Supreme Court ruling – termination of non-competition agreement

In January 2013 a rationale of the ruling of 22 June 2012 came out (I PK 237/11). The Supreme Court confirmed admissibility of earlier termination of a non-competition agreement following termination of employment through a unilateral termination made by the employer, if such way of termination was stipulated therein . Moreover, in the opinion of the Supreme Court, it is sufficient to determine a reason(s) for such termination in a general way, such as e.g.: a situation where the reasons for non-competition have ceased to exist. The assessment of so formulated reason rests with the employer and may not be verified by court.

Supreme Court ruling – a fixed-term agreement made for 5 years

In its ruling of 5 October 2012 (I PK 79/12) the Supreme Court provides that entering into a fixed-term employment agreement with a chief accountant for a period of 5 years with the possibility of earlier termination is not a circumvention of the law. The Supreme Court points out that the period of 5 years is a standard, accepted in business dealings in Poland, length of employment agreements entered into with management level employees. In addition, the right of termination of such agreements is customarily agreed upon for both parties. Such persons should not only have good performance but also proper relations with the owner and the other employees, and any shortcomings in at least one of these two spheres trigger the necessity of terminating the agreement before the originally agreed expiry date.

Reducing reporting obligations of employers

As from 17 January 2013 an employer who starts its business operations does not need to notify the labor nor the sanitary inspectorates of the commencement of the activities, their venue, type, scope and/or changes thereof. It is the statistical office that will submit such data to the respective authorities. Accordingly, the provision envisaging sanctions for the failure to meet the obligation in question has been repealed.

Draft amendment to the Trade Unions Act

The unofficial information we referred to in the Summer 2012 issue of Labor Law Newsletter concerning an amendment to the Trade Unions Act as regards persons entitled to set up trade unions (such an amendment aimed to introduce guidelines of the Committee on Freedom of Association of the International Labor Organization) has been confirmed. According to the cabinet's draft of the act, the catalogue of persons entitled to set up labor unions is going to be enlarged with persons who render work under a home-based work agreement (umowa o pracę nakładczą). The draft is being criticized for too narrow approach to changes and also the failure to include other categories of persons, i.e. who render work under civil law agreements and self-employed persons. Currently, the draft is being consulted with organizations of employees and employers.

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