Under the Labour Code (Art. 100 § 2(6)), an employee has a duty to abide by the principles of community life, but what does this entail?

A common phenomenon on the Polish labour market is for an employee to establish an individual business and then pass from an employment contract to a cooperation agreement between business entities (B2B contract). But when deciding to modify their form of cooperation, the parties must ensure that the new legal relationship is framed in compliance with its proper classification.

Art. 42 §4 of the Polish Labour Code grants the employer broad authority to modify employees’ working conditions. It permits the employer to assign work to the employee different from that originally agreed. But this possibility is subject to many limitations. The employer thus may assign different work to the employee only when:

• A legitimate need arises on the part of the employer
• The period of assignment of different work does not exceed three months within a calendar year
• Assignment of different work will not reduce the employee’s pay, and
• The assigned work is suited to the employee’s qualifications.

In the course of applying Art. 42 §4, doubts have arisen whether it is possible on this basis to change the place of performance of the work which the employee and the employer agreed to in the employment contract.