Working life in Poland

Notes: Values for real GDP per capita are chain-linked volumes (based on 2010 data; €). The unemployment rate for men and women is the annual average as a percentage of the active population aged 15–74 years, and the youth unemployment rate is the annual average as a percentage of people aged 15–24 years. The employment rate for men and women is the annual average as a percentage of the active population aged 15–64 years, and the youth employment rate is the annual average as a percentage of people aged 15–24 years. GDP, gross domestic product.

Source: Eurostat [sdg_08_10], for real GDP per capita and percentage change 2012–2022; [une_rt_a], for unemployment rate by sex and age; [lfsi_emp_a], for employment rate by sex and age

Economic and labour market context

Poland’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was 47% higher in 2022 than in 2012. In 2021, GDP growth amounted to 6.7%, rebounding from the COVID-19-induced contraction in 2020. In 2022, GDP growth slowed to 4.9%, a result that was better than expected in the circumstances. In 2022, unemployment levels remained low, with an average annual unemployment rate of 2.9%, which was significantly below the EU27 average (6.2%). Despite the absorption of approximately 800,000 Ukrainian refugees into the Polish labour market, by the end of 2022 unemployment remained at 2.9%, while youth unemployment rose to 10.8% in the second half of 2022.

EU/European Economic Area citizens may take up employment in Poland without a work permit, just like Polish citizens, under the principle of the free movement of people (the rules implementing free movement of persons are regulated by Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States).

Searching for a job can be done either individually by the jobseeker or through the following institutions: the public employment (labour) administration, which runs the Central Database of Job Offers (Centralna Baza Ofert Pracy) (registration required); the European Employment Services (EURES) network; the Voluntary Labour Corps (Ochotnicze Hufce Pracy), which provides recruitment services mainly for young people; private employment agencies (this is a licensed activity; such agencies must be issued with a certificate issued by the regional authorities – that is, by the voivodeship marshal); and websites (namely through job advertisements placed directly by employers).

The amount of undeclared work has remained stable in recent years. According to Statistics Poland (Główny Urząd Statystyczny, GUS), 5.4% of all people in employment (that is, around 880,000 people) performed unregistered work in 2017, compared with 4.5% (roughly 700,000) in 2014. Unfortunately, as of 2022, GUS no longer provides these data.

More information can be found on the following web pages:

• European Commission: EURES – living and working in Poland
• Eurofound: European Industrial Relations Dictionary – Undeclared work
• Data:  Tackling undeclared work in Europe

Legal context

The Labour Code (Kodeks pracy) regulates the rights and duties of employees and employers in Poland. A major attempt to reform the Labour Code failed in 2018, as the Polish parliament decided not to proceed with two draft regulations (one dealing with individual and the other with collective employment relations).

In 2017, regulations introducing hourly minimum pay (PLN 13 (€3.12 as at July 15 2024), increased to PLN 18.30 (€4.07) in 2021) entered into force. Approximately 0.5 million people in the labour market, for whom work based on freelance contracts is their main form of activity, benefited from the new law.

In 2018, the Trade Unions Act (Ustawa o związkach zawodowych) was amended, extending the right to association to ‘persons performing paid work’, regardless of the legal basis of their employment relationship. However, non-employees must remain in the relationship with their employer for six months before ‘earning’ their right to union eligibility. The vast majority of the amendments came into force on 1 January 2019. The Act on the Social Dialogue Council and Other Social Dialogue Bodies (Ustawa o Radzie Dialogu Społecznego i innych instytucjach dialogu społecznego) was also amended, with the maximum number of social partner delegates to the Social Dialogue Council (Rada Dialogu Społecznego, RDS) becoming 25 on each side.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, extensive employment protection mechanisms were introduced into the Labour Code. Employers (initially all of them, but, since mid-2020, only those in sectors such as hospitality and recreation) could apply for subsidies (that is, the ‘Anti-crisis Shield’ (Tarcza Antykryzysowa)). The amount they had to pay back was limited if they managed to retain their employment levels. During the pandemic, employees could also access employment grants and subsidies from the Labour Fund (Fundusz Pracy) and the Social Insurance Institution (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych, ZUS).

In 2020, some Labour Code regulations regarding compulsory paid leave and severance payments were temporarily relaxed. Telework was introduced into the Labour Code – at first in a manner of flexible, temporary measures, but a new chapter on teleworking was added to the Labour Code, which came into force in April 2023. This new chapter covers the areas of health and safety and the employer’s financial participation in the costs of teleworking. It also encourages parents of young children, pregnant women and caregivers to work remotely.

Industrial relations and social dialogue in Poland are regulated by the Labour Code, the Trade Unions Act, the Act on Employer Organisations (Ustawa o organizacjach pracodawców), the Act on Resolving Collective Disputes (Ustawa o rozwiązywaniu sporów zbiorowych) and the Act on the Social Dialogue Council and Other Social Dialogue Bodies (Ustawa o Radzie Dialogu Społecznego i innych instytucjach dialogu społecznego).

Industrial relations context

Industrial relations in Poland can be described as a blend of pluralism, neo-corporatism and statism, which is reflected in the variety of labels employed to describe the situation, including ‘illusory corporatism’ (Ost, 2000), ‘pluralism’ (Meardi, 2002) and ‘fake corporatism’ (King, 2007). For Bechter et al (2012), Poland (like other countries in central and eastern Europe) is a ‘mixed’ or ‘empty’ case. More recent analyses have provided evidence for emerging neo-statism (with growing state voluntarism) (Czarzasty and Mrozowicki, 2018). Polish industrial relations combine a high level of collective bargaining decentralisation with the relatively weak institutions of social dialogue at national level (the RDS and, previously, the Tripartite Commission on Social and Economic Affairs (Trójstronna Komisja ds. Społeczno-Gospodarczych)) and underdeveloped industry-level collective bargaining. Most collective bargaining takes place at company level.

Membership density is weak among both trade unions and employer organisations. For many years there has been an important political divide between trade unions, reflecting their communist and anti-communist pasts. The ‘competitive pluralism’ (Gardawski, 2003) of trade unions reflects their fragmentation and inter-union competition.

The state plays an important role in Polish industrial relations. First, it is an important employer, as, in 2021, 17.6% of employees worked in the public sector in Poland (this figure includes only administration and public services employees and does not cover companies with dominating state ownership). Second, national legislation remains the basic reference point for setting minimum wages and working conditions for most employees in the private sector due to limited collective bargaining coverage at all levels. Third, the state authorities play a crucial role in tripartite social dialogue at national and regional levels.

