In the last articles in our series on labor law, we discussed the proposed changes to the Labor Code concerning increased penalties for offenses against employees.
During the legislative process (during the second reading of the bill), an amendment to Articles 281-283 of the Labor Code was proposed, introducing significantly higher fines for, among other things, entering into a civil law contract instead of an employment contract, violating working time regulations, employee rights related to parenthood, employing minors, failing to pay wages on time, failing to grant vacation leave, and failing to issue an employment certificate. The rationale behind these changes was to redress the differences in treatment between Polish and foreign employees.
Entrepreneurs' opposition to increasing penalties
The proposed changes met with strong opposition from businesses and were also reflected in the Senate's position. One of the key suggestions was to remove the provision from the draft that would have introduced changes to the Labor Code in this regard.
Senate position
The Senate emphasized that these changes were introduced to the Act in violation of the constitutional procedure for enacting law, i.e., Article 119 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Such significant changes were proposed during the final parliamentary procedure. According to the established position of the Constitutional Tribunal, when considering a bill in three readings, the Sejm is obligated to ensure that "the basic content that will ultimately be included in the bill undergoes the full parliamentary procedure, so as to ensure there is sufficient time and opportunity to consider the adopted solutions and take a position on them" (e.g., Judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal and Judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of 23 February 1999, file reference: K 25/98, and of 9 March 2016, file reference: K 47/15).
The Sejm decided not to increase penalties for entrepreneurs
In view of the above arguments, the Senate proposed (amendment No. 35 to the Act) to completely delete the provision concerning the introduction of higher penalties for entrepreneurs for offences against employees.
On March 21, 2025, the Sejm adopted the Senate's amendments, deleting the provision concerning fines for offenses against employees. The Act on the Conditions for the Admissibility of Entrusting Work to Foreigners in the Territory of the Republic of Poland itself is currently awaiting the signature of the President of the Republic of Poland.
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