Employment relationship in Poland may be ended:
The employer prior to terminating employee contract in Poland shall:
The parties to the employment relationship are free to decide on the terms and conditions of termination of employment contract irrespective of its type. Mutual termination agreement shall be concluded in writing (with wet signatures). The agreement made in oral form will not be considered null and void but may be problematic to prove in case of court dispute.
Mutual termination of employment in Poland is permissible also during periods of special protection against termination. The protection rules work only against unilateral termination with notice. In consequence, there are no restrictions as to concluding mutual termination agreement e.g. during holiday, pregnancy, maternity, in pre-retirement age (pre retirement age employees) etc.
When concluding mutual termination of employment contract parties usually decide on:
In practice mutual termination agreement is often offered by the employers as an alternative for termination with or without notice. Employers tend to offer additional benefits to convince the employee to select an amicable form of ending of an employment in order to eliminate risk of potential dispute.
Employment contracts may be terminated by each party (employer and employee) in regular mode, i.e. with the notice period. What is specific for Polish law, is that every employment contract incl. a fixed term contract (definite period contract) may be terminated subject to the statutory notice periods. Therefore, even if an employee has a 12 months fixed term contract it can be terminated with implied, statutory notice periods.
Characteristic feature of regular termination is that the contract expires with lapse of the statutory period of notice.
Employment agreement termination letter shall conform with certain criteria which are listed below:
In case employees protected by a trade union organization and termination occurs for reasons other than the employer’s bankruptcy or liquidation, an employer must inform the union of its intention to terminate a contract concluded for an indefinite period.
Employment agreement termination notice periods in Poland are defined by the Labor Code, and shall not be charged by contractual stipulations of the parties (save the exceptions provided below). Notice period applicable to particular employee depends on his/her seniority (total employment period at certain employer) and amounts to:
Probation employment contracts (trial period contract) may be terminated with shorter notice periods:
Notice period given in months – start to run on 1st day of the month following the day of termination and shall end on the last day of the calendar month, after the laps of the notice period
Example: If the termination letter is delivered on Wednesday July 13th 2022, 3-months termination period will start to run on August 1st 2022 and end on October 31st 2022
Notice period given in weeks – shall end on Saturday after the laps of the termination period.
Example: If the termination letter is handled on Wednesday July 13th 2022, 2-weeks termination period will end on Saturday July 30th
During the termination notice period employer may order the employee:
The above may be instructed by the employer at its own discretion, no consent of the employee is required.
As a rule, length of a notice period may not be shortened below the statutory minimum. The period of notice may only be extended contractual by the parties for the benefit of the employee.
In the case of employment termination by the employer, the employee is entitled to a paid leave for the purpose of looking for a job. The scope of job-seeker leave depends on the length of the notice period and amounts to:
Severance (redundancy pay) in Poland may be due to the employee if:
Severance amount in Poland is limited with a 15 x statutory minimum salary (minimum remuneration).
Collective dismissal procedure applies when termination level within the period of 30 days exceeds:
Collective dismissal procedure involves inter alia:
Disciplinary termination may only take place if there is a valid reason, i.e. when the employee:
Under Polish employment law (Labour Code), there is no legal definition of “valid” or “justifiable” reason. In case of dispute the reason will be evaluated by the labour court. Nonetheless the reasons must be specific, understandable for the employee and real (not of a general nature).
Characteristic feature of this type of termination is that the labor contract expires immediately, i.e. without any period of notice.
Disciplinary termination letter shall conform with certain criteria which are listed below:
Disciplinary termination does not trigger an obligation to pay severance to the employee. On the other hand, due to the fact that disciplinary termination has immediate effect with regards to contract expiration, it usually triggers an obligation to pay equivalent for unused holiday (i.e. if the at the day of termination the employee has accrued unused holiday, s/he will not be able to used it in nature prior to contract expiry, in consequence – an equivalent shall be paid). As a result, in case of disciplinary termination, the holiday leave is not forfeited but it converts into monetary claim (equivalent for unused holiday).
The labor contract may be terminated by the employer with immediate effect due to employee’s incapacity or absence from work if:
Under Polish law the employee is also allowed to terminate the employment agreement in disciplinary mode, i.e. with immediate effect, if an employer has substantially neglected its obligations (e.g. neglected his duty to pay remuneration). In such a case, an employee is entitled to compensation equal to the remuneration for the period of notice and in case of a fixed term contract – for the period till the end of the contract, but no longer than the length of the notice period.
