On May 24, 2022, the Council of Ministers adopted a draft law amending the Polish Labor Code and certain other laws (the “Law”). The main principle of this law was to regulate the rules regarding remote work.
The first reading of the law in the Sejm (the lower house of parliament) took place during the sessions of June 23, 2022 and July 7, 2022. The law was then referred to the subcommittee on amendments to the Labor Code and to the Code of Administrative Affairs. Procedure and, according to the information made available, work on the law will resume after the end of the holiday period. Moreover, the Minister of Family and Social Policy, Marlena Maląg, announced that the changes will come into effect in the fall. This means that new regulations regarding remote work are getting closer and closer.
The law now imposes new obligations on employers. In addition to the need to provide, as in the case of telework, the necessary materials and tools (as well as to cover the costs of installation or maintenance), the employer will also be required, among other things, to cover the costs of electricity and all telecommunications services that are necessary to perform this work remotely.
If the employee uses their own private devices, the employer will have to pay a cash equivalent instead. However, this obligation may be replaced by the obligation to pay a lump sum, the amount of which will correspond to the foreseeable costs incurred by the employee in the context of his remote work.
The employer is obliged to determine the rules for performing remote work and determining the above-mentioned lump sum and the reimbursement of any other costs related to the performance of remote work in the agreement concluded with the company union ( if the employer has trade unions) . If the employer does not have company unions, or if such an agreement is not concluded, these provisions must be fixed in the internal regulations after consultation with the representatives of the employees chosen according to the procedure adopted by the employer. If the employer has not issued regulations concerning the rules of remote work, the employer must specify these rules in the remote work order given to the employee, or in the agreement concluded with the employee. For practical reasons, however, it is recommended that the employer put in place regulations applicable to all employees working remotely.
The law will only enter into force 14 days after the date of its announcement. This means that employers will have very little time to adapt to these new regulations. According to the previous version of the draft, the new regulations were originally to come into force three months after the date of the cancellation of the state of the epidemic.
Since it is unlikely that in further legislative work the law will change significantly in terms of basic assumptions and obligations of employers, we recommend starting work on implementing the new provisions as soon as possible. In particular, our recommendation is to establish the principles for the election of employee representatives (if the employer has not previously adopted a procedure for their election) with which the employer will then determine the content of labor regulations. from a distance.
Considering the above, we are at your disposal if you want to start preparing for the implementation of the new remote work regulations.
