The assumptions of the draft new Labour Code are quite revolutionary. Based on the structure of the current law, it introduces a number of changes which have been the subject of debate in the labour law environments for years, as well as those which have been advocated by the current political party. First of all, these will be changes in terms of people employed on civil contracts, so-called self-employed, new types of employment contracts, or changes in the length of holiday leave.
The Labour Law Codification Commission was set up by a regulation of the Council of Ministers dated 9 August 2016 on the Labour Law Codification Commission. The task of the committee was to develop two draft laws: Labour Code and Collective Labour Law Code. The committee's work was final.
14 March 2018, when the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy, Elżbieta Rafalska, was placed on the hands of the then Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy two draft new laws: Labour Code and Collective Labour Law Code.
The work on these projects was halted before local government elections and parliamentary elections, then the coronavirus epidemic focused government and parliament's action on the fight against the epidemic, and any work-law solution on countering COVID-19 were introduced by so-called crisis shields.
It is unofficially said that after the presidential elections and after dealing with the current epidemic, a new Labour Code can be drawn to the parliament later this year. This Article only presents the selected issues that the project envisages.
During the work in the parliament and the senate, it may undergo major changes, but as always, we follow closely the progress of the amendments.
Combating civil law agreements
As we learn from the justification for the draft new Labour Code, it is proposed that solutions promoting employment should be introduced in the fight against widespread abuse of employment on civil law contracts. It is desirable to introduce a presumption of employment mechanism that will shift the burden of proof of non-existence of employment relationship to the employer in cases of establishment of employment relationship and of employment presumption, in cases of doubt as to whether a person provides services or is employed.
The draft new Labour Code introduces the concept of an economically dependent self-employed person, i.e. a person engaged in the provision of services, providing these services himself to a particular entrepreneur, an undertaking which is not an entrepreneur or an agricultural holding (a counterparty), directly, on average, at least 21 hours per week, for at least 182 days.
As regards the self-employed, the project provides for certain guarantees regarding remuneration. An economically dependent self-employed person shall be remunerated for services rendered, which may not be less than 1/100 the minimum remuneration for work determined on the basis of separate provisions, excluding VAT.
The remuneration shall be paid at least once a month within a period not exceeding 14 the days from the date of service of the document giving rise to payment.
At the request of an economically dependent self-employed counterparty, it is obliged to provide the information necessary to determine whether the amount of remuneration due to him has been correctly calculated and, in particular, to make the documents on the basis of which it was calculated available for inspection.
Modifications to the employment contract system
The draft Labour Code is intended to constitute a compromise on the application of fixed-term contracts. On the one hand, are proposed to conclude such contracts only where there is an objective periodic demand for work or where the interests of the employee so justify. This can already be due to uncertainty about permanent employment.
This is intended to prevent temporary employment only at the employer's discretion. On the other hand, are proposed to shorten the periods of notice and to reduce the so-called special protection in cases where termination is due to the cessation of the purpose of the contract for a limited period of time.
Another way to fight civil law contracts will be modifications to the system of employment contracts. In the opinion of the commission working on a project for the popularity of contract contracts, there is a lack of flexible forms of employment for the work of learners and a lack of business-appropriate short-term employment solutions.
The answer to this demand is the proposal of easily pronounced employment contracts for the time of performing casual work, for the time of performing seasonal work and for the time of performing work on the basis of a non-statutory employment contract. The last solution is addressed to learners and extraordinaires.
In addition, it is proposed to significantly extend the admissibility of contracts for a trial period. In the new Labour Code, alongside previously known types of work contracts such as for trial, temporary and indefinite periods, the project introduces a casual work contract, for seasonal work and for non-statutory work.
The new Labour Code proposes an amendment to limit the duration of fixed-term contracts due to job insecurity to 18 months, while allowing the collective agreement to extend the above period. However, such a restriction does not apply to contracts which, for specific reasons, can currently be concluded for longer periods. In these cases, neither the time limit nor the limitation on the multiple conclusion of such contracts apply.
one of the proposed changes, which have been widely approved, is the alignment of the pension rate for all employees to 26 days. Currently people who do not have 10 years traineeships can benefit 20 days in the calendar year concerned.
The changes provided for in the draft Labour Code are far more far-reaching than those which are briefly outlined in this Article. We must also wait a little longer for the final version of the new Labour Code adopted by Parliament. However, if the adopted version does not change more than that proposed by the Ministry, the Polish labour market may undergo a diametric change.