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The first employee: employer obligations step by step

Expert knowledge. Content verified: 7 November 2026.

Before your first employee starts work, you must have a contract with them (in writing or confirmed in writing before they start), a valid medical certificate from pre-employment examinations and health and safety (BHP) training arranged, and within 7 days of the insurance obligation arising you must register them with ZUS. After that come personnel files, information on the terms of employment, monthly settlement of contributions and PPK. We describe the position as at 7 November 2026; this is general information, not advice on your particular case.

1. Candidate details and type of contract

  • From a candidate you request the first name and surname, date of birth and contact details, and education, qualifications and employment history only when they are necessary for work in the given position. The residential address, PESEL and payment account number (if the employee does not want to be paid in cash) you collect from the person who has become an employee (art. 22¹ of the Labour Code).
  • An employment contract is concluded for a trial period (up to 3 months), for a fixed term or for an indefinite term (art. 25 § 1 and 2). Anyone who works for you, under your direction and at a place and time that you designate, is an employee regardless of the name of the contract (art. 22 § 1 and 1¹); the differences between the contracts are described in a separate article.

2. Written contract and information on working conditions

  • An employment contract is concluded in writing. If that did not happen, before the employee starts work you confirm to them in writing the arrangements as to the parties, the type of contract and its terms (art. 29 § 2). The contract specifies, among other things, the type and place of work, remuneration, working time and the start date (art. 29 § 1).
  • No later than 7 days after the employee is allowed to work, you inform them (on paper or electronically) of, among other things, the working time norm and weekly hours, breaks, rest, overtime, leave entitlement and notice periods (art. 29 § 3 pt 1), and within 30 days of the social security institutions to which contributions are paid (pt 2).
  • Work regulations are introduced by an employer employing at least 50 employees (art. 104 § 1¹). Without work regulations you set working time systems and schedules in a notice (art. 150 § 1).

3. Medical examinations, health and safety training and occupational risk

  • People hired for work undergo pre-employment medical examinations, and the employer may not allow an employee to work without a current certificate of no contraindications for the given position (art. 229 § 1 pt 1 and § 4). Examinations take place on the basis of your referral and at your cost (§ 4a and 6); exceptions for re-hiring within 30 days are described in § 1¹.
  • Before allowing an employee to work, you provide them with health and safety training during working time and at the employer's cost (art. 237³ § 2 and 3). Initial training consists of general and on-the-job instruction (§ 8 and 10 of the regulation on health and safety training). The employer also completes health and safety training to the extent needed for their duties (art. 237³ § 2¹).
  • You assess and document occupational risk and inform employees about the risk and the rules of protection against hazards (art. 226).

4. Registration with ZUS and monthly settlement

  • Registering an employee for insurance is the responsibility of the contribution payer and must be done within 7 days of the date the insurance obligation arises (art. 36 para. 2 and 4 of the Act on the social insurance system). According to the example on biznes.gov.pl, the deadline runs from the day after work starts, and when the last day falls on a Sunday or public holiday, it moves to the first working day.
  • You register an employee covered by social and health insurance on form ZUS ZUA (ZUS ZZA applies to a person covered by health insurance only). A payer settling contributions for no more than 5 people may submit documents on paper, others in principle electronically (art. 47a para. 1 and 2).
  • A business entered in CEIDG is registered with ZUS as a payer on the basis of the entry; a civil partnership employing its first person registers using form ZUS ZPA within 7 days of the start of work (biznes.gov.pl).
  • Every month the payer submits the settlement return and individual reports and pays the contributions: by the 15th day of the following month if it has legal personality, and in other cases by the 20th day (art. 47 para. 1 pt 3 and 4). Deregistration takes place within 7 days of the expiry of the insurance title (art. 36 para. 11).

5. Personnel files, leave and tax

  • You keep personnel files separately for each employee, in 5 parts, on paper or electronically, and retain them for the period of employment and 10 years from the end of the year in which the employment relationship ended (art. 94 pt 9a and 9b of the Labour Code; § 2 and 3 of the regulation on employee records). You also keep a working time record (art. 149 § 1).
  • Annual leave is 20 days for employment shorter than 10 years or 26 days for at least 10 years; for part-time work it is proportional (art. 154 § 1 and 2).
  • An employee may submit a statement (PIT-2 form) on reducing the advance by the tax-reducing amount. The payer takes it into account no later than from the month following the month of receipt, and once submitted it also applies in subsequent years (podatki.gov.pl, updated 24.06.2026).

6. PPK after three months

PPK covers employees (except juvenile workers) and contractors under a contract of mandate over the age of 18 who are subject to compulsory pension and disability insurance on that basis (art. 2 para. 1 pt 18 of the PPK Act). You conclude the PPK management agreement on behalf of the employed person no earlier than after 14 days of employment and no later than the 10th day of the month following the month in which 3 months of employment have elapsed, unless the person submitted a written declaration earlier that they will not make contributions (art. 16 para. 1). You must have a PPK management agreement with a financial institution at least 10 working days earlier (art. 8 para. 1). The basic contribution is 1.5% of salary on the employer's side and 2% on the participant's side, subject to exceptions in the Act (art. 26 and 27).

How it works in Zaksio

Anna and Kasia are software (the AI team), not an accounting firm or an adviser. You switch on the "HR and payroll" module with the "Employees" feature in the company's business profile, and the Start plan is free within the limits stated in the pricing.

  • "Add employee" and "Add contract" (employment, mandate or specific work) save the data with dates and gross salary; the PESEL is encrypted and masked.
  • Zaksio prepares ZUA, ZZA and ZWUA registrations as KEDU 5.7 files to download. You import them into Platnik or upload them to ZUS PUE, and you or your accounting firm submit them to ZUS.
  • HR documents with a PDF preview (including the leave request, working time record and PIT-2 statement) take their data from the employee record; signing and issuing the document take place outside Zaksio.
  • The deadlines calendar includes employee registrations within 7 days and the ZUS, PIT and PPK deadlines, and Kasia, the AI HR assistant, reminds you about them in the Team inbox. PPK has enrolments, contributions and a transfer summary with a CSV file.
  • Amounts are calculated by deterministic code with tests, not by AI, and you check the payroll and the files. Medical examinations, health and safety training and signing the contract take place outside Zaksio.

Sources

  • Act of 26 June 1974, the Labour Code, consolidated text (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1245) — https://eli.gov.pl/eli/DU/2026/1245/ogl
  • Act of 13 October 1998 on the social insurance system, consolidated text (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 199) — https://eli.gov.pl/eli/DU/2026/199/ogl
  • Act of 4 October 2018 on Employee Capital Plans (PPK), consolidated text (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 192) — https://eli.gov.pl/eli/DU/2026/192/ogl
  • Regulation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy of 10 December 2018 on employee records, consolidated text (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 474) — https://eli.gov.pl/eli/DU/2026/474/ogl
  • Regulation of the Minister of Economy and Labour of 27 July 2004 on health and safety training, consolidated text (Dz.U. 2024 poz. 1327) — https://eli.gov.pl/eli/DU/2024/1327/ogl
  • Biznes.gov.pl, How to register with ZUS and register for insurance — https://www.biznes.gov.pl/pl/portal/00275
  • Podatki.gov.pl, PIT-2, PIT-2A, PIT-3. Rules for submitting statements on applying the reduction of the advance by the tax-reducing amount — https://podatki.gov.pl/poradniki-i-informatory/pit-2-pit-2a-pit-3-zasady-skladania-oswiadczen-o-stosowaniu-pomniejszenia-zaliczki-o-kwote-zmniejszajaca-podatek-112-124-lub-136

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