HR and payroll legislative updates: Q4/2025

1.     Right to salary information during the recruitment process

Starting from 24 December 2025, the employer will be required to provide job candidates with information about the salary (including the starting salary and salary range), as well as the relevant provisions of the collective agreement or remuneration rules and regulations. This information must be made available to job seekers by the employer in either paper or electronic form in advance so that they have sufficient time to read it and be able to engage in informed and transparent negotiations. The amended Labour Code obliges employers to incorporate provisions and modifications into their internal regulations, such as remuneration rules or collective agreements, to ensure compliance. Other recent amendments include the obligation to post job offers and job titles in a gender-neutral way and to conduct the recruitment process in a non-discriminatory manner. In addition to this, employers are no longer permitted to collect information about salary of current employees, nor may they inquire about salary details regarding previous employment.

2.     Act on Collective Agreements

On 13 December 2025, the Act of 5 November 2025 on Collective Bargaining Agreements and Collective Arrangements (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 1661) came into force, implementing the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on adequate minimum wages. The aim of this Act is to streamline the entire process of concluding, registering and applying collective bargaining agreements through electronic notification to the National Register of Collective Bargaining Agreements (replacing the current agreement registration process).

Under the new law, instead of registering collective agreements, their record-keeping is provided for. Both collective agreements and collective arrangements will be notified to the National Register of Collective Bargaining Agreements exclusively in an electronic form. The Parties to the negotiations will be allowed to conclude agreements for a definite period, with the possibility of an extension. It will also be possible to enter into an agreement for an indefinite period. The Act preserves the so-called ‘favorability principle’, meaning that arrangements made during negotiations cannot be less favourable to employees than the provisions of labour law. Additionally, the act will introduce the possibility of using mediators’ assistance throughout the negotiation process.

3.     Changes in the determination of employment periods included in the calculation of length of service

On 1 January 2026, the Act of 26 September 2025 amending the Act – Labour Code (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 1423) will enter into force. This Act changes how the so-called general length of service and company length of service (Article 302 [1] of the Labour Code) will be determined. Under the new law, the employment period on which employee entitlements depend will also include, among other things, periods of non-agricultural business activity conducted by a natural person, as well as periods when they act as a cooperating person with an individual conducting such activity, provided that contributions to pension, disability, or accident insurance were paid. Moreover, the length of service will also encompass, inter alia, periods when the natural person (and a cooperating person) performed work under a contract of mandate or other service performance contract governed by the provisions applicable to contracts of mandate or agency agreements, periods when the natural person was a member of agricultural production cooperative or farmer units’ cooperative, where such a person was covered by pension and disability insurance, as well as periods of work performance on a basis other than an employment relationship conducted abroad. The periods stipulated in the Act must be confirmed by a certificate obtained from ZUS. The Act will enter into force on 1 January 2026 for entities in the public finance sector, while the remaining employers will be subject to the amended law starting on the first day of the month following the lapse of 6 months from the day when the Act is published, i.e. on 1 May 2026.

4.     Another Draft Act on the State Labour Inspection (PIP) of 4 November 2025 (published on 17 November 2025)

In recent months, intensive work has been underway on a draft amendment to the Act on the State Labour Inspection (PIP). The draft has sparked strong public emotions as it grants labour inspectors the authority to transform civil law contracts into employment relationships. Indeed, the new draft upholds PIP’s authority to determine the existence of an employment relationship through a decision when a formal civil law contract has been concluded, or when work is performed for remuneration and meets the conditions of Article 22 § 1 of the Polish Labour Code. What is more, the draft does not merely grant PIP decision-making powers, but also creates a coherent system for data exchange between: PIP, ZUS and the National Revenue Administration (KAS).

5.     Assumptions of the Draft Act on Wage Transparency Directive Implementation Published

On 25 November 2025, a new Draft Act comprehensively implementing a Directive on Wage Transparency was placed on the list of legislative and programme works of the Council of Ministers (UC127), thereby revealing its core assumptions:

·       obligation to assess job positions against at least four criteria: competencies, effort, responsibilities and work conditions;

·       employers with at least 100 employees will be required to report data on the pay gap. The data required is to be submitted via an IT tool provided by the Main Statistical Office (GUS).

·       all employers (regardless of the number of employees) will be required, among other things, to disclose the criteria used to determine remuneration and, at an employee’s request, to provide individual information about their salary as well as average salary levels broken down by gender for a category of employees performing the same work or work of equal value.

The infringement of this Act (including, inter alia, failure to assess the value of specific job positions or to provide reporting on pay gaps) may result in a fine imposed on employers ranging from PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000.

The government plans to adopt the Draft Act in the second quarter of 2026.

Should you wish to discuss the above-mentioned changes, please contact Payroll & HR Department of Forvis Mazars in Poland.