On 9 March, the Sejm, accepting some of the Senate’s changes, enacted amendments to the Labour Code implementing two EU directives into Polish legislation:

• Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union,
• 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.

The main amendments of the Senate adopted by the Sejm:

• to receive maternity allowance at the new rate, an application must be submitted within 21 days of the law coming into force (rather than within 14 days),
• transitional provisions relating to parental leave will apply to all employees taking or applying for parental leave on the date the amendment comes into force (and not just parents),
• the personal scope of the parental leave provisions has been extended, so that those employees who would have been deprived of it due to the lengthy legislative process will also have the right to extended parental leave.

The Senate additionally proposed, among others, that the monthly maternity allowance for the period set by the Labour Code as the period of parental leave should amount to 100% of the allowance assessment basis (instead of 70% or 81.5%). However, the Sejm rejected this amendment.

We wrote about the most important changes introduced by the amendment here: HRlaw.pl

The law will be sent to the President for signature.

The legislative process: Druk nr 2932 – Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej.