Stable work in Poland? KPO and the Future of civilian Law Contracts

Recent statistic of the Central Statistical Office indicate that as many as 2 million 292,000 Poles work under contract. However, statistic do not cover students of secondary schools and students up to the age of 26, which seems alternatively problematic. Even without numbers jumping out of our sleeves, we can conclude that young workers are forced to do work on unstable conditions.

Although the flexibility of working time may be attractive to those who combine work with science, PWC study data: "Youth on the labour market" They show that as many as 41% of the representatives of the generation With the preferred employment contract as the most desirable kind of employment. In turn Gen Boost report indicates that as many as 74.2% of young workers choose this form of employment. The decisive origin in their choice is the stableness provided by the employment contract. So, if we do not see extremist changes in labour law on the horizon, will it have a affirmative impact on the stableness of the young generation?

Recently, this subject has been extensively discussed in online publications. You can frequently find short notes based on information from PAP, although any authors make greater efforts by presenting different perspectives. There are besides texts from the point of view of the business planet that are appalled by the imagination of changes in the planet of work. Let's look at the subject from a different angle! It is worth considering the importance of a milestone for young people and workers in sectors where unstable forms of employment, minimum protection against dismissal and a deficiency of permanent remuneration are dominant, i.e. conditions that increase the hazard of social and economical exclusion, undermining workers' security.

Several facts about KPO, chronology of accidents

The National Plan for Reconstruction and Enhancing Immunity is simply a task designed to accelerate the improvement of the Polish economy, strengthen it and make it immune to global crises. It consists of respective twelve reforms and investments implemented from 1 February 2020 to 31 August 2025. The PLN 113.28 billion that we received under the KPO is simply a non-refundable grant, PLN 155.81 billion, in turn the sum of preferential loans.

A full of about PLN 268 billion. These are the largest EU transfers always made to Poland.

On specified gigantic figures, it is best to operate in the form of comparisons – and so the budget bill for 2025, assumes the usage of PLN 42.5 billion for higher education, PLN 221.7 billion for wellness protection, or PLN 62.8 billion for the ,,Family 800+ program". The social program, which has been criticised by the neoliberals on a yearly basis, represents about 1⁄4 of EU funds!

Michał Gocałek, legal advisor and unionist on the intent of covering civilian law contracts, says: “The strategy is about sealing the strategy in which there are [such agreements – for example, the author] and many exceptions to the general principles of universal social safety are invented. erstwhile assessing from the position of another countries of the European Union, the aim is to civilise our social safety system, which, through the free movement of goods and services, allows Polish entrepreneurs to take advantage of abroad entrepreneurs, at the expense of people employed and paid up in Poland, but providing employment in another EU countries.

From the point of view of workers, or more widely employed, the aim is to destruct the preference to cover unstable forms of employment, specified as civilian contracts, and thus to supply workers with access to sickness benefits, and to guarantee that in future we have pensions that correspond more with our earnings. Of course, not at the level of the strategy before 1998, but there is to be more money for pensions.”

One of the key elements of the KPO was to be a improvement involving social safety contributions to civilian law contracts. The current shelling strategy in Poland resembles a maze full of exceptions and breaches in which different social groups decision on different principles. This can, of course, be a good option for many workers and workers, but equally frequently legal gaps work against them. On the 1 hand, employees pay contributions from the full salary, sharing this cost with the employer. On the another hand, existing loopholes in the law have allowed for burden avoidance in many cases, creating a strategy conducive to savings at the expense of social security. Students up to the age of 26, signing contract contracts, are completely exempt from shelling, making them a peculiarly attractive group for employers looking for inexpensive labour, ready to work on contract contract, even if it bears the signs of a contract of employment (and I look at corporate internships here!). Work contracts, although theoretically intended for specific, one-off tasks, frequently served to circumvent regulations and avoid contributions. Businesses, utilizing tools specified as ‘start-up relief’ or ‘small ZUS plus’, enjoyed preferential conditions and non-registered persons, unless their income was above 75% of the minimum wage, were completely outside the premium scheme. Retirement workers and pensioners working on contracts only paid off the wellness contribution. For many of them, especially those with low pension benefits, the full burden of social contributions could be besides heavy, so the strategy left them with the choice of voluntary social security. It was in specified gaps and appearances of flexibility that the top paradoxes of the Polish shelling strategy were hidden. This labyrinth, though shaped over the years, requires a bold revision present to bring greater equality and justice to the labour market.

