Department of Communication and Promotion of the Ministry of Family, Work and Social Policy emphasizes that the priority is to comply with labor law, “and in particular to protect employees against unfair practices of employers who employ people on the basis of, among others, fictitious civil law contracts.” As reported by Business Insiderthe Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy is working on legal changes in which the National Labor Inspectorate will play an important role.
New powers for labor inspectors. They will decide on changing the contract
The changes in the regulations are to apply, among others, to people employed by so-called digital platforms – taxi drivers, couriers and food delivery people working for restaurants or transport companies. “This looks like an attempt to limit the scale of unfair self-employment and increase the number of employment contracts, also in place of the previously used fictitious civil law contracts,” we read.
MRPiPS reported that work on the directive on improving working conditions via platforms is in its final stage. Its formal adoption will probably take place in the autumn of this year. EU countries will have two years from the date of its entry into force to implement it into national regulations.
Marcin Stanecki, Chief Labor Inspector, adds that the new solutions will significantly reduce the number of abuses consisting in the fact that “a person working in conditions and on principles characteristic of an employment relationship is forced to sign a civil law contract”. The current powers of labor inspectors are limited in this respect. The new solutions are to change this. They will be able to, for example, order the change of a civil law contract to a full-time job.
Black scenarios for companies. Will they close?
However, experts from employers' organizations criticize such ideas. According to them, civil law contracts are attractive in many cases. They provide greater freedom and flexibility regarding the time and place of work. In their opinion, they are also cheaper for employees. Thanks to them, they can ultimately earn a higher net amount. Katarzyna Lorenc, an expert from the Business Centre Club (BCC), believes that the new regulations will be unconstitutional. She also adds that “further difficulties in the small and micro-enterprise sector” should be expected.
According to Lorenc, the government's solutions are more a desire to find additional revenues for ZUS than concern for employee rights. The expert estimates that the processes of closing down companies will begin, or in the best case, suspending them. This will especially apply to the smallest ones. This is not the end of the problems. Recently they wroteWe talked about increasing the minimum wage. The Ombudsman for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Agnieszka Majewska, raises the alarm: many companies may not be able to handle it. From 1 July minimum wage in Poland has been increased for the second time in a year and currently stands at PLN 4,300 gross. However, from 2025 it will be over PLN 4,600.