Podsiadły - Labour and employment law

The possibility of issuing medical certificates electronically in Poland arose in 2016, and since 1 December 2018 this has been the only acceptable form of issuing them (paper certificates can be issued only in certain exceptional situations). This also applies to certificates of temporary incapacity to work due to illness, i.e. sick notes. Today, almost every sick note goes directly to the employer, without the employee’s involvement. This may raise doubts whether the employee still needs to inform the employer of his or her absence from work due to sickness.

A bill entitled the Act on Specific Solutions Facilitating Business Operations During the COVID-19 Epidemic has been filed with the Sejm. It would allow employers in Poland to demand information from employees about COVID-19 test results, having undergone a COVID-19 infection, or vaccination against COVID-19.

According to the proposal, an employer would be entitled to demand information from an employee or a person in a civil-law relationship (e.g. a contractor) to the effect that the person has obtained a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours before submission of the information.

The temporary regulations that were introduced in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic have temporarily amended certain labour law regulations. One of them concerns a suspension of Labour Code obligations regarding routine medical examinations. This has raised justified doubts among employers who are wondering whether the regulations have merely suspended the performance of the routine medical examination obligations, or if they should be interpreted as a temporary ban on performing them.

The shorter a regulation, the more questions and doubts it raises. And so it is in the case of Article 101(2) § 3 of the Labour Code, which regulates the minimum amount of compensation for a non-compete clause (or restrictive covenant) after employment termination. Compensation may not be lower than 25% of the remuneration the employee received before employment termination, for the duration of the competition ban. How this is interpreted is important.   

From 1 January 2021, payers of contributions and individuals commissioning work will be obliged to inform ZUS, (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych, Poland’s social insurance institution) about concluding specific-task contracts (umowy o dzieło) that are not subject to social security and health insurance contributions. Thanks to this new obligation, ZUS will be able to verify the existence of the social security obligation of persons performing specific-task contracts. However, this brief regulation may raise many practical reservations.

Faced with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of companies are being forced to reduce their workforce. Many employers are required to pay redundant employees severance pay, a one-off benefit to compensate them for the loss of their jobs. This seemingly simple issue raises many practical problems. Additional doubts have emerged with regard to the interpretation of the Anti-Crisis Shield 4.0 provision temporarily limiting the maximum amount of benefits related to employment termination, including severance pay.