Changes in Minimum Remuneration Planned

The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy is working on new provisions regarding remuneration for work in Poland. More specifically, they are planning to introduce some changes to the acts regulating the state minimum salary and wages. Government experts want to transform the way minimum salary is calculated.

To estimate the amount of minimum remuneration, one does not take into consideration retirement or jubilee bonuses, pay for overtime work, and pay for night work. What currently is included in the calculations is seniority bonus. This is what the Ministry want to change. In the future, seniority bonus will not be taken into consideration when calculating minimum salary.

The head of the Ministry, Elżbieta Rafalska, said the government wants to improve the situation of those with low income jobs. The change will not affect all enterprises but only those under the obligation to pay seniority bonuses (in practice this means public institutions financed from the state budget). The new provisions are planned to be introduced in January 2020. They need to go through he consultations phase.

Polish entrepreneurs need to be ready for an increase in the statutory minimum salary and hourly wage in 2019. In September, the government made a decision to set the minimum monthly remuneration at 2250 PLN gross, which translates into 14.70 PLN per hour. That is a 150 PLN increase comparing with 2018.

According to the findings of Central Statistical Office, in 2017 the average monthly renumeration in companies employing more than nine staff members was 4283.73 PLN gross. A reporting presenting the situation in the labour market in October 2016 presented by the institution shows that the salary median was 3511 PLN gross. In the same period, 10 percent of labour force in Poland received monthly renumeration not exceeding 1890 PLN gross.