What has changed in Labour Law since September 7?

1. Changes in the scope of employment certificates

The period from which the employee has the right to request the employer to rectify this document in the event that the employee does not agree with the content of the certificate has been extended from 7 to 14 days. If the employer does not accept the employee’s request, he will be able to apply to the labour court within 14 days (instead of 7 days as before) with a request to rectify the employment certificate.

The second significant change is the addition of new legal and employee claims. The first of these is the employee’s right to bring an action to oblige the employer to issue a work certificate. An employee who wants to mobilize his employer to issue him with a work certificate may take advantage of this opportunity.

The second novelty is the claim to determine the right to receive a work certificate. An employee may use it primarily if the employer who has not issued him an employment certificate has ceased to exist or if for other reasons it is not possible to bring an action against the employer.

In addition, from September 7, non-issuance of work certificate and also not issuing it on time may result in a fine of up to PLN 30,000 to the employer (Article 282 §1 item 3 of the Labour Code).

2. Increasing the rights of an employee affected by mobbing in the workplace

The change regarding claims that may be raised by an employee who has been mobbed should be assessed positively. In the previous legal state, the claim for damages was related solely to the fact that the employee terminated the employment contract precisely because of mobbing. From September 7, employees no longer have to give up employment to claim compensation from their employer.

3. Opening the catalogue of grounds justifying discrimination

So far, the Labour Code has pointed to a number of circumstances, which in particular could have been manifestations of discrimination such as age, gender, sexual orientation or religion. At present, the employee will be entitled to indicate the criterion which in his opinion constituted discrimination. This approach by the legislator means that, in fact, any unequal treatment of employees without objective reasons may be considered discrimination.

4. Changes in holiday entitlements

The rights related to maternity, parental, paternity and maternity leave after amendment are not only vested in the mother or father of the child, who are employees, but also other immediate family members – employed and entitled to maternity leave, on the conditions of maternity leave or parental leave or who discontinued a gainful activity to provide personal care for a child. This means that holiday rights related to parenthood will also be granted to e.g. grandmother, grandfather, sister or brother. Importantly, after the amendment, also such persons are entitled to remuneration for the time of being out of work in full amount in the event of reinstatement after termination or termination of the contract without observing the periods of notice, both in the case of an indefinite and fixed-term contract (amendment of Article 47 , Article 50 §5, Article 57 §2 of the Labour Code). In addition, these persons will be able to take vacation leave immediately after the end of maternity leave and will be protected against termination of employment (amendment to Article 177 §1-2 and 4 of the Labour Code).