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In the end of last year we informed you about entering into force on 1 January 2017 amendments to the law on the minimum remuneration, under which a minimum hourly rate of pay for work performed on the basis of task-specific contracts and service contracts was introduced. The effect of this amendment was also a change of the Law on the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) resulting in entitling the labour inspectors to check whether the employers pay compensation in the amount of the minimum hourly rate. The new powers given to PIP, however, appear to be insufficient to ensure the contractors the level of protection of their interests that was assumed by the legislature. 

The first thing to be pointed out is the fact that under the new legislation, the labour inspectors shall not be entitled to question the nature of the agreement concluded under the civil law. A representative of the National Labour Inspectorate will therefore be helpless if in the course of its control it encounters a contract of mandate which, in its opinion, meets all the characteristics of a task-specific contract or service contract (and only those types of civil contracts the legislator decided to take control of in terms of the minimum remuneration).

In addition, under the amended provisions, the entrepreneur, who pays the remuneration to the contractor for performing task-specific contract that is lower than the minimum rate, shall be subject to a fine of PLN 1 000 to 30 000, and in the proceedings leading to the imposition of the fine, a labour inspector will act as the public prosecutor. The way in which these rules have been formulated, does not therefore entitle the labour inspector to apply for punishment, in situations when the entrepreneur violates the law in one of the following ways: in the contract concluded under the civil law, the way of confirming number of hours of service provision or execution of the order is not determined; employer has no documentation confirming the number of hours worked on the basis of a civil contract; employer does not pay remuneration at least once a month; employer pays remuneration in the amount lower than agreed with the contractor, but higher than the minimum rate; employer pays the remuneration irregularly.