In June 2015, new legislation re-establishing the tripartite social dialogue system in the country was adopted, and, in October, new tripartite bodies began their operations. Following the victory of Andrzej Duda in the presidential elections in June 2015, in October 2015 his former party – Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) – won the parliamentary elections, securing the majority of seats in both chambers. The new government’s initial phase of operations was marked by a number of pro-employee changes in the legal environment (as outlined above) and relatively high attentiveness of the government to tripartite consultations. However, since 2017, there have been growing signs of a return to the former government’s selective approach to tripartism (marked by avoiding or disregarding tripartite consultations whenever they are seen as an obstacle to the fulfilment of government policy objectives). In 2019, PiS won the parliamentary elections again, but lost its independent majority in the Senate, which is the upper chamber of parliament (its legislative competences, however, are significantly smaller than those of the lower chamber, namely the Sejm). In 2020, Andrzej Duda was re-elected to the office of president. During the pandemic, the activity of the RDS continued, but, in the opinion of some trade union representatives, the quality of social dialogue has been gradually deteriorating at all levels. The government planned to introduce the possibility of the prime minister dismissing RDS members, but this idea was successfully blocked by social partners. In October 2022, the president of Confederation Lewiatan (Konfederacja Lewiatan) (one of the major employer organisations in the RDS) was detained by the Central Anti-corruption Bureau (Centralne Biuro Antykorupcyjne) during the meeting of the executive committee of the RDS and on the day of Confederation Lewiatan’s annual conference – the European Forum for New Ideas (Europejskie Forum Nowych Idei) – in Sopot. The prosecutor’s case was so weak that the courts did not agree on a temporary arrest. To date, the case has not been concluded. However, this event resulted in a significant deterioration of relations between the RDS and the government. RDS members have also indicated that they feel sidelined in the public consultations process and have pointed out that, in relation to some ideas, the government consults only its preferred organisations (on both the trade union side and the employer side).

RDS members are also hoping that their position can be strengthened as a result of the national recovery and resilience plan (Krajowy Plan Odbudowy) reforms, but those have been delayed.

Trade unions, employer organisations and public institutions play a key role in the governance of the employment relationship, working conditions and industrial relations structures. They are interlocking parts in a multilevel system of governance that includes European, national, sectoral, regional (provincial or local) and company levels. This section looks at the main actors and institutions and their role in Poland.

Public authorities involved in regulating working life

The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy (Ministerstwo Rodziny, Pracy i Polityki Społecznej, MRPiPS) currently deals with social dialogue issues (through a special department) and provides the infrastructure (premises and organisational and technical support) for tripartite social dialogue at national level (namely the RDS) and for sectoral social dialogue bodies (in most cases, the committees are affiliated to the MRPiPS). The MRPiPS also maintains a register of works councils and multi-employer collective labour agreements and is responsible for discussing new labour law regulations proposed by the government with social partners. In late 2020, labour affairs migrated from the MRPiPS to a more business-oriented ministry, the then Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology (Ministerstwo Rozwoju, Pracy i Technologii), which became the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (Ministerstwo Rozwoju i Technologii, MRiT). In 2021, the MRiT was weakened as labour matters returned to the MRPiPS. Currently, both the MRPiPS and the MRiT are politically weak and dependent on the prime minister and political party leaders. The Ministry of National Education (Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej) was merged with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego) and renamed the Ministry of Education and Science (Ministerstwo Edukacji i Nauki).

The National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, PIP) is a central administration body (headed by the Chief Labour Inspector, appointed by the parliament) responsible for monitoring the observance of and enforcing the labour law. PIP is supervised by the Labour Protection Council (Rada Ochrony Pracy). In particular, PIP’s prerogatives concern the observance of employee rights, the observance of health and safety regulations, the legality of employment and the provision of assistance and advice to citizens in matters related to the labour law. At voivodeship (regional) level, there are district labour inspectorates (Okręgowe Inspektoraty Pracy) whose duty (besides those mentioned above) is to register new and amended single-employer collective labour agreements. Labour inspectors carry out their duties by undertaking preventative actions (disseminating knowledge, promoting health and safety at work, and advising employers and employees) and workplace audits (on-site control and indirect inquiries). There are two categories of audits, routine and intentional (scheduled), with the latter aimed at inspecting specific sectors or enterprises.

The labour courts are separate and autonomous organisational units of general (local, district and appeal) courts of law and are responsible for hearing and ruling on labour-related matters (claims related to employment and the employment relationship, claims related to other legal relationships to which labour law regulations apply, determining whether an employment relationship exists, and settling damages in cases of work-related accidents and occupational diseases). In labour courts, there is a two-step procedure.

The Centre for Social Partnership ‘Dialogue’ (Centrum Partnerstwa Społecznego ‘Dialog’) is a state-controlled institution responsible for promoting social dialogue (through instigating and maintaining public debate, research and publishing activities).

Representativeness

The representativeness of social partner organisations at national level is regulated by the Act on the Social Dialogue Council and Other Social Dialogue Bodies of 2015. However, the conditions to be fulfilled by social partners remain identical to the formerly binding legislation. Trade unions must be one of the following and must have at least 300,000 members, covering entities pursuing operations in least half of all sections of the Polish Activities Classification (PKD, Polska Klasyfikacja Działalności), yet no more than 100,000 members employed in a given PKD section can be counted:

• a national-level trade union
• a national-level association (federation) of trade unions
• a national-level inter-union organisation (confederation)

For employer organisations, the conditions are as follows.

• They must pursue operations on a national scale.
• Member entities must employ at least 300,000 people in total.
• Member entities must pursue operations in at least half of all sections of the PKD, yet no more than 100,000 employees can be counted for each section.

Trade unions

About trade union representation

The Trade Unions Act of 1991 grants the right to establish trade unions to employees – that is, people working on the basis of employment contracts.

Other larger categories of workers who are excluded from union membership are judges, civil servants in state administration, professional soldiers and functionaries of the Office for State Protection (Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego). There are also specific categories of people active in the labour market who do not enjoy the right to establish trade unions but are eligible to join existing union organisations, including pensioners, those who are unemployed, teleworkers and agency workers. There are also special regulations concerning trade union membership for police officers, border guards, prison guards and the State Fire Service (Państwowa Straż Pożarna), as well as employees of the Supreme Chamber of Control (Najwyższa Izba Kontroli).

Due to a narrow definition of the right to association in the Trade Unions Act, self-employed people and those working on the basis of civil law contracts are not eligible to join or organise trade unions. As a minimum of 10 employees are required to set up an enterprise-level union, those working in microfirms (around 40% of all employees) are effectively excluded too.

