Employee pay date — fixed and set in advance
PIP guidance on the deadline for paying employee remuneration and an optional organizational checklist for employers.
Employee pay date
When checking the deadline for paying employee remuneration, consider both elements identified by Poland’s National Labour Inspectorate (PIP): a fixed date set in advance and a deadline falling within the first 10 days of the following calendar month.
What does PIP say?
In its material “Forms of employment and basic rights and obligations,” PIP, referring to Article 85 § 1 and § 2 of the Polish Labour Code, states that the employer must pay remuneration:
- on a fixed date set in advance;
- no later than within the first 10 days of the following calendar month.
These are obligations, not optional organizational suggestions. When checking the pay date, therefore, do not consider only the 10-day limit — also take account of the requirement for a fixed date set in advance.
Optional organizational checklist
The following steps are organizational recommendations, not additional legal obligations derived from the cited PIP material:
- Check which fixed pay date has been set.
- Compare it with the limit described by PIP: the first 10 days of the following calendar month.
- Agree on an internal schedule for providing data to the person preparing payroll.
- Identify the person responsible for gathering the data and the contact for any missing information.
- Plan an internal check that the information provided is complete.
Do not treat this checklist as confirmation that the entire payroll process complies with the law.
Scope of this guide
This guide is limited to the deadline identified by PIP for paying employee remuneration. It is not intended to determine the payment dates for every bonus or benefit, and it does not extend the rule described here to remuneration under civil-law contracts.
This guide does not cover the procedure for providing information on employment conditions or the payment rules relating to the minimum hourly rate under a Polish contract of mandate (umowa zlecenia). Nor does it address adjustments to the deadline involving non-working days or specific calendar pay dates.