How to determine and settle the driver’s working time

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The driver’s working time – including both daily and weekly working hours, as well as a maximum weekly limit of working hours together with overtime hours – is regulated in the Polish Act on Drivers’ Working Time.

The Act also includes a definition of drivers’ overtime and of the maximum annual limit of overtime hours worked by a driver to satisfy the specific needs of the employer.

Compensation for overtime granted in a form of a remuneration allowance in an appropriate amount or in a form of time off is subject to the general rules laid down in the Polish Labour Code.

See: How to determine and settle the working time | Biznes.gov.pl – Information and services website for entrepreneurs

In view of the above, in order to verify whether overtime work has occurred and to check the accuracy of calculations, it is necessary to know the following concepts and principles:

driver’s working time is the time from the beginning to the end of work, which covers all activities related to performing road transport, in particular:

• driving a vehicle;
• loading and unloading, and loading and unloading supervision;
• supervising and assisting embarking and disembarking persons;
• freight forwarding activities;
• day-to-day handling of vehicles and trailers;
• other activities undertaken to perform a business task or ensure the safety of persons, vehicles and goods;
• necessary administrative formalities;
• keeping a vehicle clean.

The driver’s working time also includes a break of 15 minutes, which the employer is required to ensure if the driver’s daily working time is at least 6 hours.

Any time outside the agreed work schedule during which a driver remains at their workstation and is ready to work, in particular while waiting for loading or unloading, with the foreseeable duration of these activities not known to the driver before departure or before the start of the relevant period, is also considered the driver’s working time.

The following time is not to be considered the driver’s working time:

• on-call time if a driver has not worked during the on-call time;
• unjustified stops while driving a vehicle;
• uninterrupted daily rest;
• breaks in work resulting from an intermittent working time system.

Worker’s day

For the purposes of working time settlements and determination of the right to overtime pay, a day should be understood as 24 consecutive hours, starting from the hour at which a driver starts their work according to their work schedule. A worker’s individual work schedule set by the employer may include various starting and ending times; if this is the case, repeated work within the same 24-hour day does not constitute overtime work.

Night time

1. Night time for the purpose of settling the driver’s working time: under the provisions of the Act on Drivers’ Working Time, if work is performed during night time, the driver’s working time must not exceed 10 hours between two consecutive daily rest periods or between a daily rest period and a weekly rest period. Night time means the period of four hours between 00:00 and 07:00; the definition of night time included in the provision in question is applied only for the purpose of calculating working time.
2. For the purpose of determining the right to a remuneration allowance – according to the provisions of the Polish Labour Code – night time covers 8 hours between 21:00 and 07:00. The employer specifies the night time in work regulations or in a collective bargaining agreement and, in the absence of an obligation to have work regulations in place or in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement, the employer is required to inform the worker in writing about the night time applicable at the workplace.

Remuneration allowance for night-time work

A driver working at night time is entitled to a remuneration allowance for each hour of night-time work amounting to 20% of the hourly rate resulting from the minimum wage.

An allowance for night-time work is payable to all workers working at night time, irrespective of any other allowances; in particular, it is paid independently of an overtime allowance for the same time.

An employer may provide for more favourable rules of compensating night-time work than those set forth in the Polish Labour Code.

In the case of workers who work at night time outside the workplace permanently, the allowance for night-time work may be replaced with a lump-sum payment corresponding to the expected amount of night-time work.

The lump sum should be set at a level corresponding to the anticipated amount of night-time work. If the lump sum is set at a level lower than the payment that would be paid for hours actually worked at night time, the employer is not released from the obligation to adjust the remuneration for work actually performed at night time, up to the amount specified in the Polish Labour Code.

On-call time means time spent at the workplace or another place designated by an employer during which a driver remains in readiness to perform work under a contract of employment outside their standard working hours.

For any on-call time referred to above, except for the on-call time spent at home, a driver is entitled to time off equal to the on-call time, and if it is impossible to grant such time off, a driver is entitled to remuneration according to their pay grade and calculated based on an hourly or monthly rate, or to 60% of remuneration if such a component of remuneration is not identified in the remuneration rules.

In cases where a vehicle is driven by two or more drivers, the time not spent on driving the vehicle is regarded as on-call time. For this type of on-call time, the driver is entitled to remuneration in the amount as specified in the employer’s remuneration rules, however, this remuneration may not be lower than 50% of the remuneration payable for the ‘standard’ on-call time described in the introduction.

Periods of availability mean periods other than breaks and rest periods during which a driver is not obliged to remain at the driver’s workstation, but at the same time is in readiness to start or continue driving a vehicle or to perform other work. These periods of availability include, in particular, the time during which the driver accompanies a vehicle transported by ferry or train, the waiting time at border crossing points and the waiting time related to road traffic restrictions.

The periods of availability outside the work schedule are considered on-call time.

If a driver to whom a task-based work schedule applies has not achieved a daily working time, the periods of availability are counted as working time up to 8 hours and any time beyond 8 hours is considered on-call time.

