Supplementary maternity leave provisions come into force

Supplementary maternity leave provisions come into force on 19 March 2025. The new maternity leave benefit will be available for up to 8 or 15 weeks. It will be available to parents of premature babies or parents of children who required hospitalisation after birth. We have written about this new employee entitlement on our portal.

New maximum temperature regulations under fire from critics

Some ministries suggest that the entry into force of the maximum workplace temperature regulations should be postponed until 2027 or even 2028. They argue this on the grounds that companies and administrations need to be better prepared.

Entrepreneurs warn of the risk of millions of dollars in losses and a loss of competitiveness due to introduction of this legislation. There are claims that recommendations - rather than mandatory standards - would be a better solution

We wrote about the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy’s proposal on our portal.

E-Declaration and ESSPASS - less bureaucracy when seconding workers

The European Commission is working on e-Declaration, an EU portal that will simplify procedures relating to the secondment of workers. Instead of complicated national declarations, companies will benefit from a single, common system available in all EU languages.

In addition, ESSPASS, an electronic proof of valid social security, is being created to replace the paper A1 certificate. The QR code will streamline controls and speed up the secondment process.

Although the use of the new solutions is supposed to be voluntary, it is worth adapting company policies now and preparing employees for the digital change.

Ministry examines options for reducing working hours

The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy is conducting studies on reduced working hours. The Ministry of Labour has also requested research institutes to study how long an employee is able to work effectively per day. Economic analyses are also being carried out as to the costs of reduced working hours

Based on commissioned studies and ongoing analysis, the Ministry is to decide which of the proposed solutions to choose - reducing the working week to four days or reducing the average weekly working time standard to 35 hours.

The Ministry plans extensive public consultation before any changes are implemented.

How many employees benefit from paternity rights?

As many as 41,900 fathers took parental leave in 2024, according to figures published by the Social Security Authority (ZUS). This is significantly more than in 2023 (19,000) and in 2022 (3,700).

In contrast, the number of men who took their paternity leave was 162,300, representing 64% of those eligible (a slight decrease from 182,000 and 67%, recorded in 2023).