For some employers, the optimal solution to ensure flexibility in determining employees’ working time is to choose an equivalent working time system. Clients of the PRWT accounting office ask what this system is and what settlement period can be used in it?

An equivalent working time system consists in the possibility of extending an employee’s daily working time to no more than 12 hours in a settlement period not exceeding one month. The daily working time extended in this way is balanced by shorter daily working time on some days or days off.

The one-month settlement period indicated above may be extended in justified cases to no more than 3 months.

However, if we are dealing with work that depends on the season or weather conditions, the settlement period may be extended to no more than 4 months.

Please remember the content of Art. 150 pairs 2 of the Polish Labor Code, according to which in the case of employers with no trade unions, the extension of the settlement period to 3 or 4 months, respectively, when using an equivalent working time system, requires prior notification of the relevant district labor inspector.