Changes in Polish Employment Law in 2022 – part I

Polish Labor Law in 2022

In 2022, the Parliament has prepared a number of changes related to Polish labor law. In this article, our labor law attorneys will discuss the most important changes that every employer must keep in mind. In the first article, we will present the changes that have already entered into force, in the second, next article, which will appear on our website next week, we will present the changes that are underway – and the employment law team of our law firm will keep you informed about their entry into force.

Changes in Polish labor law that have already come into force:

Increase in the tax-free amount

The introduction of the „Polish Order” – the largest tax reform in recent years in Poland, resulted in changes to employee tax issues such as:

• increase of the personal income tax free amount to PLN 30,000,
• increase the amount beyond which the 32% personal income tax rate applies to PLN 120,000,
• introduce a new middle class relief.

Minimum wage in Poland in 2022

As of January 1, 2022, the minimum wage for an employee in Poland has increased by PLN 210 gross and amounts to PLN 3010 gross, i.e. approximately PLN 2363 net, while the hourly rate is PLN 19.70 gross, i.e. PLN 13.91 net. What is more, according to the „Polish Order”, the minimum wage is not taxable, which means that employees receiving the minimum wage will not pay income tax. The increase of the minimum wage has also resulted in changes of amount of other benefits for employees employed in Poland, such as: night work bonus, minimum remuneration for downtime, amounts free of deductions, minimum benefit base, compensation for violation of the principle of equal treatment in employment or the maximum amount of the severance pay for termination of employment for reasons not related to the employee.

Allowances in 2022

As of January 1, 2022, in connection with the amendment of social insurance regulations, a new way of calculating the allowance period, i.e. the period during which the employee is entitled to sickness benefit and the employer cannot terminate the employment contract, has been introduced in Poland. The new regulation of Polish Employment Law states that: „the benefit period includes periods of previous inability to work if the interval between termination of the previous inability to work and occurrence of a new inability to work did not exceed 60 days. The benefit period does not include periods of inability to work which occurred before an interruption of no more than 60 days, if after the interruption the inability to work occurred during pregnancy.”.

Whistleblowers protection

Our employment attorneys were already writing about the need to implement the „Whistleblower Protection Directive” and the implications of doing it in a September 24, 2021 article Whistleblowing Directive Implementation in Poland. The topic of Whistleblowing was also presented by our Law Firm in series of articles related to Compliance Programs, i.e. in the article dated May 20, 2021 – Whistleblowing in Poland. Currently, Poland still has not implemented whistleblower protection laws, and legislative work is still underway. Having in mind the principle of direct effect of EU Laws, we may assume that some of the self-explanatory provisions of the Whistleblowing Directive may be applied directly in Poland due to delay in implementation.