Labour law in Poland

27 | 01 | 2017

Piotr Kopeć

Labour law in Poland

In this article I would like to present basic information on employment regulations in Poland. Key act regulating employment in Poland is named Act of 26 June 1974 - the Labour Code. It regulated the rights and obligations of employers and employees.

Basic rights of the employers:

1. Employers are obliged to respect the dignity and other personal rights of employees.
2. Employees have equal rights in respect of the same performance of the same duties; this applies in particular to the equal treatment of men and women in employment.
3. Any discrimination in employment, direct or indirect, in particular in respect of gender, age, disability, race, religion, nationality, political views, trade union membership, ethnic origin, creed, sexual orientation or in respect of the conditions of employment for a definite or an indefinite period of time or full or part time, are prohibited.
4. Employees have the right to a respectful remuneration for work.
5. Employees have the right to rest, guaranteed under the provisions on working time, time off and annual leave.
6. Employers are obliged to ensure healthy and safe working conditions for their employees.

Types of employment contracts.

According to the Labour Code, an employee is a person employed on the basis of an employment contract, an appointment, an election, a nomination or a co-operative employment contract.

An employment contract is concluded for:

1. An indefinite period of time - from the employee perspective it is the most beneficial form of employment as it provides the highest level of employment protection and allows full access to the employees’ rights.
2. A definite period of time - the employment period must be clearly defined, whereby the labour law does not set any upper limit on the period length,
3. The time of the completion of a specified task - is generally concluded for casual and seasonal work.
4. For a trial period - allows the appointment of employees for a trial period, for the purpose of assessing skills, professional qualifications and predisposition towards work of a given employee.

Termination of an employment contract.

An employment contract is terminated:

1. by mutual consent of the parties,
2. upon a declaration of one of the parties observing the termination notice period (termination of an employment contract with notice),
3. upon a declaration of one of the parties without observing the termination notice period (termination of an employment contract without notice),
4. after the expiry of the time period for which it has been concluded,

Period of notice for a contract for an indefinite period of time.

The period of notice for an employment contract concluded for an indefinite period of time depends on the employment period with a given employer and amounts to:

1. 2 weeks – if the length of service for the employer is less than 6 months,
2. 1 month – if the length of service for the employer is at least 6 months,
3. 3 months – if the length of service for the employer is at least 3 years.

Working hours

The law specifies that working time may not exceed 8 hours in a 24-hour period and an average of 40 hours in an average five-day working week in a applicable calculation period not exceeding 4 months.

Vacation entitlement is as follows:

Each employee is entitled to paid annual leave. The length of the annual leave varies from 20 to 26 working days per calendar year, depending on the period of employment.

20 days - if the employee has been working for less than 10 years

26 days - if the employee has been working for at least 10 years

The employment relationship established on the basis of the employment agreement should be distinguished from the legal relationships such as Service Contrat or Taska Contract established on the grounds of the Civil Code, which are not regulated by the labour law.