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The President on August 28th, 2023 signed into law a bill amending, among other things, the rules on court fees in labor cases, which could significantly increase employees’ interest in asserting their rights. According to the law, employees will not have to pay a court fee on lawsuits filed with labor courts, even when the value of their claims exceeds PLN 50,000. They will pay a relative fee of 5% only on appeals, but only on the amount exceeding PLN 50,000. The law has been signed by the President. The new regulations will come into force after 14 days from the date of promulgation.
The law introducing additional rights for employees will come into force on September 22nd, 2023. From that moment on, the court of first instance declaring the termination of an employment contract ineffective or reinstating an employee, at the employee’s request, will be required to impose in the judgment an obligation on the employer to continue employing the employee until the proceedings have become final (currently, this is not mandatory for the court).
In addition, a new safeguard has been introduced for employees subject to special protection – at the request of, among others, a pregnant woman, a protected trade union activist, an employee of pre-retirement age, or a parent on maternity leave in the event of a claim for recognition of termination of employment as ineffective or for reinstatement, the court at any stage of the proceedings will grant security by ordering further employment of the employee by the employer until the final conclusion of the proceedings. The basis for granting such security will be only the probability of the existence of the claim. The court will be able to refuse to grant security only if the claim is manifestly unfounded.
Since the beginning of the year we have observed a huge scale of summonses from offices to entrepreneurs regarding the return of received subsidies or part of them. This often happens in cases where the entrepreneur has benefited:
Calls for the return of subsidies are, for the most part, completely unfounded. The Supreme Administrative Court has repeatedly indicated that it is possible to combine subsidies from the FGŚP with subsidies from the starost’s funds for the same employees, but for different periods, and entrepreneurs do not have to return subsidies in such situations. In turn, the Provincial Labour Office has agreed with our position on the possibility of combining wage subsidies and social security contributions under the Anti-Crisis Shield and the exemption from the obligation to pay social security contributions under the so-called “industry shield” for the same employees, for other periods of subsidy collection (before the entry into force of Article 15g paragraph 18a of the Anti-Crisis Shield). As the CRIDO Team, we support our Clients in any such case, so we warmly invite you to contact us.
Under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), companies will be required to file sustainability reports. The European Commission published the first set of standards on July 31st, 2023, which will cover the environmental (E), social (S) and corporate governance (G) pillars. The latter two in particular are important from an employment law perspective, which means ESG Teams should work closely with HR Departments. For reporting, it will not be enough to comply with labor laws, but attention to the company’s diversity policy or actions to close the wage gap will also be taken into account. In terms of corporate governance, in addition to anti-corruption policies or codes of ethics, among others, implemented measures to protect whistleblowers will also have to be reported. The largest entities will have to include these issues in their 2024 reports.
As of September 1st, 2023, a new, higher social security exemption amount for employer-financed meals is in effect. The previous exemption amount of PLN 300 has increased 1.5 times – up to PLN 450. The exemption amount, both previous and new, refers to the monthly value of employer-financed meals to one employee. To qualify for the exemption in question, the meals should be financed by the employer from the company’s working capital. These meals can be provided in the form of, among other things, vouchers, coupons or prepaid cards, which can be used at catering or retail outlets. Increasing the exemption limit may encourage employers who have not done so to date to make such a benefit available to their employees.
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