from 2020 onwards, when the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has initiated processes of reformatting functioning in various areas of life, entrepreneurs and employees faced the challenge of adapting their cooperation model to the new reality.
In terms of current work provision, remote working became particularly popular nowadays. In some jurisdictions, the pandemic situation led to the permanent implementation of legal regulations defining the basic principles of remote working. Such a situation occurred, among others, in Poland, where, until 2023, remote working in practice was applied on the basis of direct agreements between employers and employees (as the provisions in force on teleworking of the Labour Code were not adapted to the needs of practice and were rarely used). However, as of April 2023, regulations were introduced in the Polish legal system that responded to the needs of the parties to the employment relationship in a post-pandemic world.
Currently, according to the applicable regulations, in order to implement remote working, it is necessary to adopt an appropriate internal document (regulations) or to conclude an agreement with the employee; the documents should contain basic issues related to remote working, including the principles of reimbursement for remote working; the regulations also require the employer to develop additional documents on, inter alia, the handling of personal and IT data and health and safety of work.
Polish regulations on remote working are quite extensive and require employers to develop a number of documents and fulfil a lot of obligations.
At the same time, we would like to point out that remote work/ telework has been implemented by acts of law in practically every country in Europe – Grant Thornton International’s affiliated law firms this year elaborated a material entitled “State of the Art in 15 countries – White Paper (2nd edition)” containing broad explanations of the rules of implementation and execution of remote working in various jurisdictions. Being a member of an international organisation of Grant Thornton our Law Firm is capable to compare adopted models and contact the Clients with advisors in different countries in case of entrustment of remote work from another country. We invite you to get acquainted with the contents of the attached material – it is a rich source of information about remote working/teleworking in Europe.
