The paper will no longer cover reality
Article 22 of the Labor Code has clearly stated for over two decades that a civil law contract cannot replace an employment contract when a real employment relationship exists. The weak point remained the enforcement of the law.
The mechanism was simple. Someone worked personally, at a designated place and time, under a supervisor’s oversight, but on paper remained a contractor. In practice they had employee duties but not employee rights. This dissonance is what the new regulations aim to limit.
The State Labour Inspectorate reform shifts focus from the formal name of the contract to the factual state. As Chief Labour Inspector Janusz Krasoń emphasized, the type of employment will not be decided by legal technicalities but by how work is performed. Thus the document ceases to be a shield behind which a worker relationship can be hidden.
Three institutions tighten the control net
Control alone is not enough if offices operate separately. Therefore the State Labour Inspectorate, the Social Insurance Institution, and the National Tax Administration signed an agreement to exchange data. It aims to more efficiently classify entities for inspection and quickly spot situations where the contract form does not match employment realities.
For an employee the difference is fundamental. Until now they could work personally, under management and at prescribed hours, yet remain without the protections provided in the Labor Code. After the reform, the PIP gains tools to respond to such abuses.
This is not a promise to eliminate civil law contracts. Properly drafted contracts remain safe. The concern should be with honest employers, not those who label something as a contract when it effectively operates as a full‑time job.
The state says “I’m checking”
Minister of Labour Agnieszka Dziemianowicz‑Bąk named July 8 the day the state sides with the working Poles. Behind this statement is a concrete: greater capacity for the PIP to enforce the law that already exists.
The change could end situations where a person works like a full‑time employee but remains without vacation, paid overtime, and security against sudden dismissal. Marshal of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty said that people forced by market conditions to accept junk contracts will be able to breathe. Now practice will verify that promise.
Employees should know the three signals of an employment relationship: personal execution of duties, subordination to a supervisor, and a designated place and time of work. Employers should check whether the content of contracts matches how the collaboration actually looks.
