flash news
On 26 September 2025, the President of the Republic of Poland signed the Act of 12 September 2025 amending certain acts to verify the right to family benefits for foreigners and the conditions for providing assistance to Ukrainian citizens in connection with the armed conflict in that country.
The most important changes in the so-called Ukrainian Special Act:
- The provisions have been extended until 4 March 2026, which means that the uncertainty regarding the legality of residence and employment of Ukrainian citizens without UKR status has been dispelled;
- Both adults and minors will be able to obtain a PESEL number with the UKR annotation only in person.
According to the ‘List of Policy Priorities of the Members of the Council of Ministers’ published on Friday, 19 September, the government plans to establish an Employee Rights Ombudsman as part of its labour law reform. The new body is to protect the freedoms, rights and interests of employees, regardless of the basis of their employment.
A draft bill on internships has been added to the agenda of the Council of Ministers. It is to replace the current law on graduate work placements. The new regulations are to apply to internships and work placements on the open labour market (those forming parts of formal education programmes are to be excluded).
Current EU regulations guarantee protection for Ukrainian citizens until 4 March 2027. However, in July this year, the European Commission proposed to start planning its gradual phasing out. In recent weeks, the EU Council has indicated that the phasing out of temporary protection should be based on Ukrainian citizens obtaining national residence permits reflecting their new purpose of stay or voluntarily returning to Ukraine.
The government plans to abolish the obligation in the Labour Code and the Whistleblower Protection Act to give authorization in writing to process personal.
The Sejm passed an amendment to the Social Insurance System Act that had been prepared by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy. The amendment repeals article 36(8) which had had imposed an obligation on contribution payers to store for five years paper notifications to ZUS that were signed in person by persons being reported, even if the notifications were submitted electronically.