In the new year, numerous changes in labour law will come into force. The Labour Code will introduce, among others, provisions on remote work, control of employee sobriety and additional rights for parents raising children. Regulations on the conclusion and termination of fixed-term employment contracts are also awaiting implementation, which results from the implementation of EU directives into national law from 1 January 2023 (Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the EU).
From 1 January 2023, the provisions on business travel allowances, employee salaries and the obligations of payers towards ZUS will also change.
- Remote work
The amendments will enter into force two months after publication in the Journal of Laws (expected date: 1 March 2023).
The Labour Code will repeal telework provisions and replace them with remote work. To the new regulations, workers can work remotely in the places indicated by them entirely or only partially (hybrid) – following the arrangements between the employee and the employer. The employee will be able to work remotely when concluding an employment contract and during an already existing employment, except that employees will have to apply for it in paper or electronic form. Currently, there is no statutory template for the application for remote work.
The employer shall be obliged to provide the remote worker with the materials and tools, including the technical equipment, training and technical assistance necessary to perform this work. The employer is obliged to cover the employee’s remote work costs. In addition, according to the proposed regulations, the employer, as a rule, will not be able to refuse remote work, among others, to parents who raise a child to the age of 4, parents and carers who care for a disabled person in the family and pregnant women (unless this is impossible due to the organization or type of work). The draft amendments to the Labour Code also allow for the occasional provision of remote work for up to 24 days in a calendar year.
2. Employee sobriety test
The changes will enter into force 14 days after publication in the Journal of Laws (January 2023).
A sobriety check verifying the content of alcohol and other measures acting similarly to alcohol will also be possible towards persons employed under civil law and B2B contracts.
3. Granting the right to leave due to force majeure (2 days or 16 hours)
The changes will enter into force 14 days after publication in the Journal of Laws (January 2023).
The amendment provides for the leave from work due to force majeure in urgent family matters caused by illness or accident if the immediate presence of the employee is necessary. Its period is specific- 2 days or 16 hours in a calendar year. The employer calculates leave due to force majeure in hours for a part-time employee in proportion to their working time. Leaving work for less than one hour will total the entire hour. The leave is payable but at half the salary. The employer can’t refuse such leave if the employee applies for it on the same day at the latest.
4. Changes in contracts for a trial period from 2023.
The changes will enter into force 14 days after publication in the Journal of Laws (January 2023).
The Labour Code will amend the trial contracts period. This period can range from 1 to 3 months. It will depend on the planned time of employment for the next contract.
A trial contract must follow the guidelines:
- for one month – in the event of an intention to conclude a fixed-term employment contract of fewer than six months;
- for two months – in the case of an intention to conclude a fixed-term contract of at least six months but less than 12 months;
- for three months – in the case of a choice to employ on a fixed-term employment contract of at least 12 months.
In justified cases, the employer can extend the employment contract for a trial period of 1 or 2 months by one month – to a maximum of 3 months. At the same time, it will be possible to extend the trial period by the time of leave or other justified absences of the employee (the parties will be able to agree to it in the employment contract). The conclusion of another employment contract for a trial period with the same employee will be possible only if hired for a different type of work than in the previous employment.
5. Changes in fixed-term contracts 2023
The changes will enter into force 14 days after publication in the Journal of Laws (January 2023).
The employer will have to justify the termination of a fixed-term contract. Until now, such an obligation existed only in the case of permanent contracts. In addition, the employer will have to notify the trade union (if it exists in the workplace) of the intention to terminate a fixed agreement. Failure to comply with these obligations will result in the employee’s return to work.
6. Application for a change of employment form
The employee can apply to the employer to change the work form. The only requirement an employee must meet to use it is to work in a given company for more than six months. The application may concern a change in the type of contract, the kind of work performed or the working time. The employee can submit it in paper and electronic form at most once a year. As far as possible, the employer should comply with the employee’s request. It means it will be obliged to respond to sit and justify refusal. An application for a change in employment cannot be the reason to fire somebody.
7. Granting the right to care leave (additional five days)
The changes will enter into force 14 days after publication in the Journal of Laws (January 2023).
Care leave will cover children, parents and spouses. Care leave will not affect the holiday leave pool but will be unpaid. The employee will have to apply for it three days before its commencement.
8. Change in the amount of parental leave and the rules for granting it
The changes will enter into force 14 days after publication in the Journal of Laws (January 2023).
The amount of parental leave will extend from 32/34 weeks to 41/43 weeks. Part of the parental leave doesn’t transfer to the other parent. It is to encourage fathers to take this leave. For the entire period of parental leave, the maternity allowance will be 70% of the base (currently, the regulations provide a 100% payment for the first six weeks of parental leave, then 60%). If the employee applies for the entire parental leave within 21 days of the date of childbirth, she will be entitled to the benefit of 81.5% for the whole period of maternity and parental leave (currently, it is 80%).
The changes will also include rules on paternity leave. A father who wants to use it will have to hurry and do it within 12 months after the child’s birth (previously, it was two years).
9. Information on terms and conditions of employment
The changes will enter into force 14 days after publication in the Journal of Laws (January 2023).
