The possibility of working on sick leave, Christmas Eve as a public holiday, and additional maternity leave for the parents of premature babies – let’s take a look at what has changed in labour law after the New Year.
Minimum wage increase
In 2025, the minimum wage will increase only once and will remain the same throughout the year.
From 1 January 2025, the gross amount is PLN 4,666 and the gross minimum hourly rate is PLN 30.50. You can read more about this here.
Christmas Eve as a public holiday and its consequences
The President has signed an amendment making 24 December a public holiday and lifting the trading ban on the three Sundays before Christmas Eve. However, those who are employed in commerce will be allowed to work on no more than two Sundays.
The new legislation came into force on 1 February 2025.
Employers should be aware that the fact that Christmas Eve is a day off not only means that an employee cannot be required to work on that day, but also that there are two different annual leave conversion factors.
A conversion factor is used to determine the payment in lieu of leave that an employee should get if they do not take all of their accrued annual leave with their employer.
The conversion factor is determined for each calendar year and is calculated by subtracting the total number of Sundays and public holidays (falling on days other than Sunday) and days off resulting from a working schedule based on an average five-day week from the number of days in the year. The result is then divided by 12.
As the number of public holidays increases in 2025, the annual leave conversion factor for a full-time worker will be:
- 83 in January 2025
- 75 from February to December 2025
A new leave for parents of premature babies, i.e. additional maternity leave
The draft law amending the Labour Code provides for supplementary maternity leave for parents of premature babies and babies who require prolonged hospitalisation after birth.
This leave will last up to 8 or up to 15 weeks, depending on the length of the child’s hospital stay, the week of pregnancy in which it is born or its birth weight.
Additional maternity leave is granted to employee-parents in the event of the birth of a child:
- Before the end of the 28th week of pregnancy or if the child weighs no more than 1,000 grams – in the amount of one week for each week of the child’s hospital stay up to the 15th week after birth
- After the end of the 28th and before the end of the 37th week of pregnancy and if the child weighs more than 1,000 grams – in the amount of one week for each week of the child’s hospital stay until the 8th week after the birth
- After the 37th week of pregnancy, if the child requires hospitalisation, provided that the hospital stay after birth is at least 2 consecutive days, the first of which is between the 5th and 28th day after birth – in the amount of one week for each week of the child’s hospital stay in the period from the 5th day to the 8th week after birth – up to a maximum of 8 weeks if the above conditions are met
In order to determine the amount of additional maternity leave, the periods of hospitalisation of the child up to the end of the 8th or 15th week after birth will be added together. The allowance for this period will be 100% of the calculation base.
Changes to sick leave (L4)
The latest bill on the social insurance system amends Article 17 of the Act on Social Insurance Cash Benefits in the Event of Sickness or Maternity.
The current wording states that an insured person who is on sick leave and receives sickness benefit will lose the right to the benefit for the entire period of sick leave if, during the period of recognised incapacity for work, he or she:
- Performs paid work, or
- Engages in an activity incompatible with the purpose of the leave, or
- Stays in a place other than that specified in the medical certificate for sick leave
If the insured person is subject to social insurance for two or more jobs, the incapacity for work due to illness will apply to each of them. The doctor issuing the certificate must state that the sick person is capable of performing paid work in a given job. The insured person may then receive sickness benefit for one job and remuneration for the other.
For example, a surgeon with a broken finger cannot work at the operating table, but can successfully perform the work of a university teacher giving lectures on surgery.
This is a departure from the previous ZUS rule, according to which any work performed for one contribution remitter while receiving sickness benefit for employment with another contribution remitter deprived the insured person of the right to receive the benefit for the entire period of sick leave.
Full social insurance coverage of civil law contracts abandoned
On 5 July 2024, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy announced a draft amendment to the Act on the Social Insurance System and the Act on Social Insurance for Work Accidents and Occupational Diseases, which provided for compulsory social insurance (pension, invalidity, sickness and work accident insurance) for civil law contracts, such as service contracts (umowa zlecenie) and contracts for specific results (umowa o dzieło). An exception was to be made for contracts with secondary school pupils or university students up to the age of 26.
