Employment contracts

What are the types of employment contracts?

We distinguish the following types of employment contracts:

•     for a trial period of up to three months, in order to check the employee's qualifications,
•     for a limited period,
•     for an indefinite period.

What does an employment contract ("umowa o pracę" in Polish) guarantee?

The employment contract guarantees you:

•     minimum wage (PLN 4,242 PLN from 2024-01-01, 4,300 PLN from 2024-07-01),
•     the right to paid leave,
•     salary and sick pay,
•     regular working time,
•     special protection of certain groups of employees,
•     ban on giving notice and terminating the employment cotract in special circumstances,
•     the obligation to apply certain procedures when terminating contracts.

What should an employment contract contain?

The employment contract should be confirmed in writing and include:

•     identification of the parties of the contract,
•     type of contract,
•     the date of its conclusion and commencement of work (if the contract does not contain the date of commencement of work, the employment relationship is established on the date of conclusion of the contract),
•     type and place of work,
•     working hours,
•     the amount of remuneration with an indication of its components,
•     information on the registered office of the employer, and in the case of an employer who is a natural person - the address of the employer's residence.

The period of employment under a contract of employment for a period of time and the total period of employment under a contract of employment for a period of time concluded between the same parties may not exceed 33 months, and the total number of these contracts may not exceed three.

Employment contract for a trial period

An employment contract for a trial period may be concluded:

•     for 1 month - in the case of the intention to conclude an employment contract for a definite period of less than 6 months with an employee,
•     for 2 months - in the case of the intention to conclude a fixed-term contract with an employee of at least 6 months, but shorter than 12 months,
•     for 3 months - in the case of the intention to employ an employee under an employment contract for a definite period of at least 12 months.

If you employ an employee under an employment contract for a trial period, you must additionally specify:

•     its duration or the day of its completion and the possibility of extending the contract for the duration of the leave or other justified absence of the employee from work, if such absences occur,
•     the period for which the parties intend to conclude a fixed-term employment contract in the event of an intention to conclude such a contract for a period shorter than 12 months, or a decision to extend the contract by no more than 1 month, if justified by the type of work.

REMEMBER!

The employment contract should be in writing and contain all the elements listed in the Labor Code.