Shaping systems and schedules of working time is one of the elements of the employer’s managerial powers. This was confirmed by the Supreme Court in the judgment of March 25, 1977, I PZP 60/76 (LEX No. 14372), in which it stated that „organizing the work process (…) belongs to the dispositional powers of the management of the workplace”. The employee, on the other hand, undertakes to perform work at the time specified by the employer. The procedure for determining the organization of working time is not directly regulated in the Labor Code. The legislator limited himself to specifying the sources of labor law in which this matter should be regulated. Pursuant to the provisions of Article 150 of the Labor Code The working time system may be established in: a collective agreement, work regulations, in agreement with company trade unions, in agreement with employees’ representatives, in the employer’s announcement, at the employee’s written request and in the employment contract. Art. 104[3] of the Labor Code, therefore it enters into force after 2 weeks from the date of its content being communicated to employees in a manner adopted by a given employer, and the employer is obliged to familiarize the employee with the content of the announcement before commencing work.
Although the legislator uses the term „working time system”, it does not provide its legal definition anywhere. According to the definition adopted in the doctrine and literature, „the working time system is a legal construct that determines the nominal value and the way of organizing working time” (K. Stefański [in:] Labor Code. Commentary. Volume II. Art. 94-304(5), ed. VI, edited by K. W. Baran, Warsaw 2022, article 135). Therefore, when establishing the working time system, the employer should specify, among others: working time, working time standards, as well as settlement periods. Under the Labor Code, in its current wording, the following working time systems have been distinguished: basic, equivalent, task-based, intermittent, continuous, shortened week, weekend. In addition, some authors also distinguish a shortened system. If a given employer uses the basic working time system, this means that the daily working time is 8 hours and an average of 40 hours in an average five-day working week in the adopted settlement period not exceeding four months.
The interrupted working time system cannot be combined with an equivalent working time system or its modifications and with continuous work, with a shortened working week system and a weekend work system. Except for the situation when the employee agrees to it – in the intermittent working time system – pregnant employees or employees caring for a child under the age of four may not be employed.
Therefore, the working time systems used by a given employer should result from the internal regulations applicable at that employer. Short-time work and weekend work systems are applied on the basis of an employment contract and can only take place if the employee has submitted a written request in this regard.
As indicated by the Supreme Court in its judgment of March 21, 2014, file ref. II PK 174/13, changing the organization of working time does not require an amending notice. If „the individual working time schedule has not been determined in the employment contract or a separate agreement (which in fact is also such a determination by the employer at the employee’s request under Article 142 of the Labor Code)” (Judgement of the Supreme Court of 21.03.2014, II PK 174/13, LEX No. 1455230.), the organization of working time is not a significant element of the employment relationship, so there is no need to specify it in the employment contract.
In some situations, the employer is obliged to take into account the employee’s request to perform work in the intermittent, flexible or individual working time system. The application should be submitted in paper or electronic form. These are primarily employees of parents, employees of spouses and pregnant employees in certain special circumstances. The application may be refused only if it is not possible due to the organization of work or the type of work performed by the employee. The employer is obliged to inform the employee about the reason for the refusal in paper or electronic form.