Family and Social Policy Minister Marlena Maląg said: “It’s an important day for the labour market in Poland. On Friday, new rules come into effect to regulate remote working.”
President Andrzej Duda approved the new rules in late January, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Marlena Maląg. Photo: PR24/AK
‘Response to changing trends’
Maląg said: “It’s a response to changing trends and to the expectations of employees and employers who use this form of work, which became widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Speaking in an interview with Polish state news agency PAP, she added that the new law “makes it much easier to reconcile family and work duties.”
“It’s a huge positive change,” she stated.
Maląg told the PAP news agency that “remote working is also an opportunity for people living in smaller communities with fewer transport links.”
Poland regulates remote working
As of April 7, remote work is enshrined in Poland’s Labour Code, defined as “work performed entirely or partly in a place chosen by the employee and agreed on with the employer, including at the employee’s place of residence, in particular using means of remote communication,” PAP reported.
Under the new law, staff are allowed to work remotely on a full-time or part-time basis, depending on the needs of the given employee and employer, including in emergency situations such as the outbreak of an epidemic or when the worker needs to look after a relative, reporters were told.
Remote work arrangements have to be offered to parents of children of up to four years of age; parents and carers of people with disabilities; and pregnant women.
Working from home is possible unless the job in question, "due to its nature or organisation," cannot be done remotely, for instance in the case of police, firefighters or other emergency and law enforcement personnel, officials have said.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, interia.pl, gov.pl