Your shift at a shop or café is almost over when your manager counts the cash register. Something is wrong. The
register is 200 PLN short. Your boss immediately tells you: “You were on the till today, so the money is coming out
of your salary.” Do you automatically have to pay?
No. A shortage at the cash register does not, by itself, prove that you owe your employer money. Under Polish
labour law, employees can be financially responsible for losses they cause, but there are rules determining when
that responsibility arises. Your employer cannot simply decide that because money is missing, the person standing
behind the register must personally cover the difference.
For employees working under an umowa o pracę, the circumstances of the shortage matter. Under the general
rules on employee liability, the employer normally has to establish that the employee failed to properly perform
their duties, that the employee was at fault, that the employer suffered a loss, and that the employee’s actions
caused that loss. A missing 200 PLN tells you that there is a problem. It does not, on its own, explain what
happened to the money.
Imagine, for example, that several employees used the same cash register during your shift. Perhaps another
worker processed transactions while you were on your break. Maybe the starting amount in the till was counted
incorrectly, a refund was entered incorrectly, or there was another accounting mistake. These details can
completely change the situation. Your employer should investigate what actually happened rather than simply
choosing one employee to blame.
There are special rules when money or other property has been formally entrusted to an employee with an
obligation to return or account for it. Cash can fall into this category. In these circumstances, an employee’s
potential liability can be broader than under the ordinary rules for workplace damage. However, that still does not
mean that every shortage automatically becomes your personal debt. How the cash was entrusted, who had
access to it and whether you were actually able to protect it can all be important. An employee can also avoid
liability if they show that the loss occurred for reasons beyond their control, particularly where the employer failed
to provide conditions that made it possible to properly safeguard the entrusted property.
This is why shared cash registers deserve particular attention. If five people can open the same till, it may be much
harder to establish what happened than if one employee receives a counted cash drawer at the beginning of a
shift, has exclusive control over it and returns it for counting at the end. Do not assume that the words “cash
register responsibility” automatically settle the question.
You should also be careful if your manager immediately asks you to sign a statement accepting responsibility for
the shortage. You may feel embarrassed or frightened and want the situation to disappear as quickly as possible.
But signing a document can have consequences. Read it carefully. Ask what you are acknowledging and how the
employer calculated the amount. If you disagree with the description of what happened, do not sign it simply
because your manager is pressuring you.
Another important issue is your salary. Your employer cannot simply treat your wages as a convenient source of
money whenever the company believes you owe it something. Polish law regulates deductions from an employee’s
remuneration. Certain deductions can be made without the employee’s consent, but other amounts generally
require the employee’s written consent. A manager saying “I’ll take it from your next paycheck” does not, by itself,
make the deduction lawful.
If a shortage occurs, make your own record of the situation. Note who used the register, when it was counted and
whether you saw the opening and closing amounts. Save relevant schedules or messages. If there was a technical
problem, unusual transaction, disputed refund or another person using your till, write that down while you still
remember it. These details may become important later.
Most importantly, do not confuse responsibility with accusation. If money is missing, your employer has a
legitimate reason to find out what happened. That does not give them the right to immediately assume that you
stole the money, deliberately lost it or automatically owe the company the full amount.
If you are being pressured to repay a cash shortage or your employer has deducted money from your salary and
you are unsure whether this was lawful, you can seek advice from a trade union, labour rights organisation or
Poland’s National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy – PIP).
A cash register being short is a problem that needs to be explained. It is not an automatic invoice addressed to the
cashier.