POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Agnieszka Janicka and Krzysztof Hajdamowicz, Clifford Chance
hour of overtime exceeding the weekly limit of working hours (ie, 48 hours). Instead of an addition to remuner - ation, employees may be compensated for overtime work by time off in lieu. 4.4 Termination of Employment Contracts Employment contracts may be terminated with or without notice or by a termination agreement. The length of the notice period depends on the type of contract and the duration of employment. For employ - ment contracts for a fixed or indefinite term, the notice period is: • two weeks if the period of employment lasted less than six months; • one month if the period of employment lasted at least six months but less than three years; and • three months if the period of employment lasted at least three years. Termination by the Employer To terminate a fixed-term or an indefinite contract unilaterally, the employer must state the reason for termination in the termination notice signed in wet ink or with a QES. The reason must be real, specific and serious enough to justify termination. Moreover, the employer must consult the trade union representing the relevant employee (if present) on the intention to terminate the contract, although the employer is not bound by the opinion of the trade union. Some categories of employees are protected from ter - mination – eg, employees who are of pre-retirement age or pregnant. It is also generally not admissible (with some limited exceptions) to give notice of ter - mination while an employee is on holiday or on sick leave. There is no obligation to make any additional pay - ments to an employee whose contract is being ter - minated with notice (apart from regular remuneration until the end of the notice period and payment in lieu of holiday leave), except where the termination takes place due to redundancy (organisational reasons on the part of the employer), in which case the employer is required to pay statutory severance pay of one, two or three months’ remuneration (depending on tenure).
The statutory severance rules apply only to employers with 20 employees or more. The employer may terminate an employment contract without notice through the fault of the employee in the following circumstances: • severe violation of basic employee duties; • committing a crime that makes it impossible to continue employment in a given position; and • loss of qualifications to perform work in a given position through the fault of the employee. The employer may also terminate the contract with - out notice without the fault of the employee if the employee remains on sick leave for a certain period (longer than three or nine months, depending on the duration of employment) or where the employee’s jus - tified absence for other reasons lasts longer than one month. There is no obligation to make any additional payments to the employee in the case of termination without notice. Termination by the Employee An employee can terminate an employment contract with or without notice. Termination without notice can take place where a doctor diagnoses a detrimental effect of work on the health of the employee and they are not transferred to another position by the employ - er, or where the employer severely breaches its basic duties to the employee. In the latter case, the employ - ee is entitled to compensation in the amount of their remuneration for the notice period applicable to their contract or, in the case of a contract for a fixed term, for the remainder of the term of the contract, but for no more than the notice period. Termination by Mutual Agreement of the Parties The terms of termination agreements are agreed by the parties, and it is common for the employer to make an additional severance payment to the employee, although this is not a legal requirement. Collective Redundancies If an employer with at least 20 employees terminates employment contracts for reasons not attributable to the employees, it is referred to as “collective redun -
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