Originally, full social insurance coverage of, inter alia, service contracts was to come into force on 1 January 2025. However, Jan Szyszko, the Deputy Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy, announced that service contracts would not be subject to social insurance in the form envisaged in the National Recovery Plan. Instead, changes to the State Labour Inspectorate are planned to strengthen its activities.
New occupational health screening
The Ministry of Health has announced that the package of compulsory occupational health examinations will be extended from 2025. The change is expected to apply to everyone, both existing employees and new recruits.
The extended package of occupational health screening will include:
- Lipid profile
- Blood glucose level
- Body mass index (BMI) measurement
The additional examinations will be free of charge to employers, provided that the employer’s contracted healthcare facility has joined a special prevention programme run by the Ministry of Health.
Employers should check whether their contracts with healthcare facilities cover the new examinations.
Maximum workplace temperature
The new draft ordinance of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy on general regulations on health and safety at work, which is currently under review, makes the maximum permissible indoor temperature dependent on the estimated work metabolic rate.
According to the draft:
- The employer must ensure that the indoor temperature is appropriate to the type of work performed and does not exceed: 28°C – for work with a low and moderate metabolic rate; in offices, 25°C – for work with a high metabolic rate or 22°C – for work with a very high metabolic rate, unless technical considerations do not allow it
- If, due to atmospheric conditions, the temperature exceeds 28/25/22°C for a given metabolic rate class – the employer is obliged to provide appropriate technical solutions to reduce it to the specified value
- Where workers are required to work outdoors at temperatures above 25°C – the employer is required to make appropriate organisational arrangements
- The technical/organisational arrangements must be agreed with trade unions (if present) or employee representatives (if there are no trade unions) – in the form of a written agreement
- If, despite the use of technical solutions, the temperature in a workroom exceeds 35°C, the employer must not allow employees to work in the room
- No work involving a high or very high metabolic rate may be carried out outdoors at temperatures above 32°C
The regulation will come into force 14 days after its promulgation and employers will be required to adapt workplaces and update their occupational risk assessments in their records in accordance with the occupational health and safety requirements by 1 June 2025 at the latest.
New powers for the State Labour Inspectorate
The Sejm is working on amendments that will make it easier to carry out inspections at employers’ premises.
At present, an inspection by a labour inspector can be carried out at any time of the day or night without prior notice, but on the basis of a professional identity card and a special authorisation.
The draft provides for the abolition of separate written authorisations for labour inspectors, with the result that an inspection will be possible on presentation of an inspector’s professional identity card. This document confirms the identity and authority of the inspector, which, according to the State Labour Inspectorate (PIP), is sufficient to ensure the correctness and legality of the procedure.
In addition, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has announced that the State Labour Inspectorate will be given new powers to combat bogus self-employment. In certain circumstances, a labour inspector will be able to order the conversion of existing civil law contracts into employment contracts on the basis of an administrative decision by the State Labour Inspectorate. Until now, the existence of an employment relationship could only be established by means of an action before a labour court.
Civil law contracts included in seniority
The government’s draft law on amendments to the Labour Code provides that, from 1 January 2026, the following periods of employment, among others, will be included in the general and company seniority periods:
- The performance of a non-agricultural business activity by a natural person, and the periods of cooperation with a person performing a non-agricultural business activity for which contributions were paid to pension, invalidity or work accident insurance schemes
- Performance of a service contract (umowa zlecenie) or other contract for the provision of services by a natural person
- Performance of an agency contract by a natural person
- Doctoral studies
- Receiving unemployment benefits or training benefits while unemployed
- Documented employment abroad with a local employer
- Documented foreign gainful activity other than employment
Employee entitlements resulting from the inclusion of the above periods of employment in the company/general seniority will be available from the date of entry into force of the Amendment Act, i.e. from 1 January 2026.
Legislative work on the bill is in progress.
Changes to the health insurance contribution
From 1 January 2025, there are new rules for determining the amount of the health insurance contribution.
