Dismissal of Polish Employees

Updated on Friday 14th April 2023

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As an entrepreneur in Poland you may encounter the rather unpleasant situation in which the company must dismiss one or more employees.

The Polish Labour Code dictates much of the procedures and relations that need to be generally observed by the employer and the employee.

The parties enter an employment agreement when one of the parties consents to performing various duties for the other party, under its supervision and in return for a fixed amount.

An employment contract can be dissolved in Poland if:

the parties mutually agree upon this;
one of the parties has made a statement requesting the termination of the agreement that observed the notification period;
one of the parties has made a statement requesting the termination of the agreement but has not observed the notification period;
when the contractual period has expired.

The dismissal issued by the employer should observe certain conditions stipulated in the Labour Code. Please address to our Polish law firm for more detailed information on this matter.

Dismissal conditions in Poland

The Labour Code establishes the length of the termination notice according to the amount of time served by the employee at the time the notice is issued. The periods, as described in the Labour Code, are:

two weeks, if the employee is employed for less than six months;
one month, if the employee is employed for at least six months, but less than three years;
three months if the employment period is at least three years.

The employer should know that the employee can appeal his or her dismissal. If the court decides that the termination notice for a Polish contract with indefinite time was unjustified, then the court can, upon the employee’s request, decide that the respective termination notice is invalid. The court may order that the employee is to be re-employed or offer certain compensations.

The employer is entitled to dismiss the employee without notice if:

the employee commits a serious breach of his duties;
the employee commits an offence that makes further employment on the same position impossible, if so confirmed by a court of law
the employee’s actions lead to the loss of his or her licence for practice necessary for the position.
the employee cannot work due to illness and this incapacity is a long lasting one;
the employee skips work for more than one month for a justified reason other than the above.

A dismissal must be based on substantial grounds, otherwise it will be considered unjustified.

Our team can give you more details about employee-related issues, such as payroll in Poland.

For more information about the Labour Law and dissmissal of employees in Poland , please contact our Polish lawyers.

Are you looking for legal representation in case of employee dismissals? Our lawyers in Warsaw offer legal advice and representation in court for both employers and employees who are faced with the process of ending an employment agreement. We can make sure that the termination of the employment relationship takes place according to law.