On March 9, 2023, the Sejm of Poland adopted an act aimed at implementing the provisions of two EU directives into the Polish legal order. The adopted draft introduces many significant changes to the Labour Code and is currently waiting for the President’s signature. The Act will enter into force within 21 days from the moment of its publication in the Journal of Laws.

It is worth mentioning that the deadline for implementing the EU directives expired on August 1, 2022. Specifically, these are the directives:

• European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2019/1152 of 20 June 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union (Official Journal EU. L No. 186, p. 105);
• European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2019/1158 of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU (Official Journal EU. L. No. 188, p. 79).

The above-mentioned provisions introduce extensive changes, in particular with regard to working parents/guardians in the context of their use of parental leave, by extending greater protection to the employment relationship concluded with such an employee. The changes will also affect working time regulations by introducing new types of leaves to the Labour Code. Employers, in connection with the implementation of the provisions of the directive to the Labour Code, will be subject to new, broader information obligations towards employees.

A large part of the amended provisions will cover the issue of concluding employment contracts and terminating them.

Contract for a probational period

Pursuant to the adopted provisions, as before, a contract for a trial period will be concluded for a maximum period of 3 months, with the possibility of agreeing in the employment contract for a trial period that the contract is extended by the time of leave, as well as by the time of the employee’s other justified absence from work if such absences occur.

A novelty, which raises many controversies, especially on the part of employers, is making the duration of a contract for a trial period dependent on the expected duration of a employment contract for definite period, namely a contract of employment for a trial period is concluded for a period not exceeding:

• 1 month – in the case of the intention to conclude an employment contract for a definite period of less than 6 months,
• 2 months – in the case of an intention to conclude an employment contract for a definite period of at least 6 months and shorter than 12 months.

The employer and the employee may extend the periods mentioned above once, but not more than 1 month, if it is justified by the type of work. The employing entity may re-conclude an employment contract for a trial period with the same employee if the employee is to be employed to perform a different type of work.

What is more, the employment contract for a trial period must contain information about the period for which the parties intend to conclude an employment contract for definite period in the case of a trial period of 1 or 2 months.

Termination of a contract for definite period

In the light of the new regulations, termination of a contract for definite period will be possible, but only on condition that the justification for terminating such a contract is provided. So far, the obligation to indicate the reason for termination of the contract by the employer concerned only contracts for an indefinite period. Moreover, the employer will be obliged to notify the enterprise trade union representing the employee in writing of the intention to terminate the employment contract concluded for a definite period of time, stating the reason justifying the termination of the contract.

Another novelty is the possibility of applying for reinstatement in the event of termination of contract for definite period in violation of the provisions or in an unjustified manner. Until now, such entitlement was available only to employees who had been terminated from a contract concluded for an indefinite period.

The purpose of these changes, according to the legislator, is to eliminate differences between employees employed for an indefinite period of time and employees employed for a definite period of time.

Application to change the duration of the contract

The amended provisions give employees a new entitlement, namely the possibility to apply for more predictable working conditions: changing the type of contract to a contract for an indefinite period, in the case of part-time employees – changing the working time to full-time, as well as changing the type of work performed. The entitlement will be available to an employee who has been employed with a given employer for at least 6 months.

The employee will be able to submit an application once a year and the employer will be obliged to consider the employee’s application as far as possible. In the event of a refusal, the employer will be obliged to provide the employee with a written justification for the refusal no later than within 1 month from the date of receipt of the request.

The employee’s submission of the request referred to above may not constitute a reason justifying the termination of the employment contract or its termination without notice by the employer, a reason justifying the preparation for termination or termination of the contract without notice or the reason for applying an action having an effect equivalent to the termination of the employment contract.

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