An employee employed under an employment contract can be remunerated in various ways. The regulations indicate the possibility of establishing different remuneration systems with the employee – fixed, hourly, commission-based, piecework. If the employer decides to use an hourly remuneration system, they must remember that they are obliged to establish remuneration in compliance with the minimum hourly rate.

The minimum hourly rate is not fixed and depends on two factors:

• the number of hours to be worked in a month,
• the minimum wage for work established in a given year.

Minimum hourly rate and the amount of minimum wage

What if an employee employed full-time does not earn the minimum wage as a result of hours worked?

Then the employer is obliged to compensate the remuneration to the amount of the minimum wage, which in 2022 is 3010 PLN. The compensation applies to every hour of work and is the difference resulting from the applicable rate and the rate resulting from dividing the minimum wage.

Minimum hourly rate vs. business activity and civil law contract

The minimum hourly rate does not cover self-employed persons, as well as persons employed under a contract for specific work. However, since 2017, a minimum hourly rate has been in effect for contracts of mandate and service contracts. It is also indexed annually, in 2022 it is 19.70 PLN. Of course, in the case of civil law contracts, there is no obligation to compensate remuneration to the national minimum wage, even if this amount is lower and result