Following the sudden wave of deunionisation in the 1990s, trade union density in 2004 stood at 21.5% according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data. According to the most recent survey of the Public Opinion Research Centre (Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej, CBOS), trade union density in 2021 was 10.5%.

Trade union membership and density, 2010–2021

Notes: * Proportion of employees who are members of a trade union. ** Based on CBOS (2013), CBOS (2014), CBOS (2015), CBOS (2017), CBOS (2019), CBOS (2021). *** Trade (labour) union membership of employees derived from the total (labour) union membership and adjusted, if necessary, for trade (labour) union members outside the active, dependent and employed labour force (i.e. retired workers, self-employed workers, students and unemployed people). **** Author’s own calculations based on the CBOS reports. ***** Author’s own calculations based on the CBOS reports and Eurostat [lfsa_egan], data on employment. AIAS ICTWSS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts; n.a., not applicable.

Main trade union confederations and federations

A total of three trade union organisations in Poland meet the criteria of representativeness at national level (see the table below) and participate in the RDS. These are the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy Solidarność, NSZZ Solidarność), the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Związków Zawodowych, OPZZ) and Trade Unions Forum (Forum Związków Zawodowych, FZZ).

Main trade union confederations and federations

Sources: Self-reported data (information obtained from trade union representatives) for NSZZ Solidarność and OPZZ; estimation based on CBOS (2013), CBOS (2014), CBOS (2015), CBOS (2017), CBOS (2019), CBOS (2021) and Eurostat [lfsa_eegaed], data on the number of employees for 2019.

No major organisational changes within the trade union movement have taken place since 2020. Since 2013, there has been an unprecedented level of cooperation among the three major trade union confederations. First, the three unions took a unanimous decision to abandon social dialogue at central level. They subsequently launched a campaign against the government policy (the committee's meetings were closed to the public and were also not recorded, which raised objections from its members, but the government, which was the organiser of the meetings, did not intend to change this) and cooperated together in the preparation of the reform proposals of the Tripartite Commission on Social and Economic Affairs. Trade unions were the major architects of the new tripartite social dialogue legislation adopted in 2015. Of the three, NSZZ Solidarność enjoys the best relationship with the government; for example, it is consulted on topics outside the RDS agenda. It is also supportive of the government in its ongoing conflict with the Polish Teachers’ Union (Związek Nauczycielstwa Polskiego).

In May 2018, Jan Guz was re-elected as chairman of the OPZZ for the fourth consecutive time at the ninth national congress. After his unexpected death in May 2019, Andrzej Radzikowski was elected as the chairman of the OPZZ. In December 2022, he was replaced by Piotr Ostrowski, who had been vice-chairman since 2018. In May 2018, Dorota Gardias was re-elected as the FZZ chair at the fifth national congress. In October 2018, NSZZ Solidarność held its 29th national convention and re-elected Piotr Duda as the chair for another four-year term.

Employer organisations

About employer representation

Any employer can join an employer organisation. Employer organisations have not been developing particularly fast in the years preceding preparation of the previous report. However, in 2011, Employers of Poland (Pracodawcy Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) reported a massive increase in the volume of the aggregate employment of their associated employers, claiming that the figure amounts to some five million people (working for approximately 10,000 employers). In 2012, Employers of Poland disclosed that some four million employees worked in their member companies in total. Therefore, it is difficult to assess the current employer organisation density. The situation regarding membership seems to have been stable in recent years. On their websites, some organisations report slight decreases (e.g. Business Centre Club (BCC)) or increases in membership (e.g. the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers (Związek Przedsiębiorców i Pracodawców, ZPP). However, a significant increase is again suggested by the information provided by Employers of Poland.

Employer organisation membership and density, 2012–2020

Note: * Percentage of employees working in an establishment that is a member of any employer organisation that is involved in collective bargaining.

Main employer organisations

There are six nationwide employer organisations that have seats in the RDS: the BCC, Confederation Lewiatan, Employers of Poland, the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs (Federacja Pracodawców Polskich, FPP), the Polish Crafts Association (Związek Rzemiosła Polskiego, ZRP) and the ZPP. The ZPP joined the RDS in November 2018 after the court of law recognised it as meeting the representative criteria. The FPP joined the RDS in 2020. The information on involvement in collective bargaining is gathered through the author’s own monitoring activities.

Main employer organisations and confederations

Tripartite and bipartite bodies and concertation

In 2015, the institutional framework for tripartite social dialogue fundamentally changed. At central level, the main body is the RDS. The RDS members are made up of government representatives appointed by the prime minister and representatives of trade union confederations and employer organisations that are representative at national level.

Eleven thematic teams operate within the RDS. The teams deal with topics of cross-sectoral social dialogue, such as state economic policy, the labour market, labour law, the social insurance budget, wages and social benefits. There are also 18 tripartite sectoral committees (trójstronne zespoły branżowe), which advise the government on issues related to the problems of particular branches of the national economy.

At regional level, the regional councils of social dialogue (wojewódzkie rady dialogu społecznego) serve as tripartite social dialogue institutions, which undertake an advisory role on issues relevant for social partners at local level.

Main tripartite and bipartite bodies

Workplace-level employee representation

The main channel of workplace-level employee representation is through company-level trade union organisations (zakładowe organizacje związkowe). In order to set up a new company-level union, at least 10 members are required, who subsequently need to notify the court of law so that the new union is registered. Employees working at separate workplaces (for example multi-establishment companies) can join an inter-company trade union organisation (międzyzakładowe organizacje związkowe), but those are relatively rare. Workplace-level unions either directly belong to (as in the case of NSZZ Solidarność, as it is a general workers’ union) or are associated with sectoral and/or regional structures.

Works councils have existed since 2006. In order to establish a works council, at least 10% of employees working for the employer need to request an election (general ballot) to the body. The works council is elected for a four-year term. Between 2006 and 2008, the threshold for establishing a works councils was 100 employees. Currently, employers with at least 50 employees have to allow a works council to be established. Until 2009, the law envisaged two paths for the establishment of a works council: in non-unionised workplaces, a council would be elected through a general ballot, while, in unionised workplaces the councillors were to be appointed by company-level trade unions. In 2008, the Constitutional Court ruled that those regulations breached the Constitution. Following the amendment in 2009, all works councils now come from general elections, but, in unionised workplaces, unions have generally managed to maintain control over the bodies.

Regulation, composition and competencies of the bodies

The central concern of employment relations is the collective governance of work and employment. This section looks at collective bargaining in Poland.

