Overtime: when is it allowed, how much does the employer pay for it and how do you document it?

Who this applies to

This guide concerns employees on an employment contract (umowa o pracę) and employers. It also concerns people who have already left their job and were not paid for overtime. Different rules apply to:

• employees managing the workplace and heads of separate units. They work outside normal hours when necessary without pay or a supplement for overtime. Heads of units are, however, entitled to pay and a supplement for overtime on Sundays and public holidays if they did not receive another day off in return (Article 151(4) of the Labour Code),
• part-time employees. In the contract, the parties agree after how many hours beyond the agreed working time the supplement is due (Article 151 § 5 of the Labour Code),
• employees who are paid a lump sum instead of pay with a supplement because they permanently work outside the workplace (Article 151(1) § 4 of the Labour Code).

What to do

1. Check your standards. Working time may not exceed 8 hours a day and an average of 40 hours in an average five-day working week, in a settlement period of up to 4 months (Article 129 § 1 of the Labour Code). In some cases the settlement period may be extended to 12 months (Article 129 § 2 of the Labour Code). You will find your working time system and schedule in the work rules, collective agreement, announcement or contract.
2. Identify overtime. Overtime is work beyond the daily or weekly standard or beyond the extended daily working time in your schedule (Article 151 § 1 of the Labour Code). A day is counted as 24 consecutive hours from the hour at which you start work according to your schedule (Article 128 § 3(1) of the Labour Code). Making up time off granted at your request to deal with personal matters is not overtime (Article 151 § 2(1) of the Labour Code).
3. Check the supplement. The supplement is (Article 151(1) § 1-2 of the Labour Code):
   • 100% for overtime at night, on Sundays and public holidays that are not working days for you, on a day off granted for work on a Sunday or public holiday, and for exceeding the average weekly standard in the settlement period (unless you have already received a daily supplement for those hours),
   • 50% for overtime on any other day.

   Night time is 8 hours between 21:00 and 7:00 (Article 151(7) § 1 of the Labour Code). Night time is set in the work rules (Article 104(1) § 1(4) of the Labour Code), so that is where you will find the exact hours.

4. Establish the base for the supplement. The supplement is calculated on the basis of pay from your personal grade, set as an hourly or monthly rate. If no such component has been separated out, the base is 60% of pay (Article 151(1) § 3 of the Labour Code). With a monthly rate, you calculate the hourly rate by dividing the monthly rate by the number of working hours to be worked in the given month (§ 4a of the regulation of 29.05.1996, Dz.U. 2017 item 927).
5. Check whether you were given time off. Instead of the supplement, the employer may grant time off (Article 151(2) of the Labour Code):
   • at your request, made on paper or electronically: in the same amount as the overtime (e.g. 1 hour off for 1 overtime hour),
   • without your request: no later than the end of the settlement period, in an amount half as large again (1.5 hours for 1 overtime hour), without reducing pay for the full monthly working time.

   In both cases no overtime supplement is due (Article 151(2) § 3 of the Labour Code). For work on a day off resulting from the average five-day week (usually Saturday), you are entitled to another day off by the end of the settlement period, on an agreed date (Article 151(3) of the Labour Code).

6. Check the limits. Overtime due to the employer's particular needs may not exceed 150 hours in a calendar year (Article 151 § 3 of the Labour Code). A different limit may be set in a collective agreement, the work rules, or in the employment contract if the employer has no collective agreement and is not obliged to have work rules (Article 151 § 4 of the Labour Code). Regardless of this, weekly working time including overtime may not exceed an average of 48 hours in the settlement period (Article 131 § 1 of the Labour Code).
7. Ask for the working time records. The employer keeps working time records and makes them available to the employee on request (Article 149 § 1 of the Labour Code). Compare them with your own notes.
8. Keep records as you go. Write down your working hours every day and keep traces of instructions to work after hours. We describe the details below in the section on evidence.
9. Claim payment. The supplement is part of your pay, so the same routes apply as for unpaid wages: a demand for payment, a complaint to the PIP or a claim before the labour court. The claim becomes time-barred 3 years from the due date (Article 291 § 1 of the Labour Code). More: Your employer did not pay your wages on time. What can you do?

How to document overtime if the company does not record it

The duty to keep working time records lies with the employer (Article 149 § 1 of the Labour Code). If there are no records, or they do not show the real hours, you can still claim payment. In its judgment of 5 April 2016 (II PK 68/15), the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy, SN) stated that records are not a statutory condition for paying wages. Even if they are missing or unreliable, pay is due if the employee shows with other evidence how many hours they worked.

However, the absence of records does not mean that the court will automatically accept your version. In its judgment of 2 June 2010 (II PK 369/09), the Supreme Court held that failing to keep records does not create a presumption that the employee's version is credible and does not reverse the burden of proof. The court assesses all the evidence from both parties. That is why it is worth collecting several independent pieces of evidence that confirm one another.

