More flexible working hours provisions

The Senate as the second chamber of the Polish Parliament has agreed to the amendments on the Labor Code adopted in early July by the Polish Parliament (Sejm). This opens the door for the introduction of more flexible working hour arrangements within the companies which stipulate an extension of the maximum possible settlement period of working hours from the current 4 to 12 months. Accordingly, in a bad order situation the employers can engage the employees only for a few hours. Once, after a few weeks or months, the contracts start coming in by masses, the employees as a proper compensation work longer hours.

This is going to be only possible for maximum 13 hours on 6 days per week, whereupon the employee will not be paid for that overtime. However, crucial in that case is, that the settlement period of the average working hours for each employee (namely for the annual working hours account statement) complies with the statutory legal rules.The legislative body links these new provisions with the expectations that the employers in times of meager order intake renounce on sacking their staff. Asimilar provision had already worked well in the anti-crisis law of 2009. New rules are widely hailed by the employer organizations as they favor particularly the industry sectors with cyclical production cycles respective seasonal focuses like the furniture sector, production of household appliances or the construction industry, just to mention a few. The provisions would also ensure a greater degree of competitiveness vis-à-vis entrepreneurs from aboard, who are already taking advantage of such flexible working time frame solutions.