On June 20, 2019, two important directives of the European Parliament and the EU Council were adopted:
- The Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions in the European Union, which establishes minimum rights applicable to every worker in the Union who is party to an employment contract and
- Work-life balance directive for parents and caregivers, which aims to guarantee employees’ rights related to parenthood.
The implementation of these legal acts on Polish soil should take place by August 1st and August 2nd, 2022, respectively. The draft law is currently under consultation. The provisions of the directives and the assumptions of the draft law implementing the directives are presented below.
I. Work – Life Balance Directive
1. Paternity leave
The directive provides for the right to paternity leave of 10 working days, which is granted on the occasion of the birth of an employee’s child.
Draft Law: shortens eligibility for leave from 24 months to 12 months from the date of birth of the child.
2. Parental leave
The directive stipulates that each employee should have an individual right to parental leave and that 2 months of parental leave should not be transferred to the other parent.
Draft Law:
- provides extension of parental leave up to 41 weeks (for multiple pregnancies up to 43 weeks),
- provides 9 weeks of exclusive parental leave, which could not be waived to the other parent;
- parental leave can be used in a maximum of 5 parts until the child is 6 years old
3. Carer’s leave
This is a leave for employees to provide personal care or support to a relative or person living with the employee in the same household who requires substantial care or significant support for serious medical reasons.
Relative means son, daughter, mother, father, spouse.
Carer’s leave is to be granted to employees at the rate of 5 working days per year.
Draft Law:
- unpaid leave
4. Time off from work on grounds of force majeure
Every employee will be entitled to time off from work on grounds of force majeure for urgent family reasons in the case of illness or accident making the immediate attendance of the worker indispensable.
Draft Law:
- 16 hours or 2 days off per calendar year on grounds of force majeure
- paid at 50% of remuneration.
5. Flexible working arrangements
Employees having children under the age of 8 and caregivers (i.e., persons providing care to a relative or a person living in the same household with them who require significant care for serious medical reasons) will have the right to request flexible work arrangements for caregiving.
Employers shall provide reasons for refusing to grant consent to such a request.
Draft Law:
- A flexible work arrangement assumes telework (which will be replaced by remote work), individual working time, a system of shortened work week, intermittent working hours or part-time work.
6. Employment rights
The employee has the right to return to his/her position or to an equivalent position under no less favourable conditions and to enjoy any improvement in working conditions to which he or she would have been entitled had he not taken the leave.
Both directives prohibit not only the dismissal of an employee but also the preparation for the dismissal of an employee for exercising his rights under the directives.
The burden of prove that the dismissal took place for other reasons rests with the employer.
II. Directive on transparent working conditions in the EU
1. Obligation to provide information
The catalogue of information to be provided by the employer to the employee will be significantly expanded, including such elements as the components of remuneration and overtime pay.
The information can be provided in form of a reference to the regulations governing the issues in question.
Additional information for employees already employed
The employer provides the information regarding new elements only at the request of the employee.
Draft Law: The employer will have 3 months from the date of the employee’s request to complete the information.
2. Minimum requirements for working conditions
A. Maximum length of trial period
Draft Law: trial employment contract can be stipulated for a maximum of 3 months, but no longer than:
- 1 month if the intention is to conclude an employment contract for a fixed term of less than 6 months;
- 2 months – in the case of the intention to conclude a fixed-term employment contract of at least 6 months and less than 12 months.
The parties will be able to extend the aforementioned terms of the trial employment contract once, but only if justified by the type of work and by no more than 1 month.
B. Parallel employment
An employer may not prohibit an employee from working for other employers.
C. Minimum predictability of work
Employee work schedules should be predictable.
D. Transition to secure forms of employment
An employee who has provided work for at least six months with the same employer and who has completed his probationary period, may request a change in the form of employment, such as a change in the type of contract from a fixed-term contract to an indefinite-term contract, and receive a motivated written response to his/hers request.
Draft Law: the request may be submitted no more than once a year.
E. Mandatory training
If the employer is required by law to provide training to an employee for the purpose of performing work, such training shall be provided to the employee:
- free of charge,
- will be counted as working time and
- should, as far as possible, be held during work hours.
III. Alignment of fixed-term and indefinite-term labour contract
Alignment of both labour contracts constitutes an adjustment of the Polish legislation to earlier EU directives, including the principle of non-discrimination based on the type of an employment contract.
Draft Law:
- employer’s obligation to submit a written justification for the termination of a fixed-term employment contract;
- union consultation, i.e. notification in writing of the intention to terminate the employee’s labour contract to the union representing the employee, stating the reasons for termination;
- the possibility of reinstating the employee to his/hers work position.
Should you need more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Masz pytania dotyczące rachunkowości lub prawa podatkowego?
Potrzebujesz pomocy prawnej?
Wypełnij formularz kontaktowy
i skontaktuj się z nami
