The Tusk government strikes entrepreneurs with another absurdity

How reported Paweł Usądzko z Confederacy, there is simply a revolution which the Polish labour marketplace has not yet seen. Donald Tusk's government is preparing another regulatory offensive, which, under the slogans of equality and justice, is expected to hit entrepreneurs in practice. As of 7 June 2026, the provisions implementing the EU Directive on transparency of wages are to enter into force in Poland. What is theoretically intended to combat wage discrimination is actually threatening bureaucratic paralysis, increased costs and shifting work to employers.

The Tusk government strikes entrepreneurs with another absurdity. 1 of the pillars of the fresh regulation is the mandatory value of jobs. This means creating formal criteria for evaluation of work – specified as skills, effort, work or working conditions – and continuously documenting that any remuneration is "objectively justified". In practice, this will not be a one-off obligation, but a permanent strategy of paper science, which can be challenged by officials, trade unions or during inspections.

The next component is full transparency of wages. Employees are entitled to information on average earnings broken down by sex in a given category of posts, and companies – even tiny ones – will be required to supply specified information in the short term. This opens the way to conflicts in teams, wage force cut off from real efficiency and questioning all staff decision.

The top burdens await average and larger employers. Companies employing more than 100 people will gotta study on the wage gap, and over 5 percent will gotta carry out joint wage assessments with the worker side. What is peculiarly controversial is that the burden of proof in discrimination cases is to be passed on to the employer. It will gotta show that the wage differences are "objective", even if there is no real evidence of a violation of the law.

If officials consider that corrective action is insufficient, the entrepreneur may be forced to implement the measures in question within a specified period. There are besides penalties: fines up to tens of thousands of zlotys, damages and fresh violations in the labour code – among others, for records of the confidentiality of wages or the deficiency of neutral names of posts.

Importantly, the EU Directive itself provided for the anticipation of reducing any of the obligations for the smallest companies. The Polish government did not usage this option, showing more zeal than Brussels required. As a result, entrepreneurs will receive not only fresh responsibilities, but besides fresh legal risks.

OUR COMMENTS: These actions are also example of a policy based on the presumption that the state and the authoritative know better how to manage the company. alternatively of real business support, we get more papers, more checks and more penalties. This is what the “pro-entrepreneurship” policy of the Tusk government looks like in practice – ideological interference, which can discourage investment and employment of Poles in Poland.

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