Information for employees returning after leave to care for a child or other family member and to care for dependants
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At the end of maternity leave, leave on maternity leave conditions, parental leave, paternity leave and parental leave, the employer shall allow the employee to work in the employee's current position or, if this is not possible, in an equivalent position to the one held before the leave began, on terms and conditions no less favourable than those that would have applied if the employee had not taken leave.
The employer is obliged to grant the remote working request:
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an employee-parent of a child holding the certificate referred to in Article 4(3) of the Act of 4 November 2016 on Support for Pregnant Women and Families "Za życie" (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1329 and of 2022, item 2140), also after the child has reached the age of 18 years
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employee - parent:
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a child with a certificate of disability or a certificate with a moderate or significant degree of disability specified in the regulations on professional and social rehabilitation and employment of disabled persons, also after the child has reached the age of 18,
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a child with, respectively, an opinion on the need for early support of child development, an evaluation on the need for special education or an evaluation on the need for remedial classes referred to in the provisions of the Act of 14 December 2016. - Education Law (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 900), also after the child has reached the age of 18,
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a pregnant employee,
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an employee raising a child until the child turns 4,
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an employee caring for another member of the immediate family or another person remaining in the common household who has a disability certificate or a certificate of a significant degree of disability,
unless this is not possible due to the organisation of work or the type of work performed by the employee. The employer shall inform the employee of the reason for refusing the request within 7 working days of the employee's request.
Occasional remote working
Remote work may be performed occasionally, at the employee's request, to the extent not exceeding 24 days per calendar year.
The rules for remote work by employees of the Gdansk University of Technology are governed by the Rector's Order No. 28/2023 of 19 June 2023.
The employer shall be obliged to grant an application for a mobile working time system or an individual working time schedule if this is possible due to the organisation of work or the type of work performed by:
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an employee - spouse or an employee - parent of a child in the prenatal stage, in the case of a complicated pregnancy,
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an employee - parent of a child holding the certificate referred to in Article 4(3) of the Act of 4 November 2016 on support for pregnant women and families "Za życie" (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1329 and of 2022, item 2140),
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employee-parent:
a) a child who has a certificate of disability or a certificate with a moderate or significant degree of disability specified in the provisions on vocational and social rehabilitation and the employment of disabled persons, also after the child turns 18,
b) a child with, respectively, an opinion on the need for early support of child development, an evaluation on the need for special education or an evaluation on the need for remedial classes referred to in the provisions of the Act of 14 December 2016. - Education Law (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 900), also after the child has reached the age of 18.
The working time of pregnant employees shall not exceed 8 hours. Employees caring for a child up to the age of 4 years may not be employed more than 8 hours per day without their consent.
The employee retains the right to remuneration for the time not worked due to the reduction of her working hours for this reason.
An employee shall be entitled to 2 days or 16 hours' leave of absence from work during a calendar year due to force majeure for urgent family matters caused by illness or accident, if the employee's immediate presence is necessary. During this leave of absence, the employee retains the right to half pay.
The use of this time off in a calendar year shall be decided by the employee in the first application for such time off submitted in a calendar year.
The employer shall be obliged to grant force majeure leave upon request by the employee no later than the day on which the leave is taken.
The release from work granted on an hourly basis for a part-time employee shall be determined proportionally to the working hours of that employee. An incomplete hour of release from work shall be rounded up to the nearest whole hour.
Annual paid leave is an entitlement for every employee, but some absences reduce the amount of annual leave. This is the case, among others, when returning to work after parental leave.
The amount of annual leave of an employee who has been absent from work for at least one month due to parental leave is reduced by 1/12 of his/her entitlement for each month of absence.
The rule of reduction of annual leave does not apply in the case of commencement and return from parental leave during the same calendar year, after entitlement to annual leave has been acquired.
The period of sickness incapacity, nor the time during which rehabilitation benefit, maternity benefit, care allowance is taken does not affect the reduction of leave. Therefore, for these periods of excused absence from work, the employee retains the right to leave to the full extent of his/her entitlement.
An employee is entitled to 5 days of care leave per calendar year to provide personal care or support to a person who is a family member or who lives in the same household and who requires care or support for serious medical reasons.
A family member is considered to be a son, daughter, mother, father or spouse.
Care leave shall be granted on days which are working days for the employee according to the employee's working time schedule.
The leave shall be granted at the request of the employee submitted on paper or electronically not less than 1 day prior to the commencement of such leave.
The application shall indicate the name of the person who requires care or support for serious medical reasons, the reason why the employee needs to provide personal care or support and, in the case of a family member, the degree of relationship to the employee or, in the case of a non-family member, the residential address of the person.
The employee shall not be entitled to remuneration for the time spent on care leave. The period of care leave shall be included in the period of employment on which the employee's entitlements depend.
A pregnant worker must not be employed overtime or during night time. A pregnant employee may not be posted away from her permanent place of work without her consent, nor may she be employed in intermittent working hours.
An employee raising a child up to the age of eight years may not be employed for overtime, night work, interrupted working hours or be posted away from her permanent place of work without her consent.
