POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Agnieszka Janicka and Krzysztof Hajdamowicz, Clifford Chance
dancy” if the redundancies are made during 30 con - secutive days and the termination involves: • ten or more employees, where the employer has fewer than 100 employees; • 10% or more of the employees, where the employ - er has at least 100 employees but fewer than 300 employees; or • at least 30 employees, where the employer employs 300 employees or more. The employer is obliged to consult the trade unions (if present) regarding the intention to carry out collective redundancies, and must also notify the trade unions of the reasons for the planned redundancies, the number of employees to be made redundant and the period during which the redundancies will take place, among other things. This information must be submitted to the relevant labour office. If there are no trade unions at the employer’s establishment, the relevant rights are exercised by elected employees’ representatives. Within 20 days of the date of notification, the employer must conclude an agreement with the trade unions regulating the collective redundancy process. If an agreement cannot be reached, the employer unilat - erally regulates the process in the relevant by-laws. If there are no trade unions at the employer’s estab - lishment, the employer issues the by-laws after con - sulting the employees’ representatives. The relevant labour office must be notified of the agreement con - cluded or the by-laws issued. Employees whose contracts are terminated in a col - lective redundancy procedure are entitled to addi - tional statutory severance pay of one, two or three months’ remuneration, depending on the duration of their employment (respectively: less than two years, from two to eight years, or longer than eight years). 4.5 Employee Representations In principle, there is no legal requirement to have any kind of employee representation. However, a company that has more than 50 employees is obliged to inform employees that they may (but are not obliged to) set up a works council. Works councils have consultation and information rights, but they do not participate in the management of the company.
Employees of privatised companies have certain rights of representation on the supervisory board. If the company has more than 500 employees on aver - age over the year, the employees have the right to elect one member of the management board. Trade unions, if present at the company, retain sig - nificant influence; negotiations with trade unions may be required in some situations, particularly if there is a planned collective redundancy. In general, under Pol - ish law, there are no requirements to negotiate or con - sult with trade unions or works councils when a Polish company or its assets are being acquired. However, such negotiations or information obligations are com - mon when the company being sold is state-owned. If there are no trade unions, in some situations the law requires the employer to inform/consult employee rep - resentatives. Employee representatives can be elect - ed ad hoc for this purpose, or a permanent employee representation may be formed at the employer. In principle, employees in Poland are subject to PIT at the rate of 12%, provided that a 32% rate applies on the portion of the taxable profit exceeding PLN120,000 in the tax year. Certain incomes are taxable at 19% or 20% flat PIT rates. Incomes from different sources are not mixed, and tax is calculated for each source of income separately. Tax-reducing amounts apply, ranging from PLN3,600 (if the annual income is PLN120,000) to PLN10,800 (if the annual income exceeds PLN120,000). No tax is effectively payable on an annual income of up to PLN30,000. Income of up to PLN85,528 received by a person under the age of 26 is exempt from PIT. 5. Tax Law 5.1 Taxes Applicable to Employees/ Employers Personal Income Tax (PIT) A limited number of reliefs and allowances may be available to employees – eg, for the use of the internet
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