The amendment to the Labour Code and some other acts will likely change the information the employer gives to a new worker. Within seven days of admitting them to work, the employer should inform them (in paper or electronic form) about the following:
the employee’s
- daily and weekly work time norms,
- daily and weekly working hours,
- breaks at work,
- daily and weekly rest,
- rules on overtime work and compensation for it,
- in the case of shift work – rules on changing from shift to shift,
- in the case of several places of work – rules on movement between places of performance
- remuneration components and cash or in-kind benefits other than those specified in the employment contract,
- the amount of paid leave due to the employee, in particular, holiday leave or information on the rules for determining and granting it (if it is not possible to determine it so quickly),
- the applicable rules for terminating the employment relationship, including formal requirements, the length of notice periods and the date of appeal to the labour court or information on the method of determining such notice periods,
- the employee’s right to training, if the employer provides it, in particular the general principles of the employer’s training policy,
- collective agreement to which the employee is subject and, in the case of conclusion of a collective agreement outside the workplace by joint bodies or institutions – the names of such bodies or institutions,
- if the employer has not established the work regulations – the date, place, time and frequency of remuneration for work, night time, the method of confirming the arrival and presence at work and justifying absences from work.
10. Minimum wage in 2023
Changes from 1 January 2023
In 2023, the minimum wage for a full-time employee will increase in two stages and will amount to:
■ from 1 January – PLN 3,490,
■ from 1 July – PLN 3,600.
An increase in the minimum remuneration from 1 January 2023 will result in a change in employee receivables dependent on their amount, including a difference in the amount of:
■ compensation for violation of the principle of equal treatment in employment and compensation mobbing (if a court confirms the violation in this respect in 2023)
■ the employee will be entitled to compensation for not less than PLN 3490, and from 1 July – not less than PLN 3600),
■ remuneration for downtime not caused by the employee (monthly not less than PLN 3490, and from 1 July 2023 – not less than PLN 3600), in proportion to the work time. The same base applies to the workers earning their remuneration not based on monthly/hourly wage
■ night time work benefit (the basis for calculating the allowance may be not less than PLN 3490 and from 1 July 2023 – not less than PLN 3600).
In addition, due to the change in the minimum wage in 2023, new, higher amounts free of tax allowance apply. Their height will vary. In particular, the following have an impact on the tax allowance:
■ joining the PPK and the amount of the employer payment
■ exceeding 30 times the base for contributions to pension insurance;
■ tax rate (12% or 32%);
■ tax-deductible costs (ordinary or increased or resignation from their application);
■ right to the amount reducing the tax;
■ right to income tax exemption (up to the annual amount of PLN 85,528):
- raising at least four children,
- who moved their place of residence to the territory of Poland,
- being a professionally active pensioner;
- until the age of 26;
■ joint settlement with a spouse or as a single parent of a child/ children.
The tax allowances apply to remuneration due to employees from 2023 onwards.
11. Rewriting “auto signing” to PPK (Employee Capital Plans)
Changes from 1 January 2023
Auto-sign does not apply only to participants of the PPK who – by declaring resignation – ceased financing payments to the PPK. An employed person who announced resignation from contributing to PPK before the employer concluded a management agreement on their behalf would also be re-signed.
12. Parental entitlements for adoptive parents
Changes from 1 February 2023
Maternity allowance (for the period of leave on the conditions of maternity leave and parental leave) will be entitled to the insured person who, during the period of sickness insurance or parental leave, accepted a child up to 14 years of age and applied to the care court for their adoption. Previously, this benefit was for a child up to seven years, or ten years in case of postponed schooling
13. ICT system for the handling of employment contracts and contracts of mandate
The changes will enter into force 30 days after publication in the Journal of Laws.
An individual will access the portal via a trusted profile on an individual account on the praca.gov.pl or biznes.gov.pl portal. In this system, everyone will be able to download ready-to-complete contract forms. Micro-entrepreneurs, entities that are not micro-entrepreneurs, employing no more than nine people, farmers and natural persons entrusting work will be able to use the ICT system.
14. Abandonment of increased tax deductible costs
Changes from 1 January 2023
An employee to whom the increased tax deductible costs of PLN 300 per month (PLN 3,600 per year) apply may submit a written application to the employer to refrain from using these costs.
15. Rules for submitting declarations and applications to calculate the advance tax
Changes from 1 January 2023
New rules for submitting declarations and applications by taxpayers will enter into force. They impact the calculation of the advance payment for personal income tax (art.31a of the PIT Act).
16. Application of the tax deduction by the deducting amount (kwota zmniejszająca
Changes from 1 January 2023
The taxpayers who are not employers will be able to apply a monthly tax deduction (amounting to PLN 300 per month for one source of income, i.e. PLN 3,600 per year, and only based on a declaration of the eligible taxpayer, which is valid until its change or withdrawal).
16. Allowances for domestic business trips
Changes from 1 January 2023
The daily allowance for a business trip in Poland will be PLN 45. It will be higher by PLN 7 than the previous one (PLN 38 per day). With the increase in the allowance, the fees for domestic travel that depend on it will increase.
17. Entitlement to the entrepreneur’s allowance, which concluded an instalment agreement with ZUS
The changes will enter into force 14 days after publication in the Journal of Laws (January 2023).
18. Obligation to create an information profile on PUE ZUS by all contributors
Changes from 1 January 2023
19. Obligation to provide social and health insurance to the general partners of a limited partnership
Changes from 1 January 2023
20. Withholding payment of benefits from FUS
The changes will enter into force 14 days after publication in the Journal of Laws (January 2023).