Bargaining system

Collective bargaining takes place mainly at company level. However, company-level collective agreements require the existence of trade unions, which limits the collective bargaining coverage in the Polish context. Collective agreements at sectoral level in Poland are very rare. At national level, there is the RDS, whose responsibilities include setting the wage growth indicator for companies and the public sector. The RDS also sets the statutory minimum wage rates.

Collective agreements are legally binding. The party that is authorised to conclude a collective agreement cannot refuse to enter into collective bargaining if the aim is to conclude a new collective agreement or if the change to an existing collective agreement is required because of a significant change in the economic situation of an employer or the worsening situation of employees.

The process of decentralisation and the abandonment of the supra-company and sectoral collective agreements have become a permanent trend in the industrial relations system.

Wage bargaining coverage

According to European Company Survey data, wage bargaining in Poland is limited to company level and covers 17% of the establishments/companies with 10 or more employees covered in the European Company Survey.

Collective wage bargaining coverage of employees from different sources

Notes: * Percentage of employees working in local units where more than 50% of the employees are covered under a collective pay agreement against the total number of employees who participated in the survey.

Sources: Eurofound, European Company Survey 2013 and 2019 (including private sector companies with establishments with >10 employees (Nomenclature of Economic Activities (NACE) codes B–S), with multiple answers possible); Eurostat [earn_ses10_01], [earn_ses14_01], [earn_ses18_01], Structure of Earnings Survey 2010, 2014 and 2018 (including companies with >10 employees (NACE codes B–S, excluding O), with a single answer for each local unit).

There are no systematic administrative or survey data on the coverage of collective agreements and their evolution over time in Poland. According to PIP’s last published report, in 2015 a total of 60 single-employer collective agreements covering 101,000 employees were registered (around 0.4% of employees), compared with 88 single-employer collective agreements covering 43,000 employees registered in 2014. At the same time, there was a constant decline in the number of protocols to the existing agreements (which are a way of renewing or changing existing agreements) registered (2,830 protocols in 2009 and only 909 in 2015). The number of newly registered single-employer collective agreements in 2018 was 54, covering 21,067 employees. This suggests a significant decrease in the number of newly concluded collective agreements.

From the beginning of 2019, a change was introduced to the Trade Unions Act, under which all people performing paid work, not only employees, may be covered by a collective agreement. However, this did not increase the collective bargaining coverage in Poland. According to GUS, in 2020 (the last available data), there were 49 collective agreements in place. Taking into account that only a small fraction of companies are covered by collective agreements of any kind, it is quite likely that the European Company Survey and Structure of Earnings Survey results are overestimates – it is possible that the question asked during the interview was understood by interviewees as referring to the existence of any kind of company-level pay regulation that is collectively agreed, even those with no status as a registered collective agreement, such as pay regulation (regulamin wynagradzania).

Another level of collective agreements is multi-employer level. The number of multi-employer collective agreements is decreasing, and no genuinely new multi-employer agreements have been concluded in recent years. In 2017, 86 multi-employer collective agreements registered by the MRPiPS were in force, of which 76 covered administrative and technical employees in educational institutions (except for teachers). There are no current data on the number of workers covered by multi-employer agreements, but, as of 2013, they covered 390,000 employees (some 2.7% of employees). In February 2021, the MRPiPS reported that 61 agreements remained in the register, with 197 additional protocols, which represented a 30% decrease in the number of multi-employer collective agreements compared with the previous survey.

The latest data included in the ICWTSS database 5.0, based on PIP reporting, suggest that the adjusted collective wage bargaining coverage in Poland in 2012 was 14.7%.

Bargaining levels

The main level for any collective negotiations of wages and working time is company level. However, instead of concluding collective wage agreements, employers usually prefer to draw up in-house remuneration rules (pay regulations), as mandated by the Polish Labour Code for entities employing at least 20 people (Clause 77/2(1) of the Labour Code). If there are unions present, pay regulations are subject to bilateral agreement. In smaller entities, remuneration issues are regulated by individual employment contracts between the employer and individual employees.

In theory, it is also possible to negotiate wages and working time through multi-employer collective agreements, but this possibility is rarely used in practice. At national level, the minimum monthly wage is negotiated on an annual basis within the RDS.

Levels of collective bargaining, 2022

Articulation

The legislation that links various collective bargaining levels is rather poorly developed in Poland. The most relevant provision of the Labour Code (Clause 9(2)) states that the stipulations of company-level and multi-employer collective agreements and any regulations at company level cannot be less advantageous to workers than the Labour Code. According to Clause 9(3) of the Labour Code, the rules (including in-house remuneration rules) and statues introduced at company level cannot be less beneficial to workers than collective agreements.

As of 2021, from the legal point of view, the situation regarding wage-setting levels had not changed since 2017. Every year, the government submits a proposal to the RDS (formerly this was submitted to the Tripartite Commission on Social and Economic Affairs) on (1) the minimum wage, (2) minimum statutory hourly pay and (3) pay increase indicators in the state budget sector. All of these should be discussed by social partners, which should develop a joint position within 30 days, otherwise the government sets these values unilaterally. The latter scenario has prevailed in recent years due to a lack of consensus among the social partners.

Timing of the bargaining rounds

No data are available on the timing of company-level and multi-employer collective bargaining.

The procedure for setting the minimum wage consists of the following stages:

1. by 15 June, the Council of Ministers (Rada Ministrów) submits a proposal for the minimum wage rate for the subsequent year to the RDS
2. by 15 July, the RDS sets the minimum wage rate
3. by 15 September, the prime minister announces the minimum wage rate

Coordination

There is no central mechanism of wage bargaining coordination in Poland. In practice, the only legally set threshold for wage bargaining is the minimum wage. Given the lack of multi-employer wage agreements in most sectors, the relevance of formal horizontal coordination is limited.

Extension mechanisms

Clause 241/18 of the Labour Code states that multi-employer collective agreements can be extended by a decree of the MRPiPS to employers that are not affiliated to the signatory employer organisations following a joint request of an employer organisation and a multi-employer trade union. However, this legal opportunity is not used in practice, as multi-employer collective agreements are very rare in Poland.

In addition, Clause 241/10(1) of the Labour Code makes it possible for parties who are entitled to conclude a collective agreement to apply an existing collective agreement (or a part of it) that they did not conclude. There is no information about the scope of such extension procedures in practice. In addition, Clause 241/9(3) of the Labour Code gives the parties of a collective agreement the right to allow a trade union that was not a party of the collective agreement to join it.