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Sometimes we can read about the form of the legal changes concerning the cancellation of civilian law contracts. We learn, for example, that covering will be on the part of the contractors, that students up to the age of 26 will stay exempt from contributions, Michał Gocalek gave me the following comment:

"Unfortunately, the government has not even published the draft law to implement the milestone. Any citizen can check this on the list of legislative work of the Council of Ministers. Only after this publication is the government officially working on a task to be published at the Government Legislative Centre and then undergo the process of opinion, consultation and interministerial arrangements. Without, for example, assumptions, opinions are based solely on media reports and closer to gossip than to sound regulatory assessments."

The improvement was to be systemic, and full coverage of civilian law contracts was planned as a way to increase the proceeds to the Social Insurance Fund. In the face of an ageing population and a declining number of active people, it is essential to search fresh sources of backing for the pension system, and to extend contributions to a larger group of workers was to be 1 of the key solutions to this problem.

Disposal according to the first assumption, has not entered into force since 1 January 2025. The improvement was considered besides large to be so rapid. Let us just remind that the form of KPO has been known since 2020! There is simply a storm in the media about the form of changes, and what is lacking in the discussion is the voice of young workers, students and students and trade unions.

Between protection and burden: dispute over the covering of civilian contracts

Although covering up would aim to improve the situation of employees, it is controversial. The largest labour marketplace players pointed to a possible increase in labour costs, which would have a negative impact on employment in sectors where civilian law contracts, specified as catering, cleaning, protection or trade prevail. Opponents of the improvement argued that it could lead to less jobs, especially for young people. The question is, how much are we dealing with a forecast here, and how much is simply a discriminating threat? According to Michael Gocall:

“These voices have always been heard. Increase in minimum wage? The grey area. Minimum hourly rate on a contract? The grey area. The state has tools to fight the grey zone. On the 1 hand, the institutions themselves have tools to find and impose burdens, and on the another hand, social awareness of rights and obligations, a sense of safety by comparatively low unemployment. It can be said that reality has reached the grey zone, that the state is at a cyclically optimistic point to start the fight for a leap of civilization, workers yet learn the system, know their rights, although they do not always see the logic of regulations, they are in a safe position, where only the employer can lose at the control of the Social safety Office. If you do not now introduce this reform, I do not know when."

Studies so far have shown that workers affected by the abandonment besides do not support the proposed reform, according to which they would bear the cost of covering.

It's perfectly understandable, you can't think of retirement, a long illness resulting in sick leave, erstwhile the cost of surviving increases, and young people are forced to calculate expenses from first to first.

Simultaneously statistics collected by Platform Useme (nearly 59% of employees against the reform) should not be the final vote closing the discussion on the staff side.4 The opinions collected on the Platform seem to be full rational and at the same time a signal about how to carry out the improvement so that there are no victims! Michał Gocalek asked for alternate solutions answers:

"The state has the ability to make decisions that have a real impact on the situation of entrepreneurs and workers. An example of this is the simplification of the VAT rate for the beauty manufacture to 8%, the exemption of fixed assets from the wellness contribution burden, or planned changes in the strategy of this contribution. If the State could introduce specified solutions, why would it not consider financing the sickness premium for the contractors? It should be remembered that the current social safety strategy works on a risk-insurance basis. The sickness contribution provides us with sickness insurance, the wellness contribution guarantees access to medical benefits, and pension contributions form our capital for the future. Therefore, any change in this strategy has long-term consequences. A good example is the effect of the decision not to cover contracts in the past. Many people who scope retirement age present do not have the right to a minimum pension due to the fact that they do not have adequate periods of insurance. More structural solutions than immediate relief are needed to address the problem of exemptions. 1 possible step would be to finance the sickness premium for the contracting authorities during the transitional period, for example for 1 year. After that time, this burden could gradually be transferred to the contractors.’

Civil law agreements in Poland – flexibility or pathology?

In Poland, civilian law agreements began to play a key function after the political transition in 1989, becoming a symbol of the fresh economical reality.

Their popularity was due to the request to rapidly adapt the labour marketplace to rapidly changing conditions. Unfortunately, in time the tool of flexibility began to be massively abused, leading to many pathologies.

