Minimum wage under an employment contract: components and exclusions

This guide covers only the components of the minimum wage for an employee working under an employment contract. It does not discuss salary payment dates or the minimum hourly rate for a contract of mandate (umowa zlecenia), and it is not a general guide to hiring.

What may count towards the minimum wage?

According to the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP), various pay components to which an employee is entitled may count towards the minimum wage, for example basic salary or a bonus payable under workplace bonus rules (premia regulaminowa).

These are examples, not a determination concerning any particular bonus. Nor should a component’s absence from the exclusions below be treated as automatic confirmation that it may be included.

What must not be included?

In its section on the minimum wage guarantee, PIP lists the following exclusions. The following must not count towards the minimum wage:

• a jubilee award;
• a cash severance payment to which an employee is entitled in connection with retiring or moving onto a pension due to incapacity for work;
• pay for overtime work;
• a night-work allowance;
• a length-of-service allowance;
• an allowance for special working conditions.

An optional list for organizing pay components

For organizational purposes, you can prepare your own list of payroll components. A suggested way to organize it:

1. Write down the names of the components you want to examine.
2. Separately mark the items covered by the exclusions listed above.
3. For the remaining items, leave space to establish how they should be treated—do not automatically mark them as included.
4. Record questions about items whose classification remains unresolved.

This is solely an optional organizational recommendation, not an official form or a test of whether the entire remuneration is correct. Completing the list does not confirm that the payroll calculation is correct.

Limits of this guide

We do not state the minimum wage amount or calculate any top-up here. Part-time proportions, the classification of a particular bonus, taxes, social insurance (ZUS), deductions, penalties and pursuing claims are outside the scope.