Derogation mechanisms

By virtue of Clause 241/27 of the Labour Code, company collective agreements and multi-employer collective agreements, or their parts, can be suspended by signatory parties for a period of no longer than three years due to economic difficulties of the employer. According to the most recent report of PIP, the number of agreements to suspend a collective agreement due to economic problems of employers declined from 130 in 2010 to 85 in 2011, 76 in 2012 and 74 in 2013. There is no information about the sectoral coverage of the suspensions.

Expiry of collective agreements

Collective agreements can be concluded for a definite or indefinite period of time. An agreement can be dissolved based on the unanimous declaration of both parties or at the end of the period for which the agreement was concluded. Alternatively, an agreement can be terminated if one party gives notice (usually three months). If collective agreements expire and are not renegotiated, they cease to be legally binding.

Peace clauses

There are no peace clauses in collective agreements.

Other aspects of working life addressed in collective agreements

In general, there is no information about the content of collective agreements except for the brief reports of PIP.

According to Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy (2015), the range of topics tackled by single-employer collective bargaining rarely goes beyond the issues of wages and exceeds the minimal provisions of labour law. In the 2015 annual report, no such specification is offered. In 53 of the 88 collective agreements registered in 2014, seniority bonuses were provided and, in 59, there are better regulations of retirement gratuities than in the general legislation. There were also cases of additional bonuses for night work (in 22 agreements), overtime (in 10 agreements) and work on Sundays and bank holidays (in 15 agreements).

Legal aspects

The right to strike is ensured by the Constitution and the International Labour Organization Conventions (ratified by Poland, and thus binding). In particular, the Act on Resolving Collective Disputes of 1991 defines the terms and conditions of a strike. In order to initiate a strike, the following conditions need to be met.

• The collective dispute has not been resolved due to failed negotiations and unsuccessful mediation.
• A possibility of a strike should be mentioned in the notification of the collective dispute delivered to the employer, and the strike cannot be initiated earlier than 14 days after the notification.
• While making the decision to initiate a strike, the employee representation in the collective dispute should take into consideration whether the demands are proportional to the potential losses that the strike can cause.

A strike can be called despite not meeting the abovementioned conditions if the employer’s unlawful actions prevented negotiations or mediation or if the employer dissolves the employment relationship with the leader of the strike.

A collective dispute (spór zbiorowy) is an industrial dispute that emerges as a result of a disagreement between the employee representation (trade unions) and the employer over issues such as working conditions, pay or social benefits, and rights and the freedom of association of employees or other groups of workers entitled to trade union membership. Certain occupational groups do not have the right to enter into collective dispute: policemen and functionaries of the Border Guard (Straż Graniczna), State Penitentiary Service (Służba Więzienna), State Fire Service and the Superior Chamber of Control (state auditor).

If the mediation process does not appear to be leading to a resolution of the collective dispute within the legal time frame (the ‘grace period’ of two weeks for seeking a resolution of the dispute by means of negotiations and/or mediation), the union organisation that has initiated the collective dispute has the right to call a one-time warning strike lasting no longer than two hours.

To defend the rights and interests of employees who do not have the right the strike, trade unions in other workplaces can initiate a solidarity strike lasting no longer than half a working day.

The law stipulates that other forms of industrial action can be resorted to if the legal proceedings envisaged by the law for the collective dispute resolution produced no result, despite having been duly performed. Those ‘other forms of protest action’ are not explicitly named but have to meet the following conditions: they cause no harm to health and life, cause no interruption to work and do not violate the law. Employees who do not enjoy the right to strike can resort to those ‘other forms of protest action’ too.

Farmers have a right to protest according to specific rules set by the farmers’ trade unions.

There are other forms of industrial action not named explicitly by the law but recognised in the official reporting and domestic literature: work-to-rule, refusal to do overtime, work stoppage, blockade, occupation and hunger protest.

Employees working for the state, central government administration, local public administration, courts of law and public prosecutor offices do not enjoy the right to strike. Furthermore, there are a number of workplace types where no strikes are allowed, including the police, armed forces, intelligence services, Border Guard, State Penitentiary Service, Customs (Służba Celno-Skarbowa) and the State Fire Service.

Developments in industrial action, 2017–2022

Notes: * Of these, 1,520 were in the education sector. ** Of these, 9,673 were in the education sector. *** Of these, 9,046 were in the education sector. **** Of these, 19,294 were in the education sector.

Dispute resolution mechanisms

Collective dispute resolution mechanisms

The main collective industrial dispute resolution mechanisms are described below.

Negotiations: The parties to the collective dispute negotiate on their own to seek a resolution of the dispute.

Mediation: Following the failure of negotiations, the parties request that a mediator (from the official list of mediators maintained by the MRPiPS) be appointed, by mutual consent of both parties. If the parties are unable to consent, the mediator is appointed by the MRPiPS unilaterally.

Arbitration: If the mediation is unproductive, instead of calling a strike (to which they are entitled), the employee side may request that the dispute is settled by the Council of Social Arbitration (Kolegium Arbitrażu Społecznego), a special organ of a court of law.

Goodwill mission: A goodwill mission is a special dispute resolution path for settling rows in employment relations that, for legal reasons (the scope of issues to be subjected to collective disputes is explicitly named by the law), cannot escalate into a formal collective dispute. Goodwill missions can be carried out by the regional social dialogue council.

There has been no significant changes in legislation as of the first quarter of 2023.

Individual dispute resolution mechanisms

There are two main ways to settle individual disputes:

1. judicially – that is, before labour courts, which recognise cases and resolve disputes authoritatively
2. non-judicially, through either of the following:

• a workplace-level conciliation committee (zakładowa komisja pojednawcza), at the request of the employee, who may seek to resolve the dispute in such a way before going to court – the body is established by the employer and company-level trade union (or solely by the employer if there is no union) and must settle the dispute within 14 days
• mediation at the request of the employee or the employer, who may seek to resolve the dispute in such a way before going to court (mediation may be undertaken even while the case is in court) – mediation of this kind is regulated not by labour law, but by civil law

Use of dispute resolution mechanisms, 2012–2018

Note: No data on the number of disputes and disagreements being settled by means of arbitration and goodwill missions are available, but the MRPiPS states that the occurrence of the former is very rare and no information on the latter is accessible.

Source: Ministerstwo Rodziny, Pracy i Polityki Społecznej (2023)

‘Individual employment relations’ refers to the relationship between the individual worker and their employer. This relationship is shaped by legal regulation and by the outcomes of social partner negotiations over terms and conditions. This section looks at the start and termination of the employment relationship and entitlements and obligations in Poland.

