Employment law in Poland | March 2026

PIP reform passed by Parliament 

On 12 March 2026, the Senate adopted without amendments a draft amendment to the Act on the State Labour Inspectorate and certain other acts. The draft provides that an appeal against a labour inspector’s decision may first be filed with the district labour inspector and then with a general labour court. Until a final ruling is issued, the inspector’s decision will be suspended. This means that the draft does not introduce the requirement of immediate enforceability of the inspector’s decision, which was included in the original version of the proposed amendments to the Act on the State Labour Inspection. 

If irregularities are found, the district labour inspector will be able to issue an order to remedy the violations, issue a decision confirming the existence of an employment relationship, or file a lawsuit in court. After the inspector’s decision is issued, the parties to the legal relationship will be able to enter into an employment contract. If this action is approved by the labour inspector, the proceedings will be concluded without the need for further administrative action.

Alternatively, the parties may modify the terms of their civil-law relationship or the manner of its performance in such a way as to eliminate the characteristics typical of an employment relationship. The labour inspector will be empowered to assess whether the issued order has been properly implemented. In the event of a positive assessment, the proceedings will be concluded. 

A negative assessment, however, will serve as the basis for the district labour inspector to initiate administrative proceedings, which may result in the issuance of a decision establishing the existence of an employment relationship or the filing of a lawsuit to determine the existence or content of the employment relationship.

The bill has been sent to the president for signature, who has 21 days to sign it, veto it, or refer it to the Constitutional Tribunal. If it enters into force, the powers of the National Labour Inspectorate will be significantly expanded.

New regulations on benefit applications

On March 24, 2026, the President of the Republic of Poland signed an amendment to the Act on Cash Benefits from Social Insurance in the Event of Illness and Maternity. The new regulations are part of a package of deregulation measures aimed at expanding the scope of official matters that can be handled electronically.

The amendment aims to allow applications for sickness benefits, care benefits, and rehabilitation benefits to be submitted in either paper or electronic form. In practice, this means that an employee will be able, for example, to send scanned copies of documents and use company tools such as e-mail or HR systems. This simplification applies to cases where the employer (the contribution payer) is the benefit payer.

However, this solution does not apply in situations where the benefit is paid by Social Insurance Authority (ZUS). In this case, the application may be submitted in paper form or as an electronic document signed with a qualified electronic signature, a trusted signature, a personal signature, or via the PUE ZUS/eZUS platform.

The new regulations will take effect three months after their publication in the Journal of Laws.

New anti-mobbing regulations on the horizon

On 25 March 2026, the Polish parliament held the first reading of a draft amendment to the Labour Code and the Code of Civil Procedure, aimed at strengthening the protection of employees against mobbing, discrimination, and other forms of violence in the workplace.

The draft bill provides, among other things, for simplifying and clarifying the definition of mobbing, categorizing forms of harassment, and introducing the so-called "reasonable victim" model. This means that the assessment of a given behavior will take into account not only the employee’s subjective feelings but also the objective circumstances of the case. The bill also provides for an increase in the minimum compensation for mobbing (to an amount no less than six times the minimum wage, which would currently be at least PLN 28,836) and strengthened protection for employees against retaliatory actions.

The draft has been referred for further work in the Sejm committee and has received the support of all parliamentary groups except the Confederation. The Ministry of Labor notes that the proposed solutions are intended to better reflect the realities of the modern labour market.

Possible postponement of the implementation date for the pay transparency directive

According to information provided by the Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Policy, the effective date of the pay transparency regulations may be postponed to early 2027. This would extend the vacatio legis by an additional six months. One of the reasons for the planned postponement is the lack of regulations establishing the so-called “equality body.”

At the same time, other changes are also being considered, in particular:

• extending the deadline for providing explanations in response to requests regarding pay gap reports—from 14 to 30 days,
• clarifying the definition of “pay ranges,”
• clarifying the rules regarding the method of calculating the pay gap and salary levels.
  

Amounts of contributions to the company social benefits fund (ZFŚS) in 2026

According to the announcement by the President of the Central Statistical Office dated 19 February 2026, the amount of PLN 7,848.60 should be used to determine the contribution to the Company Social Benefits Fund (ZFŚS) in 2026.  

Accordingly, the basic contributions to the Company Social Benefits Fund (ZFŚS) in 2026 are:

• per employee working under normal conditions – 37.5% of the base amount, i.e., PLN 2,943.23;
• per employee performing work under special conditions or of a special nature – 50% of the base, i.e., PLN 3,924.30;
• per juvenile employee:
  • First year of study – 5% – PLN 392.43;
  • Second year of training – 6% – PLN 470.92;
  • Third year of training – 7% – PLN 549.40.

The basic deduction may be increased by:

• 6.25% – for each person with a moderate or severe disability, i.e., PLN 490.54;
• 6.25% – for each pensioner receiving social assistance, i.e., PLN 490.54.

 

New eZUS account launched

At the end of February 2026, the Social Insurance Authority (ZUS) made the new version of the eZUS portal available to the first 500,000 randomly selected business owners who pay contributions.

The main objective behind the introduction of the new version of the program is to increase its transparency and intuitiveness for users. The forms available on eZUS have been modified—the format of applications has been standardized, and wizards have been introduced to guide users through the steps of filling out documents, indicating progress, and confirming the correct submission of the application. 

Work is also underway to update the individual customer profile and improve the ePłatnik application. ZUS also plans to make the mZUS mobile app available to contribution payers.