Government adopts a new bill extending the powers of the State Labour Inspectorate

At a glance

• After the suspension of work on the previous bill extending the powers of the State Labour Inspectorate (PIP) to determine the existence of an employment relationship, a new bill has been published on the website of the Government Legislation Centre.
• On 17 February 2026, the Council of Ministers officially adopted the bill, which will now be submitted to the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish Parliament) for further consideration.
• The new bill primarily regulates the procedure for PIP inspectors to issue decisions establishing the existence of an employment relationship – a significant change is the introduction of a recommendation preceding a decision being issued.
• Another important new feature is the option for the Chief Labour Inspectorate (GIP) to issue individual interpretations as to whether a given contract should be considered an employment contract.
• Like the previous bill, the new bill provides for a significant increase in penalties for breach of employee rights.
• The expected date of entry into force of the new law is three months from the date of its announcement.

On 17 February 2026, the Council of Ministers announced the adoption of a new bill amending the Act on the State Labour Inspectorate and certain other acts. The bill has been then submitted to the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish Parliament) for further consideration.

Among other things, the bill provides that if irregularities are found in the form of employment, the PIP inspector will be able to issue an order to remedy them. At this stage, both the employer and the person performing the work will be able to either conclude an employment contract, which will end the case without further action, or change the manner of performing the civil law contract in such a way as to eliminate the characteristics of an employment relationship. In the event of a failure to comply with the order, the PIP inspector will be able to issue an administrative decision confirming the existence of an employment relationship or refer the case to court.

The decision of the PIP inspector confirming the existence of an employment relationship can only cover the period from the date of the decision. The employer will be able to appeal against the decision within 30 days. The decision will become enforceable on the date of expiry of the deadline for filing an appeal or on the date of a final court ruling – the bill provides the possibility of the PIP inspector making the decision immediately enforceable under general conditions.

A new feature of the bill is the option for the Chief Labour Inspectorate to issue an individual interpretation classifying a contract as an employment contract. This procedure is intended to reflect the mechanism used for issuing tax interpretations. Although the interpretation will not be binding on the employer, compliance with it will provide protection, ie no administrative or financial sanctions or levies higher than those resulting from the interpretation may be imposed on the employer. At the same time, the interpretation will be binding on the State Labour Inspectorate authorities competent for the entity concerned and may only be changed or revoked if the facts of the case change. The legislator has also allowed for appeals against the interpretation directly to the court, which is intended to ensure a rapid review of its legality.

The size of penalties provided for in the Labour Code are also to be changed. According to the new bill (as was also the case with the previous one), the maximum fine for offences breaching employee rights will be increased. The current range of PLN 1,000 to PLN 30,000 will be replaced by a range of PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000. The size of the fines that a PIP inspector will be able to impose in proceedings will also be increased. Their upper limit will rise to PLN 5,000 (now it is PLN 2,000).

At this point, the expected date of entry into force of the new law is three months from the date of its announcement.