flash news - Labour and employment law

On 7 July 2022, the third version of the bill on the protection of whistleblowers (bill number: UC 101) was published on the Government Legislation Centre’s website. The submitted bill includes several changes compared with the bill published on 12 April 2022.

As of July 28, 2022, employees will receive higher per diems for domestic business travel. The change arises from an order of the Minister of Family and Social Policy dated 30 June 2022 amending the ordinance on dues payable to an employee working in an officially funded state or local government unit for business travel. The ordinance increases the per diem for domestic travel to PLN 38 per day of travel. Previously, the amount was PLN 30.

The government has adopted a draft law amending the Law on Special Measures to Counteract Support for Aggression against Ukraine and to Protect National Security and the Law on National Fiscal Administration.

According to the draft, a sanctioned employer will be able to apply to the speaker of province assembly for benefits from the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund to satisfy employee claims. If the employer chooses not to make such an application, payment of benefits can also be made on the basis of an employee's individual application.

On 1 July 2022, a further amendment was announced to the Act on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine in Connection with the Armed Conflict on the Territory of the Country. The amendment gives an additional 14 days for the submission of notifications on giving work to Ukrainian nationals and their family members if, for some reason, these notifications were not submitted earlier. This new deadline runs from the amendment’s entry into force, namely from 2 July 2022. It follows that a notification may be submitted up to and including 16 July. However, this deadline falls on a Saturday, and there is no information on the government’s website as to whether the deadline is therefore extended to Monday, and whether the system will allow notifications to be submitted on Monday. As a precaution, we advise against delaying with submitting such notifications.

On 20 June 2022, a Draft Regulation of the Minister of Finance on the manner of drafting and transmission of information on participants of occupational pension schemes and its template of 14 June 2022 (bill number: 551) was published on the website of the Government Legislation Centre. Under the draft, the administrator (financial institution or pension fund) should establish information on a participant of a occupational pension scheme:

• on a permanent medium suitable to be preserved for a period compatible with the purpose for which information contained therein is collected,
• in such form that it can be amended,
• in such form that preserved information can be retrieved unchanged.

On 6 June 2022, the Draft Act amending the Labour Code and certain other acts of 3 June 2022 (bill number: UC118) was published on the website of the Government Legislation Centre. It is intended to introduce numerous changes to the Labour Code concerning work-life balance. One proposed change is the ability to permit parental leave for  employees - parents of a child with a certificate stating a severe and irreversible handicap or incurable life-threatening disease which arose during the prenatal period of the child's development or during childbirth for the purpose of caring for that child and in the scope of up to:

• 65 weeks (in the case of giving birth to one child in one birth)
• 67 weeks (in the case of giving birth to two to five children in one birth).