Constitutional Tribunal Ruling – Public Holiday Falling On Saturday
Art. 130 § 21 of the Labor Code has been deemed contrary to the Constitution and repealed as of October 8, 2012 by the Constitutional Tribunal in its judgment (K 27/11) of October 2, 2012. According to the rule introduced by the challenged regulation, if a holiday - based on the adopted working time schedule - fell on a day-off pursuant to a working time schedule in the five days' working week (usually on Saturday), such a holiday did not trigger any decrease of the working time. It was an exception to the general rule laid down in the Labor Code that each and every holiday within a reference period which falls on any other day than Sunday reduces the working time by 8 hours (Art. 130 § 2 of the Labor Code). CT stated that the challenged regulation could have adversely affect the situation of some employees as compared to other employees. The aforesaid CT judgment reinstates the legal status that was in force before January 1, 2011. Nothing, however, has changed as regards the regulation in force as from January 1, 2011 whereby the Three Kings Day (Epiphany) is a day-off. The fact that Art. 130 § 21 of the Labor Code is no longer in force entails the increase in the average number of days-off in a calendar year for most employees.
Supreme Court judgment - notification concerning members of a trade union organization
In its (so far unpublished) judgment of June 14, 2012 (I PK 231/11), the Supreme Court states that in order for an employer to meet its obligation to request a company trade union organization to deliver information about employees protected by it in individual employment-related matters (whenever labor law regulations obligate an employer to cooperate with an union organization) it is sufficient for the employer to request the union only once to deliver a list of employees protected by it. Unions are bound to supplement and update such a list on an ongoing basis. Whenever the organization fails to meet this obligation, the employer will be exempt from its obligation to collaborate with the union organization in employees' individual employment-related matters. The employer is not required to ask whether given employees (mentioned by name) benefit from the protection of a given organization, nor to give the reason for such request. In the rationale of the judgment, the Supreme Court states that membership in legally operating social organizations is of a public nature. Consequently, the personal data protection may not be an excuse for a union to refuse the information about employees protected by it. In the said judgment, the Supreme Court consents to the view that has been predominating in the case law and the doctrine, while disagreeing with this year's well-known Supreme Court resolution of January 24, 2012 (we presented it in the June issue of the Labor Law Newsletter) and with the predominating view in the case law of administrative courts.
Supreme Administrative Court ruling - outplacement as employee's income
In its judgment of August 21, 2012 (II FSK 86/11) the Supreme Administrative Court confirmed that a fee paid by an employer to an HR consulting firm obligated to search for a job for a terminated employee, where the right to benefit from such assistance (outplacement) has been granted to the employee under a settlement between the employer and the employee, should be treated as the employee's income under the employment relation.
Changes in the way non-employees' accidents at work are evidenced
On August 24, 2012 regulations concerning changes in the way accidents at work of non-employees (including persons hired under civil contracts) are evidenced came into force.
The regulations introduce, among other things, a new format of the accident card.
Paternity leave to be extended
A draft bill to amend the Labor Code has undergone the first reading at the Polish Parliament. The main change to be made is the extension of the paternity leave up to 8 weeks, and also making it possible for its users to divide the leave into two parts. As a rule, the leave could be used in a period until a child is 2 years old. Today fathers enjoy the right to a 2-week paternity leave, and in principle, they are obliged to use it in a period until their child is 1 year old.
Employers' notification obligations to be limited
In addition, another draft has been introduced for the first reading at the Polish Parliament. It introduces a number of conveniences for entrepreneurs, including lifting of the obligation under Art. 209 of the Labor Code to notify the regional labor inspector and the state sanitary inspector of the place, type and scope of the intended business activities, as well as to keep such information updated.
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