Start and termination of the employment relationship

Requirements regarding an employment contract

In line with Clause 65(3) of the Constitution and Clause 190 of the Labour Code, the minimum working age is 16 years (on 1 September 2018 it was lowered to 15 years). Entering an employment relationship requires a written contract that specifies the parties of the contract, the place of performing work, remuneration and its components, working time and the starting date of the work (Clause 29(1) of the Labour Code). The written employment contract has to be issued on the date of commencing the work at the latest.

Dismissal and termination procedures

At an individual level, dismissal and termination issues are regulated by Chapter 2 (Section 2) of the Labour Code. In general, the employment contract can be terminated by:

• mutual consent of the parties to the contract
• a decision of one of the parties with notice (termination with notice)
• a decision of one of the parties without notice (termination without notice)
• ending the period for which the contract has been concluded
• completion of work for which the contract has been concluded

In the case of non-fixed employment contracts, the length of notice depends on the work span of the employee (if the person has been employed for at least three years, the notice period runs for three months). When the contract is terminated with notice given by the employer, the employee has a right to time off for the purpose of seeking new employment (two days if the notice period runs for less than three months and three days if the notice period is three months).

In the case of union members, employers are obliged to notify the union about their intention and to give grounds for termination of the contract before giving notice.

Employment contracts cannot be terminated for employees who are less than four years away from retirement age (pre-retirement protection).

Employees can be dismissed on disciplinary grounds (Clause 52 of the Labour Code) following a serious breach of their employee obligations, following a criminal offence resulting in a court sentence or by losing their professional certification due to their own misconduct.

At collective level, redundancies are subject to a separate regulation (Act on Collective Redundancies (Ustawa o szczególnych zasadach rozwiązywania z pracownikami stosunków pracy z przyczyn niedotyczących pracowników)).

Entitlements and obligations

Parental, maternity and paternity leave

Parents in Poland can benefit from maternity leave, parental leave and paternity leave. According to ZUS data, paternity leave has grown more popular in Poland over the last decade; however, the declining number of births has reduced the number. In 2021, 185,200 fathers used their leave (approximately 55.6% of all those eligible), while, in 2019, this figure was 199,800 fathers (53%). However, parental leave is still highly unpopular among men – only about 1% of fathers share it with their partners.

Statutory leave arrangements

Sick leave

Issues related to sick leave are subject to regulation by the Act on Financial Benefits Related to Illness and Maternity Paid by Social Security. While on sick leave, employees are entitled to a sick leave allowance (in general, it amounts to 80% of the regular pay, with the exceptions of sick leave collected during pregnancy, sick leave resulting from accidents that occurred on the way to or from work, or if undergoing medical examination or procedures involving donating cells, tissues or organs (100% equivalent of the benefit amount) or staying in the hospital (generally 70% of the regular pay)).

For the first 33 days, the sick leave allowance is paid by the employer. After 33 days, it is paid by ZUS. The sick leave allowance can be collected for 182 days at most. If the employee is unable to return to work after 182 days, they are subjected to a medical check by ZUS to determine whether they qualify for a disability pension. In standard cases, the termination of the employment relationship while on sick leave without a notice period is not allowed (as long as the employee is not present at work) (Clause 41 of the Labour Code). It is also possible to terminate the employment relationship in the case of employees who are on sick leave for longer than three months and were previously employed for less than six months (Clause 53/1(1a) of the Labour Code).

Retirement age

Until 1 January 2013, the retirement age was 65 years for men and 60 years for women. On 1 January 2013, the retirement age was raised to 67 years for both women and men, with the retirement age due to increase by three months every year. In late 2016, the reform was overturned by amending the Act on Pensions (Ustawa o emeryturach i rentach z Funduszu Ubezpieczeń Społecznych), so the former conditions (retirement ages of 65 and 60 years for men and women, respectively) came into force again in October 2017.

For workers, pay is a reward for their work and their main source of income; for employers, it is a cost of production and a focus of bargaining and legislation.

Monthly basic wages and salaries per worker (€), annual average

Notes: No breakdown by gender is available. The exchange rates used (from Polish złoty to euro) were as of 31 December (or the last working day) of each year (e.g. €1 was equal to PLN 4.17 in 2017 and PLN 4.60 in 2021).

Source: GUS annual yearbooks for Poland (see Eurostat RAMON for a description and classification).

Minimum wages

The national minimum wage is set annually in accordance with the Minimum Wage Act of 2002 (Ustawa o minimalnym wynagrodzeniu za pracę). The RDS determines the wage for the next year based on proposals submitted by the government. The decision has to be made unanimously by the social partners and the government. The figure proposed by the government must not be less than the current minimum wage, adjusted to the Consumer Price Index forecast for the next year. If the current minimum wage is lower than 50% of the national average pay, the following year’s proposed minimum wage also has to be increased by two-thirds of the percentage growth in GDP forecast for the following 12 months. If the RDS fails to reach a consensus, the government takes the decision unilaterally; however, the wage cannot be lower than the original proposal. In 2016, the minimum wage increase for 2017 agreed by the RDS was further raised by a unilateral decision of the government, the first such case since the inception of the Minimum Wage Act. In 2018–2022, social partners failed to agree on the minimum wage increase, so the ultimate decision was taken by the government.

Minimum wages, 2013–2023

Notes: Since 2017, there has not been a youth minimum wage in practice. The exchange rates used (from Polish złoty to euro) were as of 31 December (or the last working day) of each year (i.e. €1 was equal to PLN 4.15 in 2013, PLN 4.26 in 2014, PLN 4.27 in 2015, PLN 4.42 in 2016, PLN 4.17 in 2017, PLN 4.30 in 2018, PLN 4.30 in 2019 (annual average), PLN 4.45 in 2020 (annual average) and PLN 4.50 on 18 February 2021). The euro estimation for 2022–2023 was published by the National Bank of Poland (Narodowy Bank Polski).

Source: Eurofound’s annual reviews on minimum wages for 2013–2023.

Collectively agreed pay outcomes

Collective bargaining is highly decentralised and plays a marginal role in wage-setting. There is no consolidated data source on single-employer collective agreements to which one could refer when searching for collective bargaining-related pay outcomes. In general, decisions on pay adjustments are taken unilaterally by employers.

Working time is ‘any period during which the worker is working, at the employer’s disposal and carrying out his activity or duties, in accordance with national laws and/or practice’ (Directive 2003/88/EC). This section briefly summarises the regulation of and issues regarding working time, overtime, part-time work and working time flexibility in Poland.

