Staff - Poland

Updated 10/2010

Legal requirements

The Polish Labour Code is the basic document that sets out the rights and obligations of employers and employees.

Labour Code

The Labour Code regulates in particular the start and termination of employment relationships, the basic rules of determining remuneration, matters related to working time and annual leave, the employment of minors, and health and safety at work.

In addition to the Labour Code, there are many acts governing these matters in more detail, including:

the Minimum Pay Act,
the Temporary Workers Act and the Act on the detailed rules of termination of employment relationships for reasons not attributable to employees.

Employment law can also be shaped by collective labour agreements between employers and trade unions. These agreements can set more favourable employee entitlements than those in the Labour Code or other regulations. Detailed information about these agreements can be found on the website of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

Ministry of Labour and Social Policy
More about labour law [368 KB]

The National Labour Inspectorate is the body that supervises and controls adherence to labour law in Poland.

National Labour Inspectorate

Employment conditions

Working time

Working time cannot exceed 8 hours a day and an average of 40 hours in a given settlement period. Weekly working hours together with overtime cannot exceed an average of 48 hours in a given settlement period. Employees can receive additional pay or time off for overtime .

Annual leave

In a calendar year, full-time employees are entitled to annual leave as follows:

20 days: if an employee has been employed for less than 10 years,
26 days: if an employee has been employed for at least 10 years,

Employees who first start working accrue their leave entitlement for the calendar year in which they start working at the rate of 1/12 for each month worked, which can be taken when they have worked for a year.

Remuneration

Remuneration should be fixed so that it corresponds to the particular type of work performed and the qualifications required to perform it. It should also match the workload and quality of the work performed.

In order to protect employee remuneration, the Polish Labour Code contains a provision that employees cannot renounce their right to remuneration or transfer this right to another person.

Poland has a minimum pay that is statutorily guaranteed. In 2010, the minimum pay was PLN 1,317 per month for full-time employees. In 2011, the minimum pay will be PLN 1,386.

More about the minimum wage
More about employment conditions

Types of employment contracts

The following types of employment contracts are listed in the Labour Code:

employment contract for a probationary period: this contract can precede any other contract and cannot be concluded for longer than 3 months,

fixed-term employment contract: this contract is signed for a fixed period of time. This category includes contracts to cover for other employees during their unjustified absences,

employment contract for the period required to carry out specified work,
employment contract for an indefinite period of time: this contract does not specify the period of employment

The rules for hiring temporary workers by employment agencies and for sending to them to work for employers are set out in the Employment of Temporary Workers Act.

Concluding employment contracts

An employment contract should be concluded in writing ; it should name the parties, specify the type of contract, and in particular:

the type of work,
place of work,
date the employment commences,
remuneration for work that corresponds to the type of work,
working time.
More about employment contracts

Employing foreigners

According to the so-called “place of business” rule, under the Community regulations on the coordination of social security systems, the place where work is performed is the deciding factor for determining the applicable social security legislation. This means that an employee should be subject to social security law in the country where they work. However, Community regulations envisage certain exceptions to this rule.

The most important exception applies to employees sent by their company to work in another member state. These employees can remain in the social security system in the country from which they were sent provided that the anticipated period of work does not exceed 24 months and the person is not sent to replace another person.

The current Community regulations do not provide for the extension of the period that the employee works abroad after 24 months.

Companies that send employees to work in another EU member state have a duty to obtain an E-101 form, i.e. a certificate of continuing liability, from the social insurance institution in the sending country (the E101 form will be soon replaced by the so-called "transfer document": the A1 Certificate concerning the Social Security legislation which applies to the holder).

This document confirms that the delegated employee is covered by the social security system in the sending country, and therefore, this employee should be exempt from the social security system in the country to which they have been sent to perform work.

Detailed information about employees sent to work in another country can be found on the website of the Social Security Institution.

Posting employees aboard
Regional Labour Inspectorates
National Labour Inspectorate
Chief Sanitary Inspectorate

There are minimum social rules to follow, especially about non-discrimination, gender equality and health and safety.

