Will the regulations on the pay transparency also apply to workers on civil law contracts (e.g. B2B)?
It is not yet known. It depends on the shape of the Polish law that will implement the EU directive, the content of which is still unknown.
According to the directive, its provisions should apply to all employees who have an employment contract or who are in an employment relationship in particular under national law, with consideration of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. On the one hand, the directive refers to Polish law when defining the term ‘employee’ (and therefore to who will be subject to the pay transparency regulations in Poland), but on the other hand, it requires that the case law of the EU Court be taken into account.
In Poland, the vast majority of labour law regulations apply to employees, i.e. primarily to persons employed under a contract of employment. At the same time, a large number of people work outside of an employment relationship, on the basis of civil law contracts (e.g. mandate contract, managerial contract, B2B contract, etc.). Such persons are not considered employees under Polish law. The choice of the form of cooperation itself (employment or civil law) is, to a certain extent, up to the parties.
However, from the perspective of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, if a person provides services under the direction of another person in return for remuneration, then regardless of the name of the contract between the parties, he or she may be considered an employee. This means that some people employed in Poland on the basis of civil law contracts may be considered employees under EU case law.
However, whether the Polish regulations on pay transparency will ultimately apply to persons employed on a basis other than an employment relationship will have to be decided by the provisions of the Polish act implementing the directive. Considering the implementation of other EU directives in Poland in the past, it is more likely that the new rules will only apply to employees.