Flexible working time in practice means a flexible schedule for starting and ending work. According to the Labor Code (LC), there are two main forms of flexible working time schedules.

The first form is that the working time schedule takes into account different starting times of work on days that are determined as the employee’s working days in accordance with a given schedule (see Article 1401 § 1 of the Labor Code). This arrangement is used when work requires starting at a specific time, but that time may vary from day to day. This allows you to create an employee’s work plan, for example starting work on Mondays at 11:00 and ending at 7:00 p.m., and on Tuesdays starting at 9:00 and ending at 17:00. It is worth noting that such flexibility does not generate the need to pay additional overtime fees in the case of work on Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00.

The second form is the working time schedule, which defines a fixed period of time during which the employee has the freedom to choose the time to start work on the day considered to be his working day (see Article 1401 § 2 of the Labor Code). For example, a time range is set between 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. in which the employee should start work and, within standard working hours, finish it after 8 hours, i.e. between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. In this case, it is the employee who decides on the specific start and end time of work, choosing from the designated time interval. It is crucial that this decision stays within a certain range. The start and finish times of work become a variable for the employee. The final choice regarding these hours rests with the employee. For this reason, this flexible working time schedule is called flexible working time for employees and is relatively often practiced.

In both types of flexible working time schedule, in accordance with Art. 1401 § 3 of the Labor Code, the performance of work may not violate the employee’s right to daily and weekly rest.

In principle, it can be assumed that the essence of the use of flexible working time schedules is the provision contained in Art. 1401 § 4 of the Labor Code, which states that performing work again on the same day in the event of using a flexible working time schedule specified in Art. 1401 § 1 and 2 of the Labor Code is not considered overtime. This is a countermeasure to the situation known as „breach of the working day”. Without the employer introducing one of the forms of flexible working time, an employee who would start work, e.g. on Monday at 10:00, he would work for 8 hours, and then on Tuesday he would start work at 9:00 and worked for 8 hours, he would have overtime due to the violation of the „full working day”. This employee’s day starts at 10:00 on Monday and lasts, as defined in Art. 128 § 3 point 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, for 24 hours, until Tuesday at 10:00. If an employee starts work on Tuesday at 9:00, he or she „breaks” the daily period, that is, he or she starts work for the second time on the same day. Working time is settled not in days, but in days, and in accordance with Art. 129 § 1 of the Labor Code, working time cannot exceed 8 hours a day.

Source:https://www.seka.pl/rodzaje-ruchomego-czasu-pracy/

Supported by Norway through Norway Grants 2014-2021, in the frame of the Programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work”.