Pay transparency in Poland: salary ranges from December 2025

Since 24 December 2025, every employer in Poland hiring people on an employment contract must inform candidates of the pay offered: a specific starting amount or a range. The law does not require the range to be published in the job ad itself, but the ad is the first and simplest way to meet the obligation. In addition, employers may no longer require candidates to disclose their current or previous pay.

What changed on 24 December 2025

The changes were introduced by the ustawa z dnia 4 czerwca 2025 r. o zmianie ustawy – Kodeks pracy (Act of 4 June 2025 amending the Labour Code, Dz.U. 2025 poz. 807). It came into force 6 months after publication, on 24 December 2025. It added art. 18³ᶜᵃ to the Kodeks pracy (Labour Code) and amended art. 22¹. This is the first step in implementing the EU pay transparency directive.

What now applies:

1. The candidate receives information on the starting pay or its range.
2. If you have a collective agreement (układ zbiorowy pracy) or pay rules (regulamin wynagradzania), the candidate also receives the relevant provisions.
3. Job ads and job titles must be gender-neutral, and recruitment must be non-discriminatory.
4. Employers may not require candidates to disclose their pay in current and previous jobs.

The obligation applies regardless of company size and covers recruitment of employees with whom you establish an employment relationship.

What exactly the candidate must be told

This means pay in the broad sense, not just the base rate. Art. 18³ᶜᵃ refers to art. 18³ᶜ § 2: all components of remuneration, whatever their name and nature, plus other work-related payments and benefits in cash or in kind. In practice, state the base rate or range and any regular allowances, premiums and bonuses with the conditions for receiving them.

The range must rest on objective, neutral criteria, including with regard to gender: duties, qualifications, experience, working pattern, working conditions. A range that is too wide tells the candidate nothing and makes it harder for you to explain why a particular person received that particular offer.

You may ask candidates about their pay expectations. But, as the Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy (PIP, the National Labour Inspectorate) stresses, this does not release the employer from the obligation to state its own range.

When and in what form to provide the information

Art. 18³ᶜᵃ § 2 sets the order:

1. in the job ad;
2. before the interview – if there was no ad or it did not contain this information;
3. before the employment relationship begins – if the information was given neither in the ad nor before the interview.

The information is provided in advance, so that the candidate can read it, on paper or electronically. A mention during the interview does not meet the requirement. PIP advises choosing a method that lets you prove the obligation was met: an email, a record in your recruitment system, an electronic document.

Which questions and wording are now off limits

The new wording of art. 22¹ § 1 pkt 6 allows you to require candidates to provide information on their employment history, but not on their pay in current and previous jobs. So remove fields such as “obecne wynagrodzenie” (current salary) or “ostatnie wynagrodzenie netto” (last net salary) from application forms, recruitment system forms and interview scripts. A field for “oczekiwania finansowe” (salary expectations) can stay.

Job titles and ads must be gender-neutral (art. 18³ᶜᵃ § 3). In Polish, the simplest way is to give both forms of the title (magazynier / magazynierka) or a descriptive title (osoba na stanowisko kompletacji zamówień). Remove any requirements on gender or age that are unrelated to the job. PIP gives an example of wording that will no longer pass: “szukamy młodej, energicznej dziewczyny do biura” (“we’re looking for a young, energetic girl for the office”).

Job ad template

An example for a warehouse position, in Polish as it would be published. The amounts are illustrative – use your own (the minimum wage in 2026 is PLN 4,806 gross).

• Stanowisko: Magazynier / Magazynierka – kompletacja zamówień
• Umowa: umowa o pracę
• Wynagrodzenie: 4806–5600 zł brutto miesięcznie, zależnie od doświadczenia w kompletacji i obsłudze skanera
• Dodatkowo: premia frekwencyjna do 300 zł brutto miesięcznie
• Zasady premiowania: przekażemy przed rozmową kwalifikacyjną
• Rekrutacja: nie prosimy o informacje o obecnym ani poprzednim wynagrodzeniu

Myths and facts

What are the consequences of a breach

The Act of 4 June 2025 did not introduce a separate fine for failing to provide pay information: it only added art. 18³ᶜᵃ and amended art. 22¹. However, art. 18³ᶜᵃ sits in the Labour Code chapter on equal treatment in employment. A person whose right to equal treatment the employer has breached is entitled to compensation of at least the minimum wage (art. 18³ᵈ), i.e. at least PLN 4,806 in 2026.

So gaps in recruitment can become a candidate’s argument in a dispute, and compliance with the new rules, as with the rest of the Labour Code, is monitored by PIP. The cheapest protection is a documented process and clear criteria for pay ranges.

What next: EU Directive 2023/970

Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 provides for wider obligations. They include the employee’s right to know their pay level and average pay broken down by gender for the same work or work of equal value, gender pay gap reporting, and clearer rules under which, in pay disputes, it is the employer who must prove there was no discrimination. The transposition deadline for the directive – 7 June 2026 – has passed, but Poland has not yet transposed it.

As of October 2026 these requirements are not yet in force in Polish law: the UC127 bill is still at the government stage. Pay ranges in recruitment are only the first step, so it is worth putting your job grading and pay criteria in order now.

HR checklist

1. Review all live job ads: range or rate, components of remuneration, neutral job title.
2. For recruitment without an ad (referrals, your own database), prepare an email template with pay information to send before the interview.
3. Remove questions about current and previous pay from application forms, the recruitment system and interview scripts.
4. Write down the criteria for your ranges: experience, qualifications, shifts, working conditions.
5. Keep proof that the candidate received the information.
6. If an external partner runs recruitment for you, check its ads just as you check your own.
7. Explain the new rules to recruiters and managers who conduct interviews.

How STARKO helps

As part of recruitment, STARKO finds and vets candidates, and the client hires them directly. If you would rather the people were formally employed by the agency, staff leasing is the answer: contracts, pay, ZUS (social security) and paperwork are handled by us, and the client receives one invoice. How duties are divided in leasing is explained in our article on staff leasing. Terms of cooperation are on our for employers page.