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10 min czytania 20 December 2025

Private outing during work – is it possible?

Prywatne wyjście podczas pracy to temat, który budzi wiele wątpliwości. Czy pracownik może opuścić miejsce pracy w godzinach pracy i na jakich zasadach? Sprawdź, kiedy prywatne wyjście jest możliwe, jak je rozliczyć i co na ten temat mówią przepisy.

private outing during work

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Personal Time Off During Work – Labor Code

The Labor Code regulates the use of personal time off during working hours. An employee may request time off for personal matters through a personal time off request, which does not require a detailed reason. According to the regulations, the employer may grant such time off and simultaneously determine whether the personal time off will be made up.

Employees working at least six hours a day are also provided with short breaks, which are included in their working time. Although these breaks are often used for meals, they can also be used for other minor personal matters – they do not require making up time or affect remuneration.

If personal time off is made up, this time is not considered overtime, and its planning should take into account the employee’s entitlement to daily and weekly rest. Maintaining records of personal time off allows for time management and ensures transparency for both the employee and the employer. This ensures clear rules for making up personal time off, and any absences can be properly accounted for.

Personal Time Off at Employee Request

Every employee has the option of requesting personal time off during work by submitting a formal request for personal time off. According to the Labor Code, such a request can be either written or electronic and does not require a detailed reason for the time off. Depending on the company’s workflow, the employer may accept the request or request an amendment.

Personal time off allows the employee to attend to personal matters without having to use vacation time or other forms of leave. Examples include office visits, medical appointments, or urgent personal duties. It is important that time spent on personal time off is formally recorded and can later be included in the personal time off records, ensuring transparency in working time accounting.

When submitting a request, the employee indicates the planned time for personal time off, and the decision to grant it depends on the current work schedule and the company’s needs. Approved personal time off entitles the employee to leave the workplace without loss of pay, provided this time has been formally recognized by the employer.

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Private outing during work

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What should the make-up schedule look like?

The make-up schedule should be planned so that making up for personal time off complies with working time regulations and does not lead to overtime. While in practice it is possible for personal time off to be made up before it is actually used, this approach can be risky. If an employee makes up for personal time off and then ultimately does not use the time off, the additional hours may be classified as overtime, requiring additional pay.

Therefore, the safest solution is to schedule the make-up time so that it occurs after the actual use of personal time off. The schedule should ensure that the make-up time falls within the same settlement period, allowing for the correct settlement of personal time off and avoiding HR and payroll complications.

It is also important that the make-up time does not have to be completed all at once. If the number of personal time off is greater, the schedule can spread the make-up time over several days. This solution helps maintain the required daily and weekly rest periods specified in the Labor Code, including Articles 132 and 133. Therefore, personal leave can be accounted for in a manner that is safe for both the employee and the employer.

When establishing a schedule, the applicable working hours and the system in which the employee performs their duties are crucial. During standard working hours, where the standard is eight hours per day, making up for personal leave can include up to several additional hours in one day, provided this does not violate rest standards. However, in equivalent systems, where daily working hours can be extended, the time for making up personal leave will be correspondingly shorter and requires greater planning care.

A well-prepared schedule ensures that making up for personal leave is transparent, compliant with labor law, and easy to record in the working time records, without the risk of accounting irregularities.

Unexcused absence during work – what are the possible consequences?

Unexcused absence during work constitutes a violation of basic employee duties. Pursuant to Article 100 § 1 of the Labor Code, an employee is obligated to perform work conscientiously and diligently and to follow the instructions of superiors, unless they are contrary to law. Leaving the workplace without permission from a superior or without first establishing rules for personal leave violates this obligation.

In such a situation, personal leave is treated as unexcused absence, which has direct financial consequences. The employee loses the right to compensation for the time taken, and unused time taken should be recorded in the work time records. The employer has the right to reduce remuneration proportionally to the number of hours during which work was not performed.

Unexcused personal leave may also result in the application of disciplinary penalties, as specified in Article 108 of the Labor Code. The employer may impose a warning, a reprimand, and in certain cases, a fine on the employee—especially if there has been a violation of work organization and order or the employee’s working time policy.

In more serious situations, when employees’ private absences are repetitive, prolonged, or cause significant disruptions to the functioning of the workplace, the consequences can be much more far-reaching. Such behavior may be considered a serious breach of basic employee duties, which, in extreme cases, constitutes grounds for termination of the employment contract without notice due to the employee’s fault, pursuant to Article 52 § 1 item 1 of the Labor Code.

It is worth emphasizing that each situation should be assessed individually, taking into account the circumstances of the incident, previous employment history, and the impact of the absence on work time and team organization. From the employer’s perspective, it is also crucial to properly document the incident in the work time records, which has both evidentiary and accounting significance.

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Private outing during work

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Is it worth implementing a personal leave log at work?

Implementing a personal leave log at work is a solution that benefits both the employer and the employee. Although the Labor Code does not explicitly require maintaining a separate log for each personal leave, in practice such a log significantly facilitates the proper settlement of working time and minimizes the risk of disputes.

From the employer’s perspective, such a log allows for clear identification of the time of personal leave, its duration, and whether the personal leave is classified as an excused absence or requires making up the time. This has direct implications for determining whether compensation for personal leave should be paid in full or a proportional reduction is necessary due to the unused time.

For the employee, such a log serves as a safeguard. When a personal leave is made up, the log clearly shows when the personal leave was made up, the length of the time, and whether the employee made up the time as agreed. This is especially important in situations where there are doubts about the date of making up the time or the time of making up the time in a given settlement period.

Properly maintained working time records, which take into account employees’ personal time off, also facilitate the application of the Rules for Making Up Personal Time Off, as defined in labor law. This makes it easier to assess whether making up personal time off is necessary in a given case, or whether it was possible to grant time off for personal matters without the obligation to make up time off. This is also important when analyzing whether making up work time does not lead to overtime work.

In practice, employers can adapt the recording format to the needs of the workplace—this can be a paper document or electronic time recording. However, the most important thing is that the records are consistent with the provisions of the Labor Code, take into account the working time, and allow for a reliable determination of whether making up personal time off was done correctly and in accordance with applicable rules.

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