2025 will be another milestone year for Polish labour law. A number of significant changes come into force. New legislation is also underway and may soon be passed by the Polish parliament.
Minimum wage increase
From January 1, 2025, the minimum wages of employees have increased.
Now, the minimum monthly wage is PLN 4,666 gross (approx. EUR 1,108) gross for full-time work and the minimum hourly wage is PLN 30.50 (approx. EUR 7.25) gross (from the second half of 2024 it was PLN 4,300 and PLN 28.10, respectively).
New maternity leave for parents of premature babies
Working parents will have a new right to so-called supplementary maternity leave.
Such leave will be granted to parents of babies born prematurely and to parents of babies who required hospitalization after birth.
Supplementary maternity leave will last either up to 8 or 15 weeks.The length of such leave will depend on the following circumstances:
– the week of pregnancy in which the baby is born,
– the baby’s birth weight, and
– the length of the baby’s hospitalization.
It will be granted at the request of the parent, after the end of the standard maternity leave. The leave will be fully paid.
A new law on this matter comes into force on March 19, 2025.
Christmas Eve as a public holiday
In 2025 for the first time December 24 will be a public holiday in Poland.
Despite the fact that Polish law generally prohibits trading on Sundays (allowing it only a few times a year) due to this change, all three Sundays in December will be trading days.
At the same time, a special arrangement is being introduced for trade employees, who will be allowed to work on no more than two trading Sundays in December.
The new regulations will enter into force on February 1, 2025.
ESG in Poland
On January 1, 2025, regulations implementing the CSRD directive have come into force.
For largest companies, it carries a broad obligation of reporting the Environmental Social and Governance issues, also covering certain issues from Polish labour law. In the following years, the obligation will also be extended to smaller entities.
A new definition of workplace bullying
Polish government is currently working on amending regulations on mobbing. This is a significant change as these provisions have not been amended for almost 20 years. The most important changes concern:
– simplifying (currently extensive and detailed) definition of workplace bullying, and
– the introduction for an obligation for every employer to introduce a procedure for counteracting discrimination in employment and mobbing (until now it has been a market practice and case law requirement to have such procedure but it was not a legal obligation).
New regulations are expected to take effect in Q3 2025.
Pay transparency
Work is underway in the Polish parliament to implement the EU pay transparency directive (2023/970). The new regulations impose, among other things:
– an obligation to publish a pay range in job advertisements,
– an employee’s right to obtain information on average pay levels, and
– an employer’s prohibition on preventing employees from disclosing information about their salaries.
Migration procedures
We can also expect changes in the employment of foreigners soon.
Due to the increase in the number of employed foreigners in recent years, it is planned to simplify migration procedures, including the electronification of the procedure for obtaining a work permit.
Penalties for illegal employment of foreigners are also to be increased.
Other changes in the labour market
Additionally, parliamentary work is underway on solutions that are to simplify access to labour offices and increase the effectiveness of job searches. The planned changes also provide for subsidized hiring of older people (at or near to retirement age).
All this means that employers in Poland may expect a number of changes in labour law and work on new regulations should be closely monitored in the following months.
The article was prepared by att. Marta Rogocz and att. trainee Bartłomiej Ostrowski from our Polish member firm Zawirska Ruszczyk. For any questions related to the Polish Labour Code or employment related topics, please reach out to them or to our representatives Patrycja Zawirska or Grzegorz Ruszczyk
