Below we present you a summary of the most important topics related to HR and payroll issues:
1. Increase of the minimum wage from January 2025
The minimum wage in 2025 is PLN 4,666 per month, while the hourly rate is PLN 30.50. The increase in gross wages is therefore PLN 366. Employees will receive wages higher by PLN 249.39, or 7.65%.
The total cost to the employer will increase by as much as PLN 446.45.
The increase in the minimum wage also has a direct impact on other components of remuneration. The change in the minimum wage also shapes the change in the amount of such remuneration components as:
- allowance for night work,
- severance pay for group redundancies,
- remuneration during downtime.
In addition, the following have also changed:
- amounts exempt from deductions from remuneration,
- minimum amount of income constituting the basis for calculating contributions to the Labour Fund,
- minimum amount of the base for contributions to retirement and disability insurance for persons on parental leave.
If the employee’s remuneration was included in the employment contract at the minimum level in the form of a specific amount, it is necessary to prepare an annex to the employment contract effective from 1 January 2025, taking into account the new amount of remuneration.
2. An additional day off in 2025
The President signed a law introducing another public holiday to the Polish calendar, which will also be a day off from work. We are talking about December 24, or Christmas Eve.
From 2025, we will therefore have 14 days off from work in Poland:
- January 1, New Year’s Day
- January 6, Epiphany
- April 20, Easter
- April 21 (Monday) Easter Monday
- May 1, Labour Day
- May 3 (Saturday) Constitution Day of May 3
- June 8, Descent of the Holy Spirit
- June 19, Corpus Christi
- August 15, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- November 1, All Saints’ Day
- November 11, Independence Day
- December 24, Christmas Eve
- December 25, Christmas
- December 26, Christmas (second day)
3. 2 days off to be given for a holiday on Saturday
In 2025, two holidays will fall on Saturday. This will be May 3 and November 1. For these days, the employer must give the employee an additional day off.
The day off must be given to the employee within a given settlement period, i.e. if the Employer’s settlement period is a monthly period, the day off for May 3 must be given in May 2025. The day off may be granted both before and after the given holiday.
If the employer does not give the employee a day off for a holiday falling on Saturday, after the end of the settlement period, they will be obliged to pay remuneration and 100% of the overtime allowance.
4. Additional maternity leave for parents of premature babies
From 15 March 2025, regulations will come into force guaranteeing parents of children born prematurely, but also those who require longer hospitalisation after birth, the right to extend the duration of maternity leave, i.e. the so-called supplementary maternity leave.
- supplementary leave will be granted at the employee’s request and can be used immediately after maternity leave,
- the leave cannot be divided into parts,
- the period of supplementary maternity leave will be paid at 100% of the sickness benefit base.
The length of additional maternity leave will depend primarily on the length of the child’s stay in hospital, but also on the child’s birth weight and the week of pregnancy in which the delivery occurred.
The maximum length of supplementary maternity leave will be 15 weeks.
5. Bonus for employee referral without ZUS and PIT
The latest interpretations of the National Revenue Information and the Social Insurance Institution indicate that the form of acquiring new employees used in many companies benefits from exemption from contributions and taxation.
This is all due to the appropriate qualification of the referral bonus as income from other sources.
The Director of the National Revenue Information in an individual interpretation concerning the referral program, in which both employees and other persons cooperating with the company on a basis other than an employment relationship can participate, indicated that the referral bonus does not constitute income from an employment relationship.
This position was also shared by ZUS, which indicated that if for PIT purposes, the bonus is not income from an employment relationship, it will not constitute a basis for social and health insurance contributions.
However, it should be remembered that the employer paying this type of bonus is obliged to inform the employee and the Tax Office about the amount of the bonus paid in a given year in the PIT-11 declaration.
6. Changes to the health insurance premium for entrepreneurs
As of 1 January 2025, the following changes came into effect:
- reduction of the minimum basis for calculating the health insurance premium paid by entrepreneurs taxed according to the tax scale or flat tax,
- reduction of the basis for calculating the health insurance premium paid by entrepreneurs using the tax card,
- exclusion of income from the sale of fixed assets and intangible assets from the basis for calculating the health insurance premium paid by entrepreneurs,
- taking into account the cash method of determining taxable income for the purposes of determining the income/revenue on the basis of which the basis for calculating the health insurance premium is determined.
7. The government withdraws its announcement of full social security contributions for contracts of mandate
The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy was working on a project to impose social security contributions on all contracts of mandate in connection with the implementation of the assumptions of the National Reconstruction Plan.
The main assumption of the project was to eliminate the so-called mechanism of overlapping insurance titles. Currently, when we are dealing with the overlap of insurance titles and the payment of social security contributions from one of these titles at least from the amount of the minimum wage, social security contributions from the other one do not have to be collected. Only the health insurance contribution of 9% is calculated.
From 2025, this was supposed to change, however, the Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, Ms. Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, informed that the project of full social security contributions for contracts of mandate will not be processed further and the establishment of National Reconstruction Plan within this point will be implemented by implementing other regulations concerning the labour market, e.g. the also announced changes in the calculation of seniority.
8. Planned National Labour Inspectorate inspections in 2025
The National Labour Inspectorate plans to conduct as many as 55,000 inspections of entrepreneurs in 2025.
During the meeting of the Labour Protection Council, it was indicated that an important part of this body’s activities in the next calendar year will be the verification of the legality of entrusting and performing work by Polish citizens and foreigners. The inspection activities undertaken will focus on disclosing cases of undeclared work, i.e. work performed illegally, or work performed in a longer working time or for a higher salary than indicated in the employee’s contract.
The inspectors’ inspections will also consist of verifying:
- the legality of work and stay of foreigners (in cooperation with the Border Guard),
- compliance with regulations by temporary employment agencies and employer users,
- compliance with regulations on PPK,
- compliance with regulations related to remote work,
- employment of platform workers,
- compliance with labour law regulations related to parenthood,
- mobbing and discrimination also in the context of wage discrimination,
- protection of whistleblowers.
