For overtime that is not compensated by time off, the employer pays the employee the normal remuneration for work plus an allowance (50 or 100%) – (Art. 151 ¹ par. 1 of the Polish Labor Code). The clients of our PRWT accounting office ask what components of the employee’s remuneration constitute the basis for calculating the remuneration for overtime work?

• Normal salary includes the basic salary and fixed benefits specified in the employment contract or other internal act. Therefore, if the employee receives only the basic salary, the matter is simple – it is his normal salary. If, on the other hand, an employee receives bonuses to remuneration, it must be checked whether they are permanent (such a permanent allowance will be, for example, a functional allowance granted to some employees).

• Addition – its basis is the employee’s remuneration resulting from his personal grade (ie hourly or monthly rate). Here, we do not add any allowances that the employee possibly receives in addition to the salary, because then we would count them twice (for the same overtime, they have already been included in the normal salary).