The applicable labour laws make it clear that an employment contract cannot be replaced by a civil law contract if the definition of an employment relationship is met, i.e. the work is performed in person, at a specific place and time, under direction and for remuneration. Civil law contracts must not be used to circumvent regulations protecting workers.

At the end of Q2 2025, there were nearly 1.5 million people in Poland performing work exclusively under a contract of mandate and related contracts. The most since the CSO began publishing data on it. That is why we need a reform of the State Labour Inspection in order to more effectively combat labour market pathologies, the consequences of which we all bear.

The draft prepared at the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy will give the State Labour Inspection, as well as labour courts, effective tools to enforce labour law, and employees and employers certainty of procedures and clear rules for their application.

The adoption of the draft by the Council of Ministers paves the way for the implementation of the reform, which fulfils milestones A71G and A72G of the National Reconstruction Plan.

The draft law primarily provides for:

• giving the State Labour Inspection the power to transform bogus civil law and B2B contracts into employment contracts by way of an administrative decision;
• the right of the employer to appeal against the inspector's decision within 30 days to the labour court and a faster path for its consideration by the court within 30 days;
• strengthening the protection of the employee's rights at the stage of appeal against a decision of the SLI consisting in the possibility for the labour court to grant security of employment so that, during the appeal procedure, the contract may only be amended, terminated or dissolved according to the principles of labour law;
• the exchange of information and data between the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), the SLI and the National Tax Administration (KAS) to increase the effectiveness of the SLI's enforcement of labour law and the possibility for the SLI to carry out remote inspections;
• increased penalties for offences against labour rights.

The draft also includes preventive solutions:

• the possibility for the State Labour Inspection to issue a binding order to the employer to remedy violations already at the inspection stage, the implementation of which is aimed at restoring the lawful state of affairs;
• the introduction of the institution of individual interpretation issued by the Chief Labour Inspector at the request of the employer, the purpose of which is to clarify the manner in which labour law provisions are applied in order to determine whether a specific legal relationship fulfils the prerequisites of an employment contract.

The common denominator of the proposed solutions is greater protection for female and male workers and more effective enforcement by strong institutions.

The draft law will now be taken up by Parliament.