2024 has brought significant changes to employment law. Some of these are already in force, while others will not become effective until after the New Year.
These changes are the Polish legislator’s response to what is happening in the EU labour market and are aimed at protecting the health of employees, improving working conditions and supporting entrepreneurs. Let’s take a look at the most relevant ones.
Increase in the minimum wage
As of 1 July 2024, the gross minimum wage is PLN 4,300, while the lowest hourly rate for work under a service contract (Polish: umowa zlecenie) or providing a service is PLN 28.10 gross.
As of 1 January 2025, these amounts will be increased, with the minimum wage rising to PLN 4,666 gross and the minimum hourly rate rising to PLN 30.50 gross.
Protection of whistleblowers
On 25 September, the long-awaited Whistleblower Protection Act came into force, which introduced special procedures for reporting irregularities in a company. The aim of the Act is also to protect whistleblowers, i.e. reporting persons, from retaliations, e.g. by their employer.
Whistleblower procedures should be put in place by any entity employing at least 50 workers (as at 1 January or 1 July of the relevant year).
This includes full-time employees or persons providing work against remuneration on a basis other than an employment relationship, if they do not employ other persons, regardless of the basis of engagement.
A whistleblower may report breaches, i.e. acts or omissions that are unlawful or intended to circumvent the law, in respect of, among other things:
- Corruption, public procurement, financial services, products and markets, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, product safety and compliance, transport safety, environmental protection, food and feed safety, animal health and welfare, public health, consumer protection, privacy and personal data protection, security of information and communication networks and systems, constitutional freedoms and human and civil rights.
A whistleblower is under protection provided they have reasonable grounds to believe that the information they are reporting is true and constitutes a violation of the law.
The Act has imposed additional obligations on businesses, such as:
- Establishment of an internal reporting procedure
- Consultation with trade unions or representatives of workers (if there are no unions)
- Announcing the procedure
- Determining how whistleblowers can report violations (via so-called reporting channels)
- Designating a unit/person authorised to receive and follow up on reports
Contribution holidays for entrepreneurs
On 1 November, the rules on contribution holidays for non-agricultural entrepreneurs came into force. ‘Contribution holidays’ are an exemption from social security contributions for one (freely chosen) month per year.
The exemption applies to contributions calculated on the lowest assessment base applicable to the entrepreneur.
The contribution holiday does not cover health insurance contributions.
In 2024, the contribution holiday can only be used in December and applications for this relief must be submitted in November 2024.
The relief can be used by entrepreneurs registered in the CEIDG business register provided that:
- in the month prior to submitting the application, they have declared up to 10 insured persons (including themselves) for social or health insurance;
- they have been subject (voluntarily or compulsorily), as an insured person, for at least one day, to old-age, invalidity and occupational accident insurance as a result of carrying out a non-agricultural economic activity in the month preceding the month in which the application was submitted;
- they have not obtained any revenue from non-agricultural economic activity in the two years preceding the year in which the application was submitted, or in at least one of the two years preceding the year in which the application was submitted, with the annual revenue from such activity not having exceeded the PLN equivalent of EUR 2 million;
- in the previous year and in the year in which the application was submitted (up to the date of submission of the application), they did not carry out, as an insured person, a non-agricultural economic activity for the benefit of a former employer, for whom they carried out, in the year in which the activity commenced or the year before, activities forming part of an economic activity, within the framework of an employment relationship or a cooperative employment relationship.
Please note
The exemption is de minimis aid. This means that if an entrepreneur wishes to benefit from the contribution holiday, the amount of aid available to them must be at least equal to the sum of the contributions from which they wish to be exempted. The total public aid received by the entrepreneur over a three-year period may not exceed EUR 300,000.
Amendment to Article 222 of the Labour Code
From 29 June, the new wording of Article 222 of the Labour Code reads as follows: if an employee is employed under conditions of exposure to chemical substances, their mixtures, agents or technological processes with carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic effects, the employer shall replace these chemical substances, their mixtures, agents or technological processes with less harmful ones or apply other available measures to reduce the degree of such exposure, making appropriate use of scientific and technological achievements.
The new regulations apply to all employers employing workers in conditions of exposure to chemicals, their mixtures, agents or processes with carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic effects.
The amendment to Article 222 of the Labour Code imposes additional obligations on employers, including:
- Replacing hazardous substances with safer alternatives where possible
- Implementing measures to minimise risks, such as providing adequate ventilation, equipping workers with protective clothing and even changing technological processes
- Keeping records and monitoring the health status of workers engaged in work where such hazardous substances are used
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