Reviewed September 2026

Night shifts in Poland: what the 20% supplement is worth

Night hours carry a supplement of their own, separate from overtime. When a night hour is also an overtime hour, both are due — and that is the line payslips quietly drop.

What the law counts as night

The Labour Code defines night work as an eight-hour stretch falling somewhere between 21:00 and 07:00. It does not fix which eight — your employer sets the exact window in the work regulations, and it is usually 22:00 to 06:00.

That window decides which of your hours are paid at the higher rate, so it is worth reading once. If the regulations say 22:00–06:00 and your shift ends at 07:00, the last hour is an ordinary hour, not a night one.

What a night hour adds in 2026

The supplement is 20% of the hourly rate derived from the minimum wage — not from your own rate. Because the monthly norm changes, so does the figure.

Hours in the month	Hourly rate from the minimum	Night supplement
160	30,04 zł	6,01 zł
168	28,61 zł	5,72 zł
176	27,31 zł	5,46 zł
184	26,12 zł	5,22 zł

This is on top of your normal pay for the hour, not instead of it. Someone on a rate well above the minimum still gets the supplement calculated from the minimum.

From 1 January 2027

The same 20%, calculated from the new minimum of 4950 zł. The 2027 monthly norms run from 144 hours (May) to 176.

Hours in the month	Hourly rate from the minimum	Night supplement
144	34,38 zł	6,88 zł
152	32,57 zł	6,51 zł
160	30,94 zł	6,19 zł
168	29,46 zł	5,89 zł
176	28,13 zł	5,63 zł

Until 31 December 2026 the table above applies. The norm for a month is 8 hours times the number of days from Monday to Friday, minus 8 hours for every public holiday that falls on a day other than Sunday.

Night and overtime stack

These are two separate entitlements and one does not absorb the other. An overtime hour worked at night is paid with the 100% overtime supplement and the 20% night supplement.

This is the single most common underpayment on a night schedule: the payslip shows the overtime line, the night line is missing, and the total looks close enough that nobody checks.

Check it in four steps

Find the night window in your work regulations — the exact eight hours, not the general rule.
Count how many of your hours last month fell inside it.
Multiply by the supplement for that month from the table above.
Compare with the night line on your payslip. No such line, but night hours worked, means you are owed it.

Common questions

My shift crosses midnight. Is that two days?

For pay it is one shift. What matters is which hours fell inside the night window, not which calendar date they belong to. Counting it as two days is where hours usually go missing.

Does the supplement apply on umowa zlecenie?

The Labour Code night supplement applies to employment contracts. On zlecenie you have the minimum hourly rate but no statutory night supplement, unless your own contract grants one — which is one more thing the contract type quietly costs you.

I work nights permanently. Is anything different?

Yes. Regular night work is capped at 8 hours a day for jobs that are especially dangerous or physically demanding, and you are entitled to health checks at the employer’s expense.

Can the employer pay a flat monthly amount instead?

A lump sum is allowed where night work is constant and counting each hour is impractical, but it has to correspond to the hours actually worked. If your nights grew and the lump sum did not, it stopped being a substitute.

This page explains the general rules and is not legal advice. Your contract, collective agreement or work regulations may set terms more favourable than the statutory minimum. For a dispute, the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) advises workers free of charge.