In the 1990s, the Polish economy underwent a hard period of change. expanding unemployment, the liquidation of state-owned enterprises and the request to attract investors forced the search for inexpensive and easy forms of employment. civilian law agreements, which did not require advanced contributions or extended obligations to employees, rapidly became a tool for adapting to free marketplace realities. During this period, the State de facto turned a blind eye to the deficiency of regulation in this regard. The precedence was to fight unemployment, not to defend workers' rights. The flexibility of the labour marketplace has become 1 of the assets to attract investors, but this has been at the expense of stableness and occupation security. Over the years, employers have increasingly started utilizing civilian law contracts as a tool to reduce employment costs. In Poland, where the workloads associated with the employment contract (e.g. ZUS contributions, holidays, severance payments) are comparatively high, contract orders and work contracts have become an perfect way for many companies to optimise spending. This process has been peculiarly visible in sectors specified as catering and trade, where low wages and insecurity of employment have become the norm. Workers, especially young people, were forced to accept specified conditions due to the fact that unemployment was frequently an alternative. And so it remained, in the industries sprayed The bottom-up conflict for its rights is almost impossible given the Polish union law, which hinders association and direct resistance.

One problem is besides the deficiency of effective control mechanisms. Contracts are besides linked to the general issue of labour rights. Although the State Labour Inspection is trying to combat abuse, its resources are limited. Many irregularities stay undetected and employers utilizing the incorrect kind of contract, even if they are punished, bear only symbolic consequences.

Remember the social consequences of this. The massive application of civilian law contracts has led to a number of negative phenomena: income uncertainty, insecurity of employment preventing young people from planning the future, including the establishment of families or the acquisition of housing, the deficiency of social protection, leave, L4, pension benefits.

Although civilian law agreements had their reasons during the transition, present they became a symbol of the state's deficiency of work for workers. Their abuse undermines trust in the labour marketplace and weakens the position of young people who increasingly see Poland as a place without prospects. Changes in KPO may be an chance to standardise employment. There are voices in the online discussion about the fact that students under the age of 26 besides after the improvement of the Act are to be exempt from ZUS contributions, Michał Gocałek comments on the situation:

"From the student's point of view, the deficiency of covering contracts means that the net and gross remuneration is equal, but this entails risks that are usually overlooked. It's mostly about the deficiency of insurance. usually on a contract of employment, sickness insurance allows you to get a sickness allowance, on a contract it is usually voluntary insurance, which is financially charged to the employed. Unfortunately for students on orders this insurance is not available at all. So a illness that causes inability to work means that a student needs to spend money on savings if he has them, or ask for household support. If that is not enough, he must take a debt to cover the costs of renting, eating and another basic needs. Let us add that frequently the illness means for the student the termination of the contract by the "employee", which leads to a hard life situation. This is simply a problem that does not affect employees at all due to the fact that they are covered by compulsory insurance, and the protection of employment relations during the period of illness."

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Reform of covering civilian law contracts: will you truly take care of workers' rights?

Despite the fact that the aim of the improvement is to improve the social safety system, the further deficiency of decisive action by the state makes civilian law contracts in Poland a symbol of the deficiency of work for workers' rights. Employers have abused these agreements for years, utilizing gaps in legislation, treating them as a way of saving at the expense of occupation stableness and decent working conditions, and they are now truly lobbying heavy against any change. We cannot talk about the phase of public consultation erstwhile we truly do not know the specifics of the statutory changes. However, we should boldly and decisively formulate our demands on the form of the reform, due to the fact that who, better than us – workers, knows our needs? Finally, my caller adds:

"In Poland, we have a real problem with the discussion of labour marketplace regulation, social safety institutions or even solutions in the field of labour law. Employers' side is media-represented in this discussion, and it is forgotten that the "public sector" itself is simply a immense employer, for which any of the essential solutions affect costs for which politicians are afraid. This dysfunction of discussion can besides be seen in bringing issues to simple sloganal problems "suspension means that you will pay more", i.e. complete omission in the discussion of the contexts and needs of the stakeholders themselves, and bringing discussions to de facto scaring workers. little scaring and more listening to what workers need."

The material was created as part of the task Centre for the Support of Councils of Workers co-financed by the Government Programme for the improvement of Advisory Organisations for the period 2022–2033 by the National Institute of Freedom – Centre for the improvement of civilian Society