Permanent work of an employee at a screen monitor is associated with the obligation to provide the employee with a 5-minute break (Art. 7 of the Polish Regulation of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy of December 1, 1998 on occupational health and safety at workstations equipped with screen monitors). Do it always ask clients of our PRWT accounting office?
The obligation to give a break arises when it is not possible to combine alternate work related to the operation of a screen monitor with other types of work that do not burden the organ of sight and performed in other body positions. Therefore, if an employee does not sit in front of a screen monitor all the time during an hour, but also performs other activities (e.g. works with documents in a traditional form), he is not entitled to the aforementioned break.
However, if the type of work performed requires the employee to constantly sit in front of the screen monitor, then after each hour of such work, the employee has the right to a 5-minute break, included in the working time. However, it should be remembered that these 5 minutes are not an additional break that the employee can have freely, and is still sometimes at the employer’s disposal. Consequently, during these 5 minutes, the employee should perform professional duties, but other than operating a screen monitor.