate under contracts of mandate and B2B and may issue post-inspection recommendations (wystąpienie) or an instruction to pay it (Article 10(1)(15b) and Article 11b of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate).

We describe the whole procedure in the guide How the PIP establishes an employment relationship: inspection, instruction and OIP decision step by step.

PIP inspection concerning couriers (July 2026)

On 22 July 2026 the PIP published a notice for couriers working under civil-law contracts. It announced an inspection of the working conditions of couriers of one of the food delivery platforms. The inspection is carried out by the OIP in Wrocław, competent according to that company's registered office, at the request of the Minister of Labour. The PIP wrote that terminating or expiry of contracts during the inspection will not prevent a decision establishing an employment relationship. It added that the 21-day deadline for a claim to the labour court runs only from the day the decision becomes final. This is consistent with Article 34(2g) and (2i) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate. As of 15.10.2026 the PIP has not published the results of this inspection.

How to file a complaint with the PIP

1. Send the complaint to the District Labour Inspectorate. According to the PIP, the competent inspectorate is the one for the registered office of the company you are complaining about, that is, usually the company you have the contract with. The page competent inspectorate will help you.
2. Write who the party to your contract is, which app you work through, since when, and what your everyday work looks like. Attach evidence. You can prepare the complaint in the PIP complaint generator.
3. Sign the complaint. According to the PIP, you can submit it in person, by post with a handwritten signature, by e-mail with a file signed with a qualified, trusted or personal signature, or through e-Doręczenia. A scan of a signed letter is not enough.
4. During the inspection, the PIP does not reveal that it is acting on your complaint, unless you give written consent (Article 44(3) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate). The PIP examines anonymous complaints only in exceptional cases.
5. If you have questions, you can use the free PIP advice.

Full description in the guide How do you file a complaint to the National Labour Inspectorate?.

Exceptions and caveats

• The minimum rate does not always apply. The provisions on the minimum hourly rate do not apply when you decide yourself on the place and time of work and receive only commission, for example for services performed (Article 8d(1)(1) and (3) of the Minimum Wage Act). Whether payment "per ride" with you switching the app on yourself meets this exception, the provision does not say directly. When the company imposes a rota or a zone, the condition of deciding yourself may not be met. Details in the guide Minimum hourly rate for couriers and drivers: when are you entitled to it?.
• The cooperation must be ongoing. The PIP writes that it can act when, on the day of the inspection, you still perform work or services for the company. After the cooperation ends, the right route is usually the labour court.
• Passenger transport drivers. You must have a Polish driving licence (Article 39a(1)(2) of the Road Transport Act). From 17 June 2024, apps must check this. See Uber or Bolt driver: which driving licence, licence and app verification?.
• Foreigners. The company that entrusts you with work on the basis of a contract, usually the fleet partner, is responsible for the legality of work under a contract of mandate (Article 2(4) of the Act on Entrusting Work to Foreigners). Before you start work, it must conclude a written contract with you and, if you do not know Polish, give you its content in a language you understand (Article 5(1)-(2)). See Foreigner as a courier or app driver: legal work and your rights.
• The EU directive is not yet in force in Poland. The EU Platform Work Directive provides for a presumption of an employment relationship, but Poland has not yet implemented it. Today Article 22 of the Labour Code applies. See The Platform Work Directive: what will change for couriers and drivers?.
• Constitutional Tribunal. The provision on the OIP decision is the subject of case K 17/26 (pending as of 15.10.2026). The provisions remain in force.

When to see a lawyer

Get help from a lawyer when you want a court to establish an employment relationship for a period that has already passed, when you have received an OIP decision and are considering an appeal, when the company terminated your contract after a complaint, or when you are a foreigner and your right of residence depends on the contract. The outcome of each such case depends on the evidence.

Example

Assumptions: a person works as a passenger transport driver. The ride-hailing app passes jobs to a company with a carrier licence. The driver has a contract of mandate with that company. Every week the company sets his rota, requires 10 hours a day in the app and deducts money for rejected rides. The money is transferred by the company, not the app. The cooperation is ongoing.

The employer or principal here is the carrier company, because the driver has the contract with it. It should register him with ZUS and settle accounts with him. The rota, the required working time and penalties for refusing may indicate direction and working time set by the company, that is, the features from Article 22 § 1 of the Labour Code. The driver can file a complaint with the OIP competent for that company's registered office. Whether the PIP establishes an employment relationship depends on the findings of the inspection.

Documents and deadlines

Frequently asked questions

Is the app my employer?

Usually not in the legal sense, if you signed the contract with another company. The obligations lie with the party to your contract. Whether the PIP or a court will decide otherwise in a specific case depends on the facts.

The fleet partner says the app sets the rules. Who is responsible?

The company you have the contract with is responsible for payment, ZUS and legal work, even if it itself acts according to the app's rules. In passenger transport the app has its own obligations under the Road Transport Act, for example checking your driving licence and criminal record.

Will I lose access to the app after a complaint?

The PIP does not tell the company that the inspection follows your complaint without your written consent. If the OIP issues a decision, it cannot be the basis for unfavourable treatment, in particular notice of termination (Article 34(2l) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate). However, the current provisions do not directly regulate blocking of accounts in apps.

Useful tools

• Questionnaire: mandate or employment
• PIP complaint generator
• Personal record of working hours

Related guides

• Contract of mandate or employment contract? How to check what really binds the parties
• B2B contracting and the employment contract: when self-employment is really a job
• How the PIP establishes an employment relationship: inspection, instruction and OIP decision step by step
• How do you file a complaint to the National Labour Inspectorate?
• Fleet partner does not pay or makes deductions: what to do?
• The Platform Work Directive: what will change for couriers and drivers?

Sources (documents in Polish)

• Kodeks pracy, t.j. Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1245 (art. 22, 281)
• Ustawa o PIP, tekst ujednolicony ISAP (art. 10, 11, 11b, 13, 19, 34, 44)
• Ustawa z 11.03.2026 o zmianie ustawy o PIP, Dz.U. 2026 poz. 473
• Ustawa o transporcie drogowym, tekst ujednolicony ISAP (art. 5b, 5c, 5d, 27e, 39a)
• Ustawa o minimalnym wynagrodzeniu za pracę, t.j. Dz.U. 2024 poz. 1773 (art. 1, 8a-8e)
• Rozporządzenie RM w sprawie minimalnego wynagrodzenia na 2026 r., Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1242
• Ustawa o systemie ubezpieczeń społecznych, tekst ujednolicony ISAP (art. 6, 12, 36)
• Ustawa o rynku pracy i służbach zatrudnienia, Dz.U. 2025 poz. 620 (art. 2 pkt 14)
• Ustawa o warunkach dopuszczalności powierzania pracy cudzoziemcom, tekst ujednolicony ISAP (art. 2, 5)
• PIP - Ważna wiadomość dla kurierów zatrudnionych na umowach cywilnoprawnych (22.07.2026)
• PIP - Jak złożyć skargę?
• Dyrektywa (UE) 2024/2831
• TK - sprawa K 17/26

Sources checked on 15 October 2026. Law as at 15 October 2026.

Change history

• 15 October 2026: First publication.