On 1 December, the Sejm (lower house of Parliament) passed a bill amending the Labour Code and certain other acts. Remote work will now appear in the Labour Code, defined as work performed wholly or partly at a location specified by the employee and agreed each time with the employer, including at the employee’s home address, in particular using means of direct distance communication.
The most important changes arising from the amendment are:
- Parties to an employment contract will be able to agree remote working:
- when concluding an employment contract, or
- during the employment on the initiative of the employer or on the employee’s application, while either party will be able to make a binding request for the remote working to end and the reinstatement of the previous working conditions.
- As a general rule, employers will have to grant a request for remote working submitted by, among others:
- a pregnant employee,
- an employee who is raising a child under four,
- an employee who is caring for another member of their immediate family or another person living in their household who holds a certificate of disability or severe disability,
unless remote working is not possible due to the way in which work is organised or the type of work performed by the employee.
- Employers will have to regulate the rules of remote working in an agreement concluded with their establishment’s trade union and, if no agreement is concluded or the employer has no trade union present, in regulations established by the employer following consultations with the employees’ representatives.
The agreement or regulations should set out, among others, the rules for how the employer should refund the costs associated with remote working, including the rules for determining a cash equivalent or lump sum to take into account, in particular:
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- consumption standards for materials and working tools, including technical equipment,
- their documented market prices,
- the quantity of material used for the employer's purposes and the market prices of that material,
- electricity consumption standards,
- costs of telecommunications services.
- If the employee has the appropriate premises and technical facilities, then remote working will also be possible on the employer's instructions:
- during a state of emergency, a state of epidemic threat or a state of epidemic and for a period of 3 months after its revocation or
- during a period in which it is temporarily impossible for the employer to ensure safe and hygienic working conditions at the employee’s current workplace due to force majeure.
- The amendment also brings in the possibility of employees requesting occasional remote working, up to a maximum of 24 days in a calendar year.
The amendment on remote working will enter into force two months after its public announcement.
The bill which was passed by the Sejm will now be referred to the Senate, which will have 30 days to pass any amendments to it.