flash news
A new solution has been introduced to the Polish pension system: a so-called widow's pension. This stems from the Act of 26 July 2024 amending the Act on pensions from the Social Insurance Fund and certain other acts, as published in the Journal of Laws on 16 August 2024.
The Act states that widows and widowers, in addition to their pension (or other similar benefit such as the pre-retirement benefit), will be able to receive a survivor's pension from their deceased spouse.
One of these pensions will be due in full and the other will be paid:
- from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2026 at the rate of 15%,
- from 1 January 2027 at the rate of 25%.
On 5 August 2024, a draft regulation of the Council of Ministers on minimum remuneration for work and the minimum hourly rate in 2025 was published on the website of the Government Legislation Centre (RD111).
According to the draft, the minimum wage from 1 January 2025 will be PLN 4,626 gross and the minimum hourly rate will be PLN 30.20 gross.
An EU IT system is due to be launched in the first half of 2025 that will record the entries and exits of non-EU nationals (EES), as well as short-term travel permits (ETIAS) to the EU. Therefore, UK citizens living in Poland and their eligible family members should consider applying for a residence permit now - if they have not already done so.
We recently wrote about the main assumptions of the Act of 24 July 2024 on Amendments to the Act on Vocational and Social Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities. The new Act was published in the Journal of Laws on 2 August 2024 and came into force on the next day.
Under the new legislation, persons whose certificates are due to expire on 30 September 2024 will maintain their disabled status until 31 March 2025. It should be noted that employees with a significant or moderate degree of disability are entitled to a shortened working day or additional leave, so the change may also be of interest to employers of persons with disabilities.
The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy is working on an amendment to the legislation on collective labour law. We have already written on our blog about the most important assumptions underlying the Collective Labour Agreements and Collective Accords Act (UC34).
The draft contains many important changes, not only from the perspective of trade unions. It has been proposed that collective agreements should also cover persons performing paid work on a basis other than employment, such as contractors.
On 5 July 2024, the Ministry of the Family, Labour and Social Policy announced the status of work on a draft amendment to the Act on the Social Insurance System and the Act on Social Insurance for Accidents at Work and Occupational Diseases. The draft was prepared and subsequently discussed at the last meeting of the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers. Its aim is to implement the A4.7 reform set out in the National Reconstruction Plan.