1. Keep your own notes as you go. Every day, write down the time you started and finished work, breaks, the place and briefly what you did after hours. Notes made on the day of work are more convincing than a summary prepared years later. You can use our working hours table.
2. Keep instructions to work after hours. Emails, text messages and messenger messages in which your manager asks you to stay longer, come in on a day off or finish a task in the evening. Take a screenshot with the date and sender visible, or forward the message to your private mailbox if it concerns you and does not contain other people's data or company secrets.
3. Rotas and schedules. A photo of a rota you received or that was posted at the workplace shows the planned hours. Compare it with the actual hours from your notes.
4. Witnesses. Write down the names of co-workers, customers or drivers who saw that you worked longer. You do not need to collect statements from them. It is enough to name them in your complaint or claim.
5. Data from systems you have lawful access to. For example, the history of your logins, sent messages, reports, jobs, routes or orders that you can see as part of your duties. Write down what system it is and where the data are. Name them in your complaint or claim and ask for the employer to produce them.
6. Confirmations from the employer. Payslips with overtime missing and replies to your questions about the settlement are also evidence.
7. Request the records in writing. Cite Article 149 § 1 of the Labour Code and ask for access to the records for specific months. Keep a copy of the request and proof of sending. A refusal or the absence of records is important information for the PIP and the court. Failing to keep employee records and violating the provisions on working time are petty offences (Article 281 § 1(5) and (6) of the Labour Code).

What not to do. An employee has a duty to protect the employer's property and to keep confidential information whose disclosure could expose the employer to harm, and to observe secrets protected by separate provisions (Article 100 § 2(4) and (5) of the Labour Code). Do not copy or take away documents, databases or files that you are not authorised to access or that contain other people's personal data or company secrets. Do not log in to other people's accounts. It is better to describe where the evidence is and ask for the employer to produce it than to risk an allegation that you breached your duties.

I was not paid for overtime after leaving the job

1. Establish what is due. If the contract ended during the settlement period and up to the day it ended you worked beyond the standards in Article 129 of the Labour Code, you are entitled to an overtime supplement in addition to normal pay (Article 151(6) § 1 of the Labour Code). This matters especially with long settlement periods, in which overtime is settled only at the end of the period.
2. Check the payment date. The Labour Code does not provide a separate deadline for the final settlement of overtime. Only payment in lieu of unused leave has a separate deadline (Article 171 of the Labour Code, see Payment in lieu of unused leave: when you are entitled to it, how to calculate it and when it must be paid). Pay, including supplements, is paid at least once a month, on a fixed date, no later than the 10th day of the following month (Article 85 § 1-2 of the Labour Code). In our view, the settlement under Article 151(6) of the Labour Code should take place no later than the next pay date after the employment ends. The provision does not say this expressly.
3. Send a demand for payment. State the months, the number of overtime hours, the type of supplement and the amount. Attach a summary of the hours. You can prepare the letter in the demand generator.
4. File a complaint with the PIP, also as a former employee. The Act on the National Labour Inspectorate does not limit complaints to people who are still working. In its announcement of 17 April 2026, the PIP itself writes about inspections based on a complaint from an employee "bądź byłego pracownika" ("or a former employee") (in cases of pay discrimination). During an inspection, the inspector may order payment of wages due (Article 11(7) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate). However, the PIP does not pay out money and does not settle a dispute over the number of hours when the evidence is contradictory. That is for the court. The inspector does not reveal to the employer that the inspection results from a complaint, unless you consent to this in writing (Article 44(3) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate).
5. Sue the employer in the labour court. You can file the claim with the court competent for the employer or for the place where the work was performed. As a rule, an employee does not pay court fees. Details in the guide Your employer did not pay your wages on time. What can you do?. If you do not know which route to choose, see PIP, ZUS or labour court: who should you turn to with a problem at work?
6. Watch the limitation period. A claim becomes time-barred 3 years from the day it became due (Article 291 § 1 of the Labour Code). Each month has its own deadline. The limitation period is interrupted by an action before a body appointed to resolve disputes or enforce claims (e.g. a statement of claim) or by the employer acknowledging the claim (Article 295 § 1 of the Labour Code). Do not assume that a complaint to the PIP or a demand for payment will interrupt the limitation period. The provision does not mention them.

