A contract of employment can be signed:
- for a trial period of up to 3 months,
- for a fixed period, defined upfront with concrete start and end dates of the employment,
- for an indefinite period.
An fixed period contract can cover a period of up to 33 months and the parties can only sign up to three of them. Should they exceed this limit, their fourth fixed period contract will be automatically transformed into an indefinite period contract. The trial period contract, despite covering a fixed period, doesn’t count for this limit. It means that an employee can be hired for up to 36 months under fixed period agreement (3 months of the trial period + 33 months of fixed-period contract employment, under up to 3 contract).
The February 22 2016 amendment to the Labor Code removed fixed period contracts to substitute for an absent employee.
However, one can still sign such agreements, which is now simply defined as one of the subtypes of fixed period contracts (art. 251, § 4, pt. 1 of Labor Code):
- with a goal to substitute an employee during their justified absence at work,
- with a goal to perform casual or seasonal work,
- with a goal to perform work through a term of office.
Main benefits of a contract of employment:
- right to benefits arising from the Labor Code,
- the employer being obliged to pay social security contributions,
- protection from contract termination,
- guarantee of a minimal wage.
Disadvantages of a contract of employment:
- the employee cannot delegate their work to another person;
- the place and time of work are strictly defined.
Frequently asked question, contract of employment
SIGNING THE AGREEMENT
What kind of contract of employment can I be employed under?
What is a notice period of a contract of employment?
- 3 working days, if the trial period did not exceed 2 weeks,
- 1 week, if the trial period exceeds 2 weeks,
- 2 weeks, if the trial period is equal to full 3 months.
In the event of terminating a contract of employment for an indefinite or fixed period, the notice period depends on the duration of employment for a given employer:
- 2 weeks if the worker has been employed for less than 6 months,
- 1 month if the worker has been employed for at least 6 months,
- 3 months if the worker has been employed for at least 3 years.
Am I entitled to health insurance?
As an unemployed person registered in the Labor Office, do I need to report taking up work under a contract of employment?
HOLIDAY LEAVE
How many vacation days are you entitled to under a contract of employment?
Its length is equal to:
- 20 days if you have less than 10 years of professional experience,
- 26 days if you have 10 or more years of professional experience.
If you’re being employed for the first time, you will be steadily gaining paid leave rights throughout the calendar year. With each passing month, you will become entitled to 1/12th of the annual paid leave allotment.
In case of part-time workers, this amount is proportionally adjusted to the (so for example, working half-time would entitle you to half of the usual paid leave allotment).
How many days of a leave am I entitled to, as a temporary worker,to take care of a child up to 14 years of age?
How can I check how many remaining leave do I have at my disposal?
Are part-time employees entitled to the same time of paid leave as full-time employees?
How will my compensation be calculated during a paid leave?
MEDICAL LEAVE (e-ZLA, L4)
What changed concerning the L4 sick leave?
- You are obliged to provide the physician with your address of residence during the temporary inability to work if it differs from the address provided to their informational profile or in your medical documentation. You’re also obliged to inform the payer of your social security contributions and ZUS (the social security authority) about a change of address during the inability to work period, no later than 3 days after its occurrence. If you fail to fulfill this obligation, ZUS will assume that a notice sent to the address provided in the medical certificate has been delivered.
- The notification about the date of medical examination (carried out by certifying or consulting physician) or the results of supplementary examinations, in the event of a validity check of the temporary inability to work. These can be delivered by:
– the post office,
– a ZUS employee or another authorized person,
– the employer.
The notice can be delivered in writing, through a phone call or electronic means (that is, your email or your profile on the ZUS website).
In what amount and way is the compensation being paid out for every day of L4 medical leave?
In case of an inability to work due to an illness, the payments are equal to 80% of the base sickness benefit.
If the inability to work was caused by a commute incident, an illness during the pregnancy or tuberculosis, the payments are equal to 100% of the base sickness benefit.
The indicated values are used when the internal labor law regulations don’t specify a higher sum.
The base sickness benefit is the average monthly pay for the period of 12 calendar months prior to the occurrence of inability to work as specified in art. 36, pt. 1 of the act on social security payments in the event of illness or motherhood. According to the law, this compensation is calculated based on a basis defined before the first absence. These base benefits are only updated in case of a gap of full three months between the sick leaves.
Can a physician issue an L4 retroactively?
Can I remain on the medical leave, and get the allowance, after terminating the work contract?
COMPENSATION
When will I receive compensation for my work?
What net sum (take-home pay) will I receive for my work?
How is overtime calculated and when could I expect the payment for them?
- if the overtime work took place: in night hours, on Sunday or work-free holidays, you are entitled to a 100% pay bonus,
- if the overtime work took place on any other day, you are entitled to a 50% pay bonus.
Upon your written request, the employer might grant you work-free time equal to the length of your overtime work instead. In such a case, you are no longer eligible for the pay bonus.
Am I entitled to bonuses?
Will I receive a bonus for work during night hours?
However, bear in mind that the nighttime pay can exceed the legally mandated value above based on the provisions of your work agreement or workplace internal regulation.
When will I receive a pay stub (RMUA)?
How to read the RMUA pay stub?
INSURANCE
Can I purchase group insurance through Gi Group?
Can I submit a family member to be eligible for ZUS insurance? How can I do this?
How can I check whether I’m registered at ZUS?
OTHER
Where should I send my request for a certification?
Send us the scan of a request for certification (e.g. employment certification, income statement, etc.) using the contact form or physical mail. Detailed information about the rules for issuing certificates and sample forms can be found in the Certificates and PIT section.
When will I receive a certificate of employment after my contract ends?
When are the Consultants available?
As an underage person, can I become employed under a contract of employment?
What part of one’s earnings can be taken by a court enforcement officer?
A court enforcement officer can take:
- under recovery of maintenance claims for children – up to 3/5 of your earnings
- under recovery of other claims – up to half of your earnings; in such an event the current minimal wage (after deduction of social security and income tax payments) forms a sum cleared from any further deductions.
The claim recovery rules for temporary work agreements are the same as for other agreements under the labor law. Upon receiving a notice from a court enforcement officer, the employer is obligated to provide them with a part of your salary covered by the recovery proceedings.
Such a notice is sent to both employer and employee. If you fail to receive it, or it hasn’t been delivered for any other reason, it won’t stop the recovery proceedings – the employer will be obliged to hand over the money regardless of your agreement to it.
If for some reason you didn’t receive such a notice and don’t know why the money was taken from you, contact our consultant who will check the address information of the court enforcement officer and your case number. This will allow you to contact the enforcement officer yourself.
FILES FOR DOWNLOAD
Files for download
- How to read RMUA (pdf)
download
- Request to change bank account (docx)
download
- Request to amend your information (docx)
download
- Request for a leave – CE (docx)
download
- Request for a maternal or parental leave (docx)
download
- Statement of a child’s father concerning lack of intent to utilize the parental leave (docx)
download
- Statement about the payer of the maternity allowance (docx)
download
- ZUS ZCNA – Submission of family members’ data for the purposes of health insurance (pdf)
download - Z-15 – Request for an attendance allowance (pdf)
download
- Agreement of the Parties concerning contract termination (docx)
download