At a glance
- In February 2026, the Council of Ministers announced the adoption of a bill amending the Labour Code and the Code of Civil Procedure with respect to regulations concerning mobbing and discrimination. The bill has been submitted to Parliament for further legislative work. The first reading of the bill took place in the Sejm on 25 March.
- The bill introduces a new, simplified definition of mobbing, specifying that it consists of persistent harassment of an employee. It also provides an illustrative catalogue of undesirable behaviours.
- The bill also proposes new obligations for employers, as well as changes to the scope and number of claims available to victims of mobbing.
- In addition, the bill introduces two new forms of discrimination under labour law: discrimination by assumption and discrimination by association.
- The planned date for the new legislation to enter into force is 21 days following its publication.
New definition of mobbing
A bill introducing changes to the definition of mobbing and discrimination has recently entered the legislative process. The key modification is the introduction of a significantly simplified definition of mobbing compared to the one currently in force. Under the proposed amendment, mobbing would consist of persistent harassment of an employee. A major change is the removal of the requirement that such behaviour be long‑term, which is a key element of the current statutory definition.
The legislator also provides examples of behaviours that may constitute mobbing, which include:
- humiliating or degrading an employee;
- intimidating an employee;
- undermining an employee’s professional self-esteem;
- unjustified criticism, belittling or ridiculing of an employee;
- obstructing an employee’s functioning in the workplace, including their ability to achieve work outcomes, perform duties, use their competencies, communicate with colleagues, or access necessary information;
- isolating or excluding an employee from their team.
According to the bill, these behaviours may occur cumulatively, but any single one of them may also suffice to establish that mobbing has occurred.
The bill expressly excludes incidental behaviour from the scope of mobbing. To qualify as mobbing, the behaviour must be repetitive, recurring or continuous. It may take physical, verbal or non‑verbal forms.
The bill also clarifies who may be considered as a perpetrator of mobbing. Namely:
- the employer;
- a supervisor;
- a peer holding an equivalent position;
- a subordinate;
- another employee; and
- a person performing work on a basis other than an employment relationship—whether acting individually or as part of a group.
Importantly, the perpetrator’s intention will not affect the assessment of whether the behaviour constitutes mobbing.
The bill also states that actions taken towards an employee that are justified and expressed in an appropriate manner - such as monitoring the performance of tasks or well‑founded criticism - will not be considered as mobbing.
Changes to employee claims and employer obligations
The minimum compensation payable for mobbing is to be increased to an amount equal to six times the statutory minimum monthly wage. Notably, an employer that pays compensation or damages to an employee on account of mobbing will be entitled to seek reimbursement from the individual responsible for the mobbing.
In proceedings concerning mobbing-related claims, the court will also examine whether any other personal rights of the employee have been infringed.
A significant change is the introduction of an explicit obligation for employers to define internal rules for preventing mobbing - particularly with respect to preventive measures, detection mechanisms, appropriate responses, remedial actions, and support for affected employees. Employers with at least nine employees will be required to set out rules for preventing mobbing, discrimination and other breaches of equal‑treatment standards in an internal workplace document.
Changes to the concept of discrimination
With respect to discrimination, the bill expands the current framework by adding two new qualified forms of discriminatory treatment:
- discrimination by assumption, and
- discrimination by association.
According to the proposed definitions:
- Discrimination by assumption occurs when an employee is treated less favourably on one of the protected grounds (ie gender, age, disability, race, religion, nationality, etc), even though that ground has been incorrectly attributed to them.
- Discrimination by association occurs when an employee is treated less favourably due to their connection with a person who has a protected characteristic (ie gender, age, disability, race, religion, nationality, etc).