In particular, revenue and deductible costs from the paid sale of tangible and intangible assets are excluded from the base of the health insurance contribution paid by entrepreneurs.
The above applies to persons settling their tax accounts under general rules on the basis of the tax scale and in the form of a flat tax. In the case of tax on registered revenue, revenue from the sale of fixed assets is excluded from the health insurance contribution base.
A minimum health insurance contribution also applies from 2025.
- Entrepreneurs who are taxed under the general rules using the tax scale or flat tax for the contribution year from 1 February 2025 to 31 January 2026:
- the minimum monthly contribution base will be 75% of the minimum wage applicable on the first day of the contribution year
- the annual contribution base may not be lower than the product of the number of months covered by health insurance in 2025 and 75% of the minimum wage applicable on the first day of the contribution year
- Entrepreneurs taxed on the basis of a tax card (fixed amount tax):
- the monthly contribution base due for the period from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 will be 75% of the minimum wage applicable from 1 January 2025 (i.e. PLN 4,666)
Higher salary subsidies for employees with disabilities
From 2 January 2025, employers will be able to apply for a higher salary subsidy for employees with disabilities.
As a reminder, in accordance with the Act of 5 December 2024 amending the Act on Vocational and Social Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled Persons, employers are entitled to a monthly subsidy for the remuneration of a disabled employee from the funds of the National Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (PFRON), provided that the employee is included in the register of employed disabled persons. From July 2024, the amount of the subsidy is as follows:
- PLN 2760 – in case of marked disability
- PLN 1550 – in case of moderate disability
- PLN 575 – in case of mild disability
For persons with diagnosed mental illness, mental retardation, general developmental disorder, epilepsy or blind, the amounts are increased by:
- PLN 1380 – in case of marked disability
- PLN 1035 – in case of moderate disability
- PLN 690 – in case of mild disability
Applications for payment of the new amount of the subsidy and the adjustment from July 2024 may be submitted from 2 January 2025.
Amendments to anti-bullying regulations
The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has announced that a draft law has been prepared to amend the anti-bullying regulations.
According to official information, the changes will include simplifying the definition of bullying and recognising that its basic characteristic is the persistent harassment of an employee, regardless of the perpetrator’s intention or the occurrence of a specific effect. Incidental and one-off behaviour will not be recognised as bullying.
In addition, a number of obligations will be imposed on employers, such as the obligation to include anti-bullying and anti-discrimination rules in work regulations, and to apply preventive measures, detect and respond to bullying and support its victims. The minimum threshold for punitive damages for bullying will be six months’ salary. At the same time, employers will be exempted from civil liability if the bullying does not originate from the employee’s superior and appropriate preventive measures have been taken.
The draft has not yet been officially published.
Amendments to the Trade Union Act following the entry into force of the Artificial Intelligence Act
The AI Act came into force on 1 August 2024.[1]
As a result, employers using high-risk AI systems are required to inform employee representatives and affected individuals that they will be subject to the use of a high-risk AI system, before the systems are put into service or used. An amendment to the Trade Union Act is planned, which will require the employer to provide this type of information, which is necessary for the operation of a company trade union organisation, at the latter’s request. In particular, this concerns the parameters, rules and instructions on which the AI algorithms or systems are based that affect decision-making and working and pay conditions, access to and retention in employment, including profiling.
Better legal protection for victims of online hate speech
Work is underway on the so-called ‘Anti-Hater Act’. Its main premise is the introduction of three new fast-track and simplified procedures for the protection of personal rights in cases related to the dissemination of illegal content on the Internet.
These proceedings will fall under the jurisdiction of district courts and can be brought by both individuals and companies.
A special solution will be the introduction of a so-called blind claim, in which the claimant will be obliged to indicate the provider of the intermediary service through which the illegal content was distributed, while the personal data of the author, who is in many cases unknown, can be omitted.
The change in the rules is intended to ensure faster and more effective protection. This may also be particularly important in the context of effective protection of the rights of employees who work via the Internet, including via platforms, but also of companies – employers – who are often the victims of unjustified online criticism that damages their reputation.
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[1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2020/1828.