Working time regulation

The statutory weekly working time is subject to the regulations of Chapter 6 of the Labour Code and amounts to 40 hours. The maximum working week including overtime cannot exceed 48 hours (in line with Directive 93/104/EC and the amended Directive 2000/34/EC). In general, working time should respect the statutory rest breaks in Poland, which are regulated in Chapter 3 of the Labour Code. Clause 132 states that employees have a right to 11 hours of rest a day. Clause 133 further stipulates that employees are entitled to a 35-hour undisturbed break per week, which also includes 11 hours of rest per day. Chapter 6, Part 4, of the Labour Code introduces various special systems and schedules for the organisation of working time, which can be used depending on job and work organisation requirements. Besides the basic working time schedule (eight hours per day), there are also regulations that allow for exceeding the norm of eight hours per day and 40 hours per week, task-based systems, interrupted working time systems, shortened working week systems and weekend work systems. Except for shortened working week and weekend work systems, which need to be introduced in an individual contract, other working time systems can be based on collective agreements or general work regulations introduced by an employer.

More detailed information on working time (including annual leave and statutory and collectively agreed working time), can be found on Eurofound’s topic page on working time.

Overtime regulation

According to the Labour Code (Clause 151), overtime is work performed beyond the statutory limits of weekly working time (40 hours) and work performed beyond the extended 24-hour working time limit of eight hours, reflecting the existing system and schedule of work. It can be introduced in the case of a necessary rescue operation in order to protect human life or health, to protect property or the environment, to repair a breakdown or in the case of specific employer requirements. The number of overtime hours worked in connection with specific employer requirements cannot exceed 150 hours in a given calendar year for an individual employee unless another (lesser) limit is specified in a collective agreement, work regulations or an individual contract. In general, compensation for overtime work can be done through additional remuneration or time off in lieu. The employee is entitled to additional remuneration for daily overtime that equals 100% of their normal remuneration in the case of overtime work performed at night, on Sundays and on public holidays that are not his or her normal working days, as well as on holidays offered to an employee in exchange for work on Sundays and public holidays and in the case of any overtime performed beyond the statutory weekly working time (40 hours). In other cases, 50% of the normal remuneration is paid.

Part-time work

Part-time work in Poland is defined as working hours that amount to fewer than the statutory 40 hours per week. It is regulated by the Labour Code, including the rules of minimum remuneration, annual leave and non-discrimination against full-time employees with respect to wages, working conditions, access to training, and career and skill development. Individual contracts of part-time employees should also include the specification of weekly working time organisation and overtime arrangements.

The proportion of part-time employees in Poland declined from 6.9% in 2012 to 5.1% in 2021. Low wages and the popularity of civil law contracts, which offer more advantages for an employer than standard part-time contracts, might explain the slight decline in part-time work in Poland.

People employed part time in Poland and the EU27 (% of total employment)

Source: Eurostat [lfsi_pt_a], Labour Force Survey – employed people working part time (20 to 64 years of age), total and by sex.

As the data in the preceding table clearly indicate, part-time employment is rather unpopular in Poland in general (three times fewer employees work part time in Poland than in the EU27 in comparative terms). It is commonly understood that the main reason is insufficient earnings from working part time only.

Night work

According to Clause 151/7 of the Labour Code, ‘night’ is defined as the hours ranging from 21:00 to 07:00. An employee whose time sheet includes at least three hours within this period, or for whom at least a quarter of their work performed in a specific reference period falls into the night period, is considered to be a night worker.

Shift work

Shift work is defined by Clause 2.1 of the Labour Code as work performed under a specific work schedule that determines the rotation of work between employees in a specific sequence of hours/days/weeks.

Weekend work

In general, work on Saturdays is treated like work on other working days unless it is a free day for the employee under the work organisation system exercised by the employer (operations run from Monday to Friday). When Saturday is a free day for the employee, the employer’s request that the employee reports for work is valid only in the case of an emergency or if the specific needs of the employer necessitate it. Employees performing work on a Saturday when it is a free day for them can claim a day off in each case as compensation. Sundays and bank holidays are free days per se. Sundays and bank holidays begin at 06:00 and end at 06:00 the next day. Work on Sundays and bank holidays is allowed in the following circumstances: due to the system of work organisation (work in a continuous workflow, shift work or a ‘weekend work system’, a special arrangement in which a person works part time only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays), due to the nature of the work (transport and communication, necessary maintenance, on-site company fire and rescue service, security services, agriculture, services provided with the use of electronic means of communication or if the day is a working day at the location of the employer), due to the specific needs of employers (emergency rescue missions, protection of physical assets or the environment, or restoring operations after technical failures) or due to a specific social value or daily needs of the community (municipal services, hotels, restaurants, catering, personal services, healthcare services, social assistance, culture, tourism, leisure, retail and wholesale).

In 2018, the government introduced a ban on retail trade on Sundays. Since 2020, retail trade has been allowed on only seven Sundays per year. The legislation contains many loopholes that are being regularly fixed, as retail chains have been trying to exploit them. The rule allows for Sunday trade if the work is performed by the owner or their family and in bakeries and delicatessens, pharmacies, petrol stations, florists, post offices, hotels, sports and other event venues, railway and bus stations and airports, tickets kiosks and news stands, etc.

Rest and breaks

If an employee works at least six hours a day, they are entitled to a 15-minute break included in the daily working time. Whether the employee works full or part time is irrelevant. A lunch break can be introduced (up to 60 minutes), which is neither included in the daily working time nor subject to extra remuneration. Employees are entitled to at least 11 hours of continuous rest per day and 35 hours of continuous rest per week.

Working time flexibility

The most important developments with regard to working time flexibility took place in Poland in 2013; these involved changes to the Labour Code and the establishment of the Trade Unions Act (which came into force on 23 August 2013). The changes introduced regulations that enable employers to introduce a one-year reference period for calculating working time instead of four months, as long as it is justified for objective, technical or organisational reasons. In unionised workplaces in which company-level collective agreements exist, any new reference period needs to be included in the collective labour agreement (układ zbiorowy pracy) or introduced by a weaker form of an agreement with trade unions (porozumienie zbiorowe). In non-unionised workplaces, the introduction of a longer reference period requires an agreement with the ad hoc worker representatives elected according to the customary rules in the workplace in question.

In the same legislative reform, flexitime was introduced in the Labour Code. Flexitime includes the possibility for variation in the time when work should start during the working day and requires a definition of the time span during which an employee can decide to start his or her work. Both issues can be introduced either in the same way as the one-year reference period or based on an individual written request from an employee. In addition, it is possible to introduce weekly working schedule variation that covers a period of a minimum of one month (Clause 129(3) of the Labour Code).