An employer who employs a pregnant or breastfeeding worker in work:
- involving excessive physical effort, including manual handling of loads,
- likely to have an adverse effect due to the manner and conditions in which they are carried out, taking into account the types of factors present in the working environment and their level of occurrence,
- prohibited regardless of the degree of exposure to factors harmful to health or hazardous to health,
shall be obliged to transfer the employee to other work, and if this is not possible, to release her for the time necessary from the obligation to provide work.
An employer employing a pregnant or breastfeeding woman in other work listed in the regulations issued pursuant to Article 176 § 2 of the Labour Code shall be obliged to adapt the working conditions to the requirements set out in these regulations or reduce the working time so as to eliminate risks to the health or safety of the employee. If it is impossible or inexpedient to adjust the working conditions in the existing workplace or reduce the working time, the employer is obliged to transfer the employee to another job, and in the absence of such a possibility, to release the employee for the time necessary from the obligation to provide work.
The above shall also apply mutatis mutandis to the employer in the event that health contraindications to the previous work of a pregnant or breastfeeding employee result from a medical certificate.
Where a change in working conditions in the previously held position, a reduction in working hours or a transfer of the employee to another job results in a reduction in remuneration, the employee shall be entitled to a compensatory allowance.
The employee during the period of redundancy shall retain the right to her previous remuneration.
Once the reasons justifying the employee's transfer to another job, reduction of her working hours or dismissal cease to exist, the employer shall employ the employee at the work and working hours specified in the employment contract.
An employee entitled to parental leave may request the employer to reduce his or her working hours to no less than half of full-time during the period in which he or she could take such leave. The employer is obliged to grant the employee's request.
The application shall be submitted 21 days prior to the commencement of the reduced working hours. The application shall be accompanied by the documents required by law. If the application is submitted without observance of the deadline, the employer shall reduce the working hours no later than 21 days from the date of submission of the application.
If an employee takes part of his/her parental leave, the employee may use the reduced working hours for the period corresponding to the remaining parental leave, but no longer than until the end of the calendar year in which the child turns 6.
The use of reduced working hours shall not reduce the length of parental leave.
An employer may not terminate or dissolve an employment contract during the period from the date on which an employee entitled to parental leave applies for:
1) the granting of parental leave - until the date of termination of such leave;
2) reduction of working hours - until the date of return to unreduced working hours, but no longer than for a total period of 12 months.
In the cases referred to above, termination of the contract by the employer is allowed only in the event of bankruptcy or liquidation of the employer, as well as when there are reasons justifying termination of the employment contract without notice due to the fault of the employee.
If the employee submits the application earlier than 21 days before the commencement of the parental leave or reduced working hours, the prohibition shall take effect 21 days before the commencement of the leave or reduced working hours.
If the employee submits the application after the act of termination of the employment contract has taken place, the contract shall be terminated on the date resulting from the act.
A worker who is breastfeeding her child is entitled to two half-hour breaks included in her working time. A worker who is breastfeeding more than one child is entitled to two breaks of 45 minutes each. Breastfeeding breaks may be taken together at the request of the employee.
A worker employed for less than 4 hours a day is not entitled to feeding breaks. If an employee's working hours do not exceed 6 hours per day, she is entitled to one feeding break.
An employee raising at least one child up to the age of 14 shall be entitled to 16 hours or 2 days off with pay during a calendar year.
The use of the time off in a calendar year shall be decided by the employee in the first application submitted in a calendar year.
Time off granted on an hourly basis for a part-time employee shall be determined in proportion to the employee's working hours. An incomplete hour of release from work shall be rounded up to the nearest whole hour.
An employee raising a child, until the child reaches the age of 8, may submit an application for flexible working arrangements to be applied to the child. The application shall be submitted no less than 21 days before the planned start of the use of flexible working arrangements.
Flexible working arrangements are considered to be remote working, intermittent working time*, shortened working week*, weekend working*, flexitime* or individual working time* and reduced working hours.
The application shall indicate:
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the child's name and date of birth;
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the reason for the need to use flexible working arrangements;
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the date on which the use of the flexible working arrangement begins and ends;
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the type of flexible working arrangement the employee plans to use.
The employer shall consider the application, taking into account the needs of the employee, including the deadline and the reason for the need to use flexible working arrangements, as well as the needs and possibilities of the employer, including the need to ensure the normal course of work, the organisation of work or the type of work performed by the employee.
The employer shall inform the employee of the granting of the request, or of the reason for refusing to grant the request, or of a different possible date for the use of the flexible work organisation than that indicated in the request, within 7 days of receipt of the request.
An employee using the flexible work organisation may at any time submit an application to return to the previous work organisation if this is justified by a change in the circumstances giving rise to the employee's use of the flexible work organisation. The employer, after considering the request, taking into account these circumstances, shall inform the employee of the granting or the reason for refusing to grant the request, or of the possible date of return to work, within 7 days of receiving the request.
* does not apply to academic staff due to their task-based working time system.
If both parents or guardians of a child are employees, the following rights may be exercised by only one of them:
- working time without the employee's consent may not exceed 8 hours per