News

The global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus announced last week by the WHO forced many employers to drastically reorganize the functioning of workplaces, and sowed uncertainty about the stability of employment and remuneration among employees.

In extreme cases, the functioning of enterprises was completely suspended.

This is particularly evident in the sports, entertainment, tourist and commercial industries.

Although the Polish Labor Code does not explicitly mention a global pandemic, it provides for situations of so-called “downtime”.

I am talking about the regulation contained in art. 81 § 1 of the Labor Code.

Pursuant to the aforementioned provision, an employee ready to perform work, who, however, suffered obstacles in this regard, is entitled to remuneration resulting from his personal grade, determined by hourly or monthly rate.

If the parties to the employment contract did not separate such components of remuneration, for example, the employee receives a commission remuneration, then the employee will receive 60% of the remuneration.

In each case, however, this remuneration may not be lower than the amount of the minimum remuneration for work (and therefore from PLN 2,600.00).

Although the provision mentions “experiencing obstacles for employer reasons,” the doctrine will classify the effects of a pandemic in this way. This may result from the general rule that the employee does not bear the risk associated with the employer’s activities.

It is also worth adding that during the period of quarantine, the remuneration is paid on the same terms as in the case of illness. The law firm’s team will follow legislative work and keep you informed of any significant changes on an ongoing basis.

On December 20^th, 2019, the compromise was reached as to the wording of the so-called “Mobility Package”.

Draft regulations were adopted in three areas:

1. Draft regulation relating to access to the profession and to the market;
2. Draft regulation relating to driving times and rest periods and tachographs;
3. Draft directive relating to enforcement and posting drivers in the road transport sector.

Below are examples of organizationally relevant requirements for transport companies.

It will be required to organize fleet traffic in such a way to ensure that vehicles at the disposal of the undertaking and used in international carriage return to one of the operational centres in that Member State at least within eight weeks after leaving it.

Meeting of the above requirement will probably be easy to verify based on modern tachographs equipped with a GPS module.

Furthermore, it is worth to note the restrictions on cabotage. Road transport undertakings are not allowed to carry out cabotage operations, with the same vehicle, or, in the case of a coupled combination, the motor vehicle of that same vehicle, in the same Member State within 4 days following the end of its cabotage operation in that Member State.

This may be a significant limitation for carriers from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria.

These revolutionary changes will most likely come into effect in the last quarter of 2021, so there is not much time left for legal and operational preparations. In the next entries we will introduce some details of the new regulations.

Work is underway on the “Mobility Package”. Arguments related to environmental protection are against new regulations.

Representatives of Central European countries do not lay down their arms. Possible support may come also from Spain and Portugal. Germany and France remain the greatest proponents of the “Mobility Package”.

Certainly, adopting new regulations according to the assumptions presented so far would be a great blow to carriers from the peripheral countries of the European Union, especially Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic States.

To some extent, they would also be a challenge for enterprises registered in Poland.

In addition to legal arguments related to the need to maintain the common transport market within the European Union, recently ecological arguments have been raised.

One of the assumptions of the regulations being developed is to limit cabotage and impose the necessity of trucks returning to the country of registration.

Restrictive rules will make it necessary for truck drivers to drive without transporting any goods.

It is difficult to logically reconcile the need for such unproductive journeys with the environmental policy of the European Union.

According to the calculations of the Polish Minister of Transport, the introduction of the regulation as currently proposed will result in an additional emission of around 3 million tonnes of CO² per year in Germany alone. The source of emissions will be unloaded vehicles returning to their country of origin.

In view of the above, there is a high probability that the planned regulations will be tempered.

Source: Polish Press Agency