Teleworking is seen as one of the methods of increasing working time flexibility and the MRPiPS supports flexible arrangements as a way to improve a family-friendly workplace.

Maintaining health and well-being should be a high priority for workers and employers alike. Health is an asset closely associated with a person’s quality of life and longevity, as well as their ability to work. A healthy economy depends on a healthy workforce: organisations can experience loss of productivity through the ill health of their workers. This section looks at psychosocial risks and health and safety at work in Poland.

Health and safety at work

The number of workplace accidents decreased dramatically between 2008 and 2009. That favourable change was somewhat mitigated in the following years, as the volume of working time lost due to accidents rose between 2010 and 2011, only to shrink again in 2012. A significant decrease took place in 2013, followed by five years of slight fluctuations. Taking into account the rise in the number of employees, 2018 was the most favourable in terms of the number of workplace accidents in the period analysed. In 2020, there were 47,383 accidents at work, which represented a drop of 22.4% in comparison with 2019 (Eurostat [hsw_acc_work]).

Psychosocial risks

In Poland there are no regulations directly addressing psychosocial risks at work. However, there are a number of regulations dealing with psychosocial risks indirectly. In general, the Constitution reserves the right to healthcare and safe and hygienic working conditions for all citizens. There are also clauses in the Labour Code that regulate the quality of work and the working environment:

• Clause 94 of the Labour Code defines the ‘main obligations of the employer’
• Clause 94/3(2) of the Labour Code defines ‘mobbing’
• Clause 227(2) of the Labour Code stipulates that the employer is obliged to provide safe and hygienic working conditions with the use of the available science and technology and to adjust the level of health and life protection with the evolution of working conditions
• Clause 226 of the Labour Code defines the obligation to assess occupational risk
• Chapter 2 of the Labour Code deals with equal treatment in employment

Furthermore, in February 2014, six nationwide representative social partner organisations (except the BCC) signed the autonomous agreement on combating work-related stress. The agreement was formalised in April, and subsequently the signatory parties inaugurated the autonomous committee on psychosocial risks.

Skills are the passport to employment; the more highly skilled an individual, the more employable they are. People with good skills also tend to secure better-quality jobs and better earnings. This section briefly summarises the Polish system for ensuring skills and employability and looks at training provision.

National system for ensuring skills and employability

In Poland, the national system for ensuring skills and employability is based on a public institution – the Central Examination Board (Centralna Komisja Egzaminacyjna), which is responsible for skills validation and recognition. There are eight district examination boards supervised by the Central Examination Board. A dual education system exists in Poland, albeit in a rudimentary form, as it is limited to the field of crafts. As a result, the ZRP is the most deeply involved organisation among the national-level social partners as far as the national system is concerned. The modernised National Framework of Qualifications (Krajowa Rama Kwalifikacji), which is intended to be compatible with the European Framework of Qualifications, has been implemented. In late 2015, the Act on the Integrated System of Qualifications (Ustawa o Zintegrowanym Systemie Kwalifikacji) was passed into law.

Training

The education system in Poland is supervised by the Ministry of National Education (Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej). However, other institutions are responsible for training regulation and development. They include, most notably, the Labour Market Council (Rada Rynku Pracy) of the MRPiPS, which replaced the Central Employment Council (Naczelna Rada Zatrudnienia), and labour market councils at regional (voivodeship) and district (powiat) levels, which replaced employment councils (wojewódzkie and powiatowe rady zatrudnienia) in 2014 (the new institution has been operating since 1 January 2015).

The Labour Market Council is composed of nationally representative trade unions and employer organisations, a joint committee of central government and self-government, and representatives of science and non-governmental organisations. The council plays an advisory role for the MRPiPS with respect to developing measures aimed at full and productive employment and the development of human resources, producing national action plans and assessing the activity of the National Training Fund (Krajowy Fundusz Szkoleniowy, KFS).

The KFS commenced its operations in 2014. The KFS is a special part of the Labour Fund dedicated to upgrading the skills and qualifications of people in employment.

Until the end of 2015, the use of the KFS was restricted to people aged 45 years and over; since then, it has been available to everyone.

Interestingly, there is some correlation between the existence of workplace representation at establishments and employees receiving paid time off for training. Workplace representation seems to support employees receiving paid time off for training, with 20–80% of employees with workplace representation making use of such training.

The principle of equal treatment requires that all people – and, in the context of the workplace, all workers – have the right to receive the same treatment, and will not be discriminated against on the basis of criteria such as age, sex, disability, nationality, race and religion.

The fundamental regulation dealing with the issues of equality and non-discrimination at work is Chapter 2a of the Labour Code. Furthermore, Clause 94/3(2) of the Labour Code defines and prohibits mobbing.

There are no bodies in place that are specifically designed to combat discrimination at work, but there are institutions whose remit covers equality and non-discrimination in general (the field of work and employment is also encompassed), such as the Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich) and the government’s Plenipotentiary for Civic Society and Equal Treatment (Pełnomocnik ds. Społeczeństwa Obywatelskiego i Równego Traktowania). Because equality and non-discrimination at work is subject to Labour Code regulation, PIP is also involved.

Equal pay and gender pay gap

Gender-related pay discrimination is prohibited. Nevertheless, the gender pay gap is persistent.

In February 2014, the Supreme Audit Office (Najwyższa Izba Kontroli) issued a report on pay inequalities between men and women. A statistical analysis of the earnings of more than 120,000 people working on the basis of employment contracts in the public sector (about half of whom were women and half were men employed in comparable positions) revealed that, on average, women earn 10.82% less than their male colleagues. The gap almost doubled between 2006 and 2007 (7.5% to 14.9%), then fell dramatically to 4.5% in 2007–2010 and began to increase again from 2010–2012, but at a moderate pace (by 1% annually).

In 2021, the gender pay gap decreased to 4.5%, significantly below the EU average. However, this was mostly due to the employment landscape – most employees work standardised jobs in manufacturing or trade. Looking at disaggregated data, however, the gap becomes more obvious – in almost all sectors, women in management and higher positions earn significantly less than men.

Quota regulations

No such regulations are in place in Poland.

Employers

• Business Centre Club (BCC)
• Confederation Lewiatan
• Employers of Poland (Pracodawcy RP)
• Polish Crafts Association (ZRP)
• Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers (ZPP)
• Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs (FPP)

Trade unions

• Trade Unions Forum (FZZ)
• Trade Union Solidarity (NSZZ Solidarność)
• All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ)

Government

• Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy (MRPiPS)
• Statistics Poland (GUS)
• Central Institute for Labour Protection (CIOP)
• National Labour Inspectorate (PIP)

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