The remote working model for Polish labour law

Abstract

The concept of “remote work” in Poland appeared in connection with the introduction of the epidemic in March 2020. The provisions of the anti-covid-19 act in article 3 introduced remote work, which excluded the practical significance of telework, currently regulated in the Labor Code due to the pandemic. The new vision of remote working in Poland assumes the voluntary nature of remote work by the parties and its obligation in emergencies. This is the basic premise of the proposed regulations. The current provisions on teleworking ensure full freedom of the parties to the employment relationship in the field of remote or stationary work. However, the Polish legislator is looking for an alternative to telework based on labor law provisions, which, as this article will show, is a complicated procedure because the difference between remote work and teleworking is slight. The author analyzes and evaluates the current model of teleworking in the Labor Code and the model proposed by the legislator in the draft amendment. At the same time, the article aims to answer the remote working model in Polish labor law.