Staff welfare — Poland

Administrative procedures

Starting and ending employment

Employers' obligations towards employees

Before allowing an employee to start work, employers are required to:

ensure that the employee has attended health and safety training,
and provide an initial health check.

An employer signs a written employment contract with an employee. If an employment contract is not made in writing, an employer should confirm in writing the following: the parties to the employment contract, the type of employment contract and its conditions at the latest on the day the employee starts work.

In addition, within 7 days from signing an employment contract, the employer has a duty to send employees written information on the basic employment conditions (including working hours, frequency of payment and annual leave entitlement).

An employer also has a duty to:

inform the employee about regulations on health and safety at work, all risks involved in performing work and protection against such risks,
inform employees about work regulations (in the case of employers employing more than 20 people).
More about labour law [368 KB]

Social insurance contributions

The rules on who pays social insurance and related deadlines and forms can be found on the website of the Social Security Institution (ZUS). It also provides information on the payment of contributions and the procedure for correcting declarations and reimbursement of incorrectly paid contributions.

Description of the social insurance system [1 MB]
Registering with the ZUS
Paying and settling contributions
Application and statement forms
ZUS addresses

Keeping employee files

Employers must keep employee files for all employees. An employee's file consists of three parts and includes:

Part A: documents gathered in connection with the application process,
Part B: documents regarding the start of an employment relationship and the employment itself,
Part C: documents connected with the termination of employment.

In addition, employers are required to keep timesheets and payrolls showing payments for the work performed and other benefits connected with work.

Dismissals

The Labour Code sets out the rules of termination of employment contracts. In addition, employers employing at least 20 workers are bound by the Act on the detailed rules of termination of employment relationships for reasons not attributable to employees, which applies to group and individual dismissals.

Termination of employment contracts

Employment contracts can be terminated:

by mutual agreement of the parties,
by notice,
without giving notice,
with the expiry of the term of the contract,
on the day the work for which the contract was signed is completed.

Termination of an employment contract by mutual agreement of the parties means that the employer and the employee give their consent to terminating the employment contract within the time limit agreed by the parties.

Termination of an employment contract by notice means that the contract is terminated by a written notification from the employer or employee while the notice period is observed.

The notice period of a fixed-term contract depends on the length of employment at a given employer. Employees with contracts for an indefinite period are covered by the greatest protection.

The notice period in such a case is respectively:

2 weeks: if an employee has been employed for less than 6 months,
1 month: if an employee has been employed for at least 6 months, and
3 months: if an employee has been employed for at least 3 years.

In the case of contracts for a specific period of time, longer than 6 months, the parties can agree to an earlier termination with a two-week notice.

Termination of an employment contract without notice means that the contract is terminated by a written notification from the employer or employee while the notice period is not observed.

An employer can terminate an employment contract in this mode only if the employee is at fault, meaning:

an employee commits a gross infringement of the basic work duties,
an employee commits a crime during the term of the contract, which makes it impossible to continue the current employment, if it is obviously a crime or if it is confirmed by a valid judgement,
an employee loses the right to perform their job through their own fault.

In addition, an employer can terminate an employment contract for reasons that are not the fault of the employee, for instance, in the case of incapacity to work lasting for a specified period of time.

An employee can terminate an employment contract without giving notice:

if a doctor's statement confirms that performing work has a damaging effect on the employee's health, and the employer does not transfer the employee to another position suitable to their health and professional qualifications within the time limit set out in the doctor's statement,
if an employer commits a gross infringement of the basic obligations towards the employee.

More about labour law [368 KB]

Resources

EURES, the European job portal, offers employers information and support on recruiting across the EU. As well as assisting jobseekers, it helps entrepreneurs find workers from across the EU. In border regions, EURES provides information on cross-border commuting and helps workers and employers with problems that may arise.

Check also the legislation on this topic in:

Staff - Poland