Employee’s declaration on termination of the contract shall be made in writing and shall indicate the reason of termination. Termination may not take place after 1 month from the date on which an employee learned the reasons justifying termination of the contract.
An employee may also terminate the employment contract without notice, if the medical certificate is issued and it confirms the harmful effect of the work on the health of the employee, and the employer fails to transfer an employee to another position (appropriate for the employee’s health and professional qualifications) within the period specified in the certificate.
In case an employer finds termination of the contract unjustified, he may seek compensation. The compensation shall be adjudicated by the labor court and due in the amount equal to the remuneration of an employee for the period of notice, and if a labor contract has been made for fixed term, for the period till which the contract has been concluded, but no longer than the length of the notice period.
Each termination may be challenged in the court of law if it was:
In case of the dispute before the labor court, the burden of proof that the termination was lawful and justified is entirely on the defendant – employer.
An appeal against termination shall be submitted to the labour court within 21 days from the date of placing the termination letter.
Polish labour law provides two types of remedies (claims) against termination that may be pursued by the employee before the court of law:
The choice of the remedy is entirely to an employee, nonetheless the decision as to whether the employee will be reinstated or awarded compensation is at the discretion of the labour court.
If an employee employed under a contract for an indefinite period is a trade union member (or is a person whose rights the trade union has agreed to protect) and is dismissed for reasons other than an employer’s bankruptcy or liquidation or is to be dismissed without the notice period, an employer must inform the company trade union in writing about the intention of terminating the employment agreement with this employee and the grounds of the termination.
If a company trade union decides that dismissal shall be considered as unjustified, it may present an employer with substantiated objections, in writing, within 5 days of receiving the information above (3 days in the case of termination of employment contract without notice).
An employer shall make a decision, having considered the opinion of the company trade union or in the absence of such an opinion received in due time. However, an employer does not need the consent of the trade union and is entitled to launch the termination against the trade union’s opinion.
Under Polish labour code all employees are protected against termination during leaves and employee’s justified absence. In addition to that, certain categories of employees are protected against termination if they meet certain criteria (e.g. pregnancy, pre-retirement age etc.). Regular termination placed against an employee who is protected will be null and void. However, it shall be clarified that protection rules do not work against disciplinary termination for severe breach of key duties.
Following categories of employees are protected against termination:
Any employees cannot be terminated during any leave, including holiday leave, as well as during any justified absence from work.
Notice periods in Poland are regulated in the Labour Code and shall not be shortened by the employments contracts. Notice periods amount to: 2 weeks – for employees of less than 6 months seniority; 1 month – for employees of more than 6 months seniority; and 3 months – for employees of seniority greater than 3 years
Employment contract may be dissolved in Poland by mutual agreement, or unilateral termination. Unilateral termination may be regular or disciplinary.
There is no resignation option in labour law in Poland, the employment contract must be terminated in one of the modes (mutual agreement, disciplinary or regular termination with notice period)
Notice period most usually start to run at the end of the month and not form the day when the termination was placed (unless it was placed in the last day of the month). 2 weeks notice period runs little bit differently – it shall end on Saturday after the laps of the termination period.
Collective redundancy requires application of special procedure and payment of severance pay.
The severance pay is subject to income tax in Poland, but is exempt from social security contributions (ZUS).
Yes – you can terminate employment for underperformance – that shall be considered as valid reason for regular termination (with notice period)
No, employees are protected against termination during justified absence and holiday. However this rules does not relate to disciplinary termination.
Holiday leave many and shall be used during notice period. If it is not used in full the employee shall be entitled for equivalent for unused holiday.
No, disciplinary termination does not forfeiture right to remuneration and holiday equivalent.
Dismissal of managing director in Poland depends on how the person is engaged. If under employment contract – labour law termination rules shall apply. If under civil law contract – individual agreement shall apply. If under corporate resolution – corporate regulations shall apply.
1. Evaluate reasons and evidences
2. Choose one of four alternative modes of termination
3. Draft termination letter / mutual termination agreement
4. Meet with the employee and hand over termination documents
5. Deregister employee from social security agency
Expert DKP Legal
Alicja Myśluk-Landowska Attorney, Partner Contact our expert Write an inquiry: [email protected]
Expert DKP Legal
