In today’s post, we will present some practical issues regarding the weekend work system, which are often asked by clients of our PRWT accounting office.

Can an employee employed under the weekend work system work overtime?

Yes, an employee employed in the weekend work system may work overtime (exceptionally, of course- after meeting the conditions set out in the Labor Code). However, it should be borne in mind that due to the need to ensure 11 hours of uninterrupted rest on each working day, these overtime hours are actually one hour (it is possible to extend the daily working time to 12 hours pursuant to Art. 144 of the Polish Labor Code) and therefore from 8 to 12 hours of work, we have normal working hours without overtime allowance, and the last possible 13 hours of work is overtime.

How to determine overtime in the case of weekend work when the employee is employed on a part-time basis?

Typically, an employee employed in the weekend work system works, as a rule, part-time (taking into account the number of weekend days and holidays in a month and the work of 12 hours on these days, the employee will not be able to work full-time). In general, the principle is then the same as in the case of working in the basic system in the part-time system – since he works part-time, we specify in the contract or agreement which hour beyond the applicable standards is overtime work.

Is it possible to introduce a weekend work system for a short period of time and then return to the terms of the original employment contract?

As for the technical aspect of introducing this system, the employee should submit an application for the willingness to work under the weekend work system. On the basis of this application, an agreement is drawn up which defines the working conditions (full-time employment, reference period, which must be one month here, etc.). Later, if the employee wants to go back to the original contract, he will have to go back to the previous terms on the basis of a separate agreement.