Working time

The driver’s working time may not exceed 8 hours per 24-hour day and an average of 40 hours in an average five-day working week within an agreed settlement period, which does not exceed, as a rule, 4 months.

If drivers are engaged in road transport operations, it is permitted to apply such work schedules in which working time may be extended to 12 hours per 24-hour day, under the system of equivalence. In such a scenario, the settlement period may not exceed 1 month, but it may be extended up to a maximum of 3 months in particularly justified cases and up to a maximum of 4 months in the case of work depending on the season or weather conditions.

The driver’s weekly working time, including overtime, may not exceed an average of 48 hours within the agreed settlement period not exceeding 4 months. However, the weekly working time may be extended to a maximum of 60 hours, provided that the average weekly working time does not exceed 48 hours within the agreed settlement period not exceeding 4 months.

This rule also applies to drivers employed by more than one employer. For this reason, the average weekly working time, irrespective of the number of employers (entities) for whom a driver performs work, may not exceed an average of 48 hours within the agreed settlement period not exceeding 4 months. Working time, therefore, is calculated with respect to a driver and not with respect to a specific employer.

The rule concerning the possibility of extending working time to 60 hours per week provided that the average weekly working time does not exceed 48 hours within the agreed settlement period and the application of this rule to a driver, irrespective of the number of employers for whom the driver provides work, do not apply to the vehicles listed in Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 and in Article 2(2) of the AETR Agreement.

Overtime

Work performed in excess of the working time standards applicable to a worker, as well as work performed in excess of the extended daily working hours resulting from the working time system and work schedule applicable to the driver, constitutes overtime work.

Overtime is permitted in the cases where:

• situations and incidents require actions by a driver to protect human life or health and property or to fix a breakdown,
• the employer has specific needs.

In the case of drivers, the annual limit on overtime resulting from the specific needs of the employer may not exceed 260 hours per calendar year.

A higher limit may be provided for in a collective bargaining agreement or work regulations or in a contract of employment if the employer has not entered into a collective bargaining agreement or is not required to have work regulations in place.

Average weekly overtime limit

The driver’s weekly working time, including overtime, may not exceed an average of 48 hours within the agreed settlement period not exceeding 4 months.

The weekly working time referred to above may be extended to 60 hours as long as the average weekly working time does not exceed 48 hours within the agreed settlement period not exceeding 4 months.

This rule also applies to drivers employed by more than one employer. For this reason, the average weekly working time, irrespective of the number of employers (entities) for whom a driver performs work, may not exceed an average of 48 hours within the agreed settlement period not exceeding 4 months.

Compensation for overtime

The Polish Labour Code provides for two methods of compensating overtime work:

• paying remuneration with an allowance of 50% or 100% of the remuneration,
• granting time off.

For overtime a worker is entitled not only to standard remuneration, but also to an overtime allowance in the amount of:

• 100% of remuneration – for the overtime hours worked:
  • at night time, on Sundays and public holidays which are not working days for the worker according to their work schedule,
  • on a day off granted to the worker in exchange for their work on a Sunday or public holiday performed in accordance with their work schedule,
• 50% of remuneration – for the overtime hours falling on any day other than that referred to in point 1.

An allowance of 100% is also payable for each overtime hour that results from exceeding the average weekly working time standard within the agreed settlement period unless that standard was exceeded as a result of overtime in respect of which the worker is entitled to an allowance for exceeding the daily working time standard.

The remuneration on the basis of which the allowance is calculated is the worker’s remuneration resulting from their pay grade expressed with an hourly or monthly rate or 60% of the worker’s remuneration if such a component of remuneration is not identified in the remuneration rules.

The employer may be released from the obligation to pay an overtime allowance only in the following cases:

• where, prior to the due date by which the remuneration is to be paid, falling immediately after the occurrence of the overtime for exceeding the daily working time standard, the employer grants a worker time off at the request of the worker. In exchange for overtime worked, the employer, at the worker’s request, may grant the worker the same amount of time off (1:1). The request in question should be made in writing. The time off in exchange for overtime may also be granted at the request of the worker in the subsequent settlement period;
• where the employer grants time off in exchange for overtime without the worker’s request. In such a scenario, the employer grants the worker time off by the end of the settlement period at the latest and this time off exceeds by half the number of overtime hours worked (1:1.5). This measure, however, may not lead to reducing the remuneration payable to the worker for their full monthly working time.

The remuneration plus an overtime allowance may be replaced by a lump-sum payment. Introducing a lump sum instead of remuneration plus an overtime allowance is permissible only with respect to workers who permanently perform their work outside the workplace. The lump sum should correspond to the predicted duration of overtime work.

Legal basis:

• Articles 20 and 21 of the Act on Drivers’ Working Time of 16 April 2004;
• Articles: 29(3), 104¹(1)(4), 151¹(1) and (4), 151² (1–3), 151⁵ (1) and (3), 151⁷(1), 151⁸(1) and (2), 240(1)(1) of the Labour Code of 26 June 1974;
• Regulation on the Minimum Remuneration and the Minimum Hourly Rate in 2023 of 13 September 2022.