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Category: regulatory

Posted on Categories regulatory

The pros and cons of an extended reference period

An extended reference period as a tool for more flexible planning of working time. When can it be used and what mistakes need to be avoided?

Employers and employees both often desire flexibility in their employment relations. However, the interests of the parties to an employment contract are not always the same.

In fact, employers seek flexibility which they understand as being able to adapt the terms and conditions of work, including working time, to:

  • changing business needs, as well as
  • circumstances that are frequently difficult to anticipate and over which employers have no control (like the corona virus pandemic, at the very least)

while at the same time reducing employment costs. 

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Posted on Categories employment contract, regulatory

Changes to the Labour Code: new compulsory elements of an employment contract and broader information obligations of employers

The government’s bill to amend the Labour Code and certain other acts, which seeks to implement solutions provided under EU Directives into Polish legislation[1], may have a significant impact on the employees’ rights and on the corresponding employers’ obligations. The amendment seeks to extend parenthood rights, including by extending parental leave (in the spirit of work-life balance) and to make revolutionary changes in how employment contracts are terminated. In desiring to achieve the greatest possible transparency and predictability in employment, it also seeks to modify the compulsory elements of an employment contract and to significantly affect (broaden) the information obligations of employers with respect to employees. 

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Posted on Categories regulatory

Work-life balance – an EU perspective

In 2019, the so-called Work-life Balance Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU) was adopted. This directive regulates in particular the minimum requirements for:

  • Paternity, parental and carers’ leave;
  • Flexible working arrangements for employees who are parents or carers.

Member States, including Poland, have in principle until 2 August 2022 to bring into force the provisions necessary to implement the Directive.[1] A draft law implementing the directive in question appeared on the website of the Government Legislation Centre. It shows that the planned date for the amending regulations to enter into force is 1 August 2022. The bill has not yet been sent to the lower house, but it is worth taking a closer look at the expected changes and their direction.

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Posted on Categories EU law, regulatory

Clearer rules for access to regulated professions in the EU?

A draft amendment to the law on the recognition of professional qualifications acquired in the EU Member States has just been submitted to public consultation. The draft implements the EU directive on this subject (2018/958) into the Polish legal system. This directive in turn complements Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications. The deadline for implementation falls on 30th July 2020.

The changes are to unify the rules and criteria for controlling access to regulated professions for people from other EU countries. For it is not clear in the Member States according to which criteria the proportionality of the requirements is assessed and the level of control of the requirements at different levels of the sources of law is uneven.

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