Start with contract and payment
Find the name of the contract, employer and payment date. For umowa o pracę salary is paid at least monthly on the specified date; for the past month - not later than the first ten days of the following. For zlecenie terms look in the contract: the rule of wages cannot be mechanically transferred to any civil contract.
Compile a table by month: hours worked, contract amount, actually received, balance. Do not mix gross and net. If the employer talks about fine, stay or deduction, ask for a written calculation of the deduction. Mark the disputed amount separately so that the inspector can see what is confirmed and what needs to be verified.
Keep the evidence
- Contract and amendments, pay slips, transfer statements.
- Schedules, table, reports on shifts and pay.
- Full name of employer, address, NIP or KRS if known.
- A brief chronology: when the payment was due and what the employer replied.
Send a specific request
Write to the employer, for which period and what amount you ask to pay, to which account, attach your own calculation. Save the delivery of the letter or email. Indicate the reasonable time frame you have chosen for the response, without referring to it as a statutory time frame, if this is your initiative. Do not sign the receipt "received in full" when the money has not arrived.
Example content: "For September transferred … instead of …; please pay the balance and provide the calculation of accruals and deductions". Such wording is more useful than a long emotional message. If the amount without documents cannot be calculated, first request a calculation and list the undisputed periods of non-payment.
Submit a complaint to the State Labour Inspectorate
Select the district inspectorate of the employer's location on the official PIP page. Provide your name, address, employer details and the specific violation. Sign the paper complaint; it can be submitted in person, including orally in the record, or by mail. For an electronic complaint, PIP requires a file with a proper electronic signature; a scan of a handwritten signature alone does not meet the requirements. The e-Delivery channel is also available.
Attach copies, keeping the originals with you. Ask to register the request and save the number. PIP protects the details of the complainant, but in individual audits may request consent to disclose the fact of the complaint. Do not count on a completely anonymous complaint as a normal way of collecting a personal debt.
When you need a court
The inspection does not replace a court decision in all disputed cases. On the wage, it is possible to claim against the employer in the labour court; a civil claim for zlecenie can go another way. To prepare a claim, you need the amount, period, defendant and evidence. For labor claims, the official PIP response indicates a total of three years of limitation from the time the payment became due.
If the employer has disappeared, disputes the number of hours, or calls you a contractor when you are actually working under his supervision, describe this to the inspector separately. Do not refuse evidence because of the lack of a beautiful contract: correspondence and confirmation of the work done also help to restore the circumstances.