Fixed penalty notice and fine for violating employee rights: how much are they and what if you refuse?

Who this applies to

Employers and people acting on their behalf, because this is how the Labour Code provisions define the perpetrators of petty offences (e.g. Article 281 § 1 of the Labour Code: "Whoever, being an employer or acting on its behalf"). In cases of petty offences against employee rights under the Labour Code, the public prosecutor is the labour inspector (Article 17 § 2 KPW), and fixed penalty proceedings are conducted by the labour inspector (Article 95 § 3 KPW). This usually happens during or after a PIP inspection.

What to do

1. Establish which petty offence the inspector alleges. When imposing a fine, the inspector must state its amount, the conduct constituting the petty offence, the time, place and legal classification, and inform you of the right to refuse the fixed penalty notice and the consequences of refusal (Article 97 § 3 KPW).
2. Decide whether to accept the fixed penalty notice. The offender may refuse to accept the fixed penalty notice (Article 97 § 2 KPW). An accepted credit penalty notice (mandat kredytowany) becomes final on acknowledgement of receipt, and the fine must be paid within 7 days of acceptance (Article 98 § 3 KPW).
3. If you refuse, be prepared for a court case. After a refusal, the authority files a request for punishment with the court (Article 99 KPW). At first instance, the district court (sąd rejonowy) rules (Article 9 § 1 KPW). The court sets the fine itself, within the statutory limits, i.e. up to PLN 60,000 or PLN 90,000.
4. Check whether the fixed penalty notice can be set aside. A final fixed penalty notice is set aside if the fine was imposed for an act that is not a petty offence. The penalised person files the application no later than within 7 days of the notice becoming final (Article 101 § 1 KPW). A notice is also set aside in the part exceeding the permissible amount (Article 101 § 1a). The application is examined by the court (Article 101 § 2).
5. Remedy the violation regardless of the fixed penalty notice. A fixed penalty notice does not replace orders (nakaz) and post-inspection recommendations (wystąpienie). See PIP report, order, post-inspection recommendations, instruction and decision: how do they differ?

Fines in the Labour Code from 8.07.2026

• Article 281 § 1 of the Labour Code, PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000, among others for: concluding a civil-law contract in conditions where there should be an employment contract (point 1); violating the ban on unfavourable treatment of an employee in connection with an OIP decision establishing an employment relationship (point 1b); failing to confirm an employment contract in writing before allowing the person to work (point 2); gross violation of the provisions on termination with or without notice (point 3); violation of the provisions on working time and parental rights (point 5); failing to keep employee records (point 6).
• Article 281 § 2 of the Labour Code, PLN 3,000 to PLN 90,000, where the employee whose contract was not confirmed in writing (§ 1(2)) is a person referred to in Article 2(1)(4) of the Act on the National Register of Debtors, i.e. a person against whom enforcement of maintenance is pending and who is more than 3 months in arrears with it.
• Article 282 § 1 of the Labour Code, PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000, among others for failing to pay wages or another benefit on time, unjustified reductions or deductions, failing to grant leave, failing to issue an employment certificate on time. The same penalty applies to failing to comply with a labour court judgment or settlement (§ 2).
• Article 282 § 3 of the Labour Code, PLN 3,000 to PLN 90,000, for paying an employee who is such a maintenance debtor wages higher than those under the employment contract without deductions for maintenance.
• Article 283 § 1 and 2 of the Labour Code, PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000, for violating health and safety (BHP) rules and, among others, failing to report a serious, fatal or collective accident, failing to comply with a PIP order and obstructing the activities of the PIP.

Previously the ranges were PLN 1,000-30,000 and PLN 1,500-45,000. The changes were introduced by Article 3 of the Act of 11.03.2026 (Dz.U. 2026 item 473).

Fixed penalty notice: how much can it be

• Up to PLN 5,000 in cases where the public prosecutor is a PIP authority (Article 96 § 1a(1) KPW).
• Up to PLN 10,000 if a person penalised at least twice for a petty offence against employee rights under the Labour Code commits such a petty offence within two years of the last penalty (Article 96 § 1b KPW). The same repeat-offence rule applies to petty offences under the acts on temporary workers (§ 1ba), on the minimum wage (§ 1bb) and on restricting trade on Sundays and public holidays (§ 1bc). The amount of PLN 10,000 instead of PLN 5,000 was introduced by Article 6(2) of the Act of 11.03.2026.
• According to the PIP website, a fixed penalty notice for a petty offence against employee rights is from PLN 2,000 to PLN 5,000. The KPW gives only the upper limit. The amount of PLN 2,000 corresponds to the lower limit of the fine in Articles 281-283 of the Labour Code.

