The legislative offensive of the Ministry of Labour is not slowing down. In addition to the already adopted amendments to the Labour Code concerning pay transparency in recruitment, a further draft amending the statutory definition of mobbing, or the proposed changes regarding the inclusion of civil law contracts in employment seniority – in June, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy (MRPiPS) proposed another package of changes to the regulations that employers will need to prepare for. This time, they include: changes in the form of submitting certain applications and information, changes in the rules for creating the Company Social Benefits Fund (ZFŚS), and the rules for paying compensation for unused leave.
The draft is part of the deregulatory changes developed by the government and indeed, most of the changes should contribute to the abandonment of excessive formalism in employment relations and serve both parties to the employment relationship.
Digitisation in employment matters
Particular attention should be paid to a series of changes to the Labour Code regarding the form of carrying out certain actions. In many places in the Code, the rigid requirement of written form has been replaced by the concept of “paper or electronic form”.
It should be noted that this refers to “electronic form”, not “electronic signature form”, which means a form with a qualified electronic signature, which is still not commonly held – especially on the employees’ side. It will therefore be possible to handle these matters, for example, by email, by sending a scan or via electronic HR systems used by many employers.
The draft assumes that, in this way, it will be possible, among others, to:
- provide employees with information on employee monitoring,
- information on the transfer of the workplace or part of the workplace to another employer,
- consult with trade union organisations on the intention to terminate an employment contract,
- prepare the employee’s work schedule,
- apply for time off work to deal with personal matters,
- apply for time off in exchange for overtime work,
- apply for unpaid leave,
- confirm knowledge of health and safety regulations.
In practice, it often happened that such arrangements were made electronically, after which the employer, pro forma, forced the employee to submit the appropriate application in writing. The change is therefore undoubtedly an important step towards eliminating unnecessary “paperwork” in employment.
Compensation for unused leave paid together with the final salary
Another important element is the extension of the deadline for payment of compensation for unused leave in the event of termination of the employment contract. The draft will allow for the payment of this compensation together with the final salary.
Until now, this issue was not regulated in the Labour Code, but case law assumed that the compensation had to be paid no later than the last working day – which appeared to be excessively strict and in practice – was often a requirement ignored by employers, who would anyway pay the compensation along with the final salary.
Change in the number of employee representatives in the ZFŚS
The last significant change concerns the provisions of the Act on the ZFŚS and refers to the form of agreeing on remuneration regulations regarding the amount of the contribution to the Fund or the decision not to create the Fund.
Currently, employers can make this decision after consulting a selected employee. The draft changes the singular to the plural – which means that employers will have to make these arrangements not with one representative, but with at least two.
It may seem that this change is somewhat contrary to the deregulatory objective of the amendment. However, it is a change that will help to harmonise the regulations – the vast majority of labour law provisions already use the formula of employee representatives – this is the case, for example, with the remote work regulations or agreements on working time. Employers, who generally already selected two or more employee representatives, often had doubts as to whether, after their appointment, the issue of changes to the Fund must be consulted with all of them or whether it is sufficient to agree with one of them. This change should dispel those doubts.
The draft has not yet been submitted to the Sejm and is currently at the stage of consultation. The planned vacatio legis is 14 days from the date of publication.
