During the recent two decades Polish job market has undergone a major evolution.From a difficult period of economic transformation to an all-time low level of unemployment which, at the end of November 2018, amounted to 5.7%. more often it is described as a job market favourable to job seekers whose position is stronger and stronger compared to employers, especially in case of jobs of the future, such as software engineers, financial specialists or specialists handling modern business services. What types of employment are possible according to the Polish law and which of them are the most popular? What are the rights of employees and how does the job market look from their perspective?
Types of employment
Employment contract, governed by the Polish Employment Code, is the most common form of employment in Poland. A person employed based on an employment contract is guaranteed certain statutory rights. One of them is a minimum monthly pay which amounts to gross PLN 2,250.00. The other rights guaranteed by an employment contract include paid holidays, statutory sick pay and a regulated work time. Employment contracts may be executed for a fixed term as well as for an unlimited term. A temporary worker may sign a replacement employment contract and those who are newly acquired by an organization may sign an employment contract for probationary period.
There are also other forms of legal employment, which are not, however, governed by the Employment Code. The most common in this respect are civil-law governed service contracts (umowa zlecenia). They are based on an hourly rate which may not be lower than gross PLN 13.70. Such a limitation does not concern another type of a service contract – umowa o dzieło – which is not subject to social insurance contributions, either. You can also be self-employed, i.e. be registered as a sole trader. In this case you cannot rely on the guarantees provided in the Employment Code to those employed based on employment contracts. The rights and obligations of a self-employed person are regulated by the Civil Code and they also should be defined in detail in a contract.
Basic rights of those employed based on employment contract
Those employed based on an employment contract have the right to a paid holiday period which amounts to 20 days in case their cumulative period of employment is shorter than 10 years and to 26 days if their cumulative period of employment exceeds 10 years. It must be highlighted that the employment period includes also periods dedicated to secondary technical education and university education, which may add up to 8 years to theperiod of employment. Employees have also the right to a parental leave of no more than 36 months; women-employees have the right to a maternity leave of up to 37 weeks after giving birth to a baby, as well as to a few other benefits related with parenting.
Employees also have a right to receive a sick pay when they are absent from work due to an illness. The only condition in this case is being registered at the Social Security Office (ZUS) by an employer as a payer of health insurance contributions for at least 30 days in case of those employed based on employment contract and for 90 days in case of those employed based on a service contract (umowa zlecenia). The amount of sick benefits varies on case by case basis and ranges between 70 and 100% of the monthly pay basis.
Equal opportunities
Employees have the right to feel comfortably in their work place, and they have the right to be respected by their employer and fellow workers. This means that there are provisions in the Polish law against discrimination, violence and abuse – regardless of the form of employment.
From the point of view of foreigners, the most important are the provisions against any type of discrimination of employees. They may not be discriminated against due to their gender, age, disability, race, religion, nationality or sexual orientation. All the employees receive identical pay for identical work or work of the same value. Polish employment legislation has also a number of provisions concerning occupational safety and health. Employers’ failure to observe these provisions make them liable for huge fines.
More information concerning employees’ rights is provided in the Polish Employment Code or in English at migrant.info. Abuse of employees’ rights by employers may be reported to relevant institutions. More information is provided at migrant.info (here in Polish and here in English).
As you can see, specialized professionals may choose between a full guarantee employment option (employment contract) or a more flexible self-employment, as well as service agreements if they want to have more than one source of income. For ambitious specialists – Polish job market is definitely the employees’ market.