Exceptions and caveats

• Harmful work. In positions where the maximum permissible concentrations or intensities of harmful factors are exceeded, the employer may not order overtime because of particular needs (Article 151 § 2 of the Labour Code). It is permitted only in the case of a rescue operation or breakdown.
• No recording of hours. Working hours are not recorded for task-based working time, for employees managing the workplace, or where there is a lump sum for overtime or night work (Article 149 § 2 of the Labour Code).
• Work ending during the settlement period. If the contract ended or started during the settlement period and up to that time you worked beyond the standards in Article 129 of the Labour Code, the supplement is due in that case too (Article 151(6) of the Labour Code).
• Rota changes. When the employer moves your working hours so that you work a second time within the same working day (doba pracownicza), overtime may arise. We describe this in the guide Your employer changes your rota from one day to the next. What should you check?
• Employers: violating the provisions on working time and failing to keep employee records are petty offences under Article 281 § 1(5) and (6) of the Labour Code (fine of PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000 from 8 July 2026). Failing to pay wages on time is a petty offence under Article 282 § 1(1) of the Labour Code. The National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, PIP) inspects compliance with the provisions on working time (Article 10(1)(1) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate). The lack of reliable records also makes it harder to defend yourself in an overtime dispute.
• When to see a lawyer. When the employer disputes that you worked after hours, when the arrears cover many months or when the end of the 3-year period is approaching. The PIP also gives free advice, see How do you get free legal advice from the PIP?

Example

Assumptions: an employee works full-time and has basic pay from their personal grade of PLN 6,000 per month (monthly rate). In the given month they have 168 hours to work. In that month they worked 10 overtime hours on ordinary working days (50% supplement) and 2 overtime hours at night (100% supplement). They did not request time off and did not receive it.

1. Hourly rate: PLN 6,000 / 168 h = PLN 35.71 (rounded).
2. 50% supplement: 10 h × PLN 35.71 × 0.5 = PLN 178.57.
3. 100% supplement: 2 h × PLN 35.71 × 1.0 = PLN 71.43.
4. Total supplements: PLN 250.00.

The example calculates only the supplements. Normal pay is also due for overtime (Article 151(1) § 1 of the Labour Code). The provisions cited above do not describe how to calculate it with a fixed monthly salary. We used rounding for readability; a result calculated without rounding the rate may differ by a few grosz.

Variant after leaving the job. Assumptions: the same employee left the job halfway through a 4-month settlement period. The employer did not keep records of hours. The employee recorded their hours in a table every day, has messages from the manager with instructions to stay longer and knows two co-workers from the same shift. They send a demand for payment with a summary of hours. When they receive no reply, they file a complaint with the PIP and, independently of it, a claim with the labour court before 3 years have passed from the due date. How many overtime hours the court accepts will depend on its assessment of all the evidence.

Documents and deadlines

Frequently asked questions

Can I refuse to work overtime?

The Code allows the employer to order overtime only in the cases in Article 151 § 1 of the Labour Code and within the limits. Whether a refusal was justified depends on the circumstances. In a dispute, use free advice from the PIP.

The employer will not show me the records. What should I do?

Make a request in writing and cite Article 149 § 1 of the Labour Code. If the employer still refuses, describe this in a complaint to the PIP.

Are my own notes enough as evidence?

Notes alone may not convince the court, especially if the employer produces other documents. It is best when notes made as you go are confirmed by messages, rotas and witnesses. The court assesses all the evidence together.

Can a young worker work overtime?

No. A young worker may not be employed in overtime or at night (Article 203 § 1 of the Labour Code).

Useful tools

• Personal record of working hours
• Unpaid wages demand generator
• PIP complaint generator

Related guides

• Your employer did not pay your wages on time. What can you do?
• How do you prepare a demand for payment of outstanding wages?
• How do you file a complaint to the National Labour Inspectorate?
• Payment in lieu of unused leave: when you are entitled to it, how to calculate it and when it must be paid
• Your employer changes your rota from one day to the next. What should you check?
• PIP, ZUS or labour court: who should you turn to with a problem at work?

Sources (documents in Polish)

• Kodeks pracy, tekst jednolity Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1245 (art. 85, 100, 104(1), 128, 129, 131, 149, 151, 151(1)-151(4), 151(6), 151(7), 171, 203, 281, 282, 291, 295)
• Rozporządzenie MPiPS z 29.05.1996 w sprawie sposobu ustalania wynagrodzenia w okresie niewykonywania pracy (...), tekst jednolity Dz.U. 2017 poz. 927 (§ 4, § 4a)
• Ustawa o Państwowej Inspekcji Pracy, tekst ujednolicony ISAP (art. 10, 11, 44)
• Wyrok SN z 2.06.2010, II PK 369/09 (brak ewidencji a ciężar dowodu)
• Wyrok SN z 5.04.2016, II PK 68/15 (wynagrodzenie za nadgodziny mimo braku ewidencji)
• PIP, Jak złożyć skargę?
• PIP, Skarga na dyskryminację: szczegóły postępowania (17.04.2026, skargi byłych pracowników)

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

Change history

• 15 October 2026: First publication.
• 15 October 2026: Added: overtime after leaving the job and evidence when the company does not keep records.