Exceptions and caveats

• The inspector may skip the fixed penalty notice. According to the National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, PIP), the inspector may file a request for punishment with the court straight away, without offering a fixed penalty notice.
• Fixed penalty notice after explanatory activities. The inspector may also impose a fixed penalty notice after carrying out explanatory activities, if the inspector considers this penalty sufficient (Article 95 § 3 KPW).
• When a fixed penalty notice is excluded. A fixed penalty notice is not imposed for petty offences for which a penal measure should be ordered (Article 96 § 2 KPW). In the situation under Article 9 § 1 of the Code of Petty Offences (an act that meets the elements of several petty offences), a fixed penalty notice is possible only if fixed penalty proceedings are admissible for all the provisions violated (Article 96 § 2).
• Amnesty for civil-law contracts. An entity that before 8.07.2026 concluded a civil-law contract having all the features of an employment relationship is not liable for the petty offence under Article 281 § 1(1) of the Labour Code if, within 12 months of the Act's entry into force, it voluntarily concludes an employment contract (Article 16 of the Act of 11.03.2026). This period ends on 8.07.2027. We calculated the date ourselves; the Act says only "12 months". The amnesty does not cover other petty offences, e.g. under Article 282 of the Labour Code.
• Proceedings before the Constitutional Tribunal. The President's application in case K 17/26 also covers the increased fines in Articles 281 and 282 of the Labour Code and the amounts of fixed penalty notices in Article 96 KPW. As at 15.10.2026, the Tribunal has not scheduled a hearing or issued a judgment, and the provisions apply. A final fixed penalty notice can be set aside at any time if the Tribunal rules that the provision on which the fine was imposed is unconstitutional (Article 101 § 1b(1) KPW). Whether this will apply depends on the content of any judgment.
• Legality of employment. For petty offences under the Act on the Labour Market and the Act on Entrusting Work to Foreign Nationals, the inspector also conducts fixed penalty proceedings or files a request for punishment (Article 37(1) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate). The amounts for these petty offences follow from other provisions, and this guide does not cover them.

When it is worth consulting a lawyer: before deciding to refuse a fixed penalty notice, when the allegation concerns civil-law contracts or an OIP decision on an employment relationship, when classification as a repeat offence is possible, or when a dispute is pending in parallel before the labour court.

Example

Assumptions: the inspector finds that a manager acting on behalf of the employer twice failed to pay several employees their wages on time. This person has not previously been penalised for petty offences against employee rights.

This is a petty offence under Article 282 § 1(1) of the Labour Code, punishable by a fine of PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000. The inspector may offer a fixed penalty notice of up to PLN 5,000, and the higher limit of PLN 10,000 does not apply, because there are no two previous penalties. If the manager refuses the fixed penalty notice, the inspector will file a request for punishment with the district court. Regardless of this, the inspector may issue an order to pay the outstanding wages, which is immediately enforceable.

Documents and deadlines

Frequently asked questions

Does the fixed penalty notice go to the company or to a specific person?

The Labour Code provisions describe the offender as a person who is the employer or acts on its behalf. When the employer is a company, the inspector establishes who was responsible for the violation on its behalf, e.g. a management board member or a manager. The proceedings are conducted against that person.

Does it pay to refuse a fixed penalty notice?

That depends on the evidence and the circumstances. The court may impose a fine lower or higher than the fixed penalty notice, within the statutory limits. According to the PIP, a fine imposed by a court may reach PLN 60,000.

Does concluding an employment contract with a contractor protect against a penalty?

Protection against a penalty for the petty offence under Article 281 § 1(1) of the Labour Code is given by the amnesty, if the contract was concluded before 8.07.2026 and you voluntarily conclude an employment contract within 12 months of that date. How to tell the contracts apart is explained in the guide Contract of mandate or employment contract? How to check what really binds the parties.

Related guides

• PIP inspection: whom it concerns, what the inspector can check and how it works
• PIP report, order, post-inspection recommendations, instruction and decision: how do they differ?
• Contract of mandate or employment contract? How to check what really binds the parties

Sources (documents in Polish)

• Kodeks pracy, t.j. Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1245
• Kodeks postępowania w sprawach o wykroczenia, t.j. Dz.U. 2025 poz. 860
• Rejestr zmian KPW w ELI
• Ustawa z 11.03.2026 o zmianie ustawy o PIP, Dz.U. 2026 poz. 473
• Ustawa o Państwowej Inspekcji Pracy, tekst ujednolicony ISAP (stan 2026-07-31)
• PIP: Jak przygotować się do kontroli?
• Ustawa o Krajowym Rejestrze Zadłużonych, t.j. Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1584
• Trybunał Konstytucyjny, sprawa K 17/26

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

Change history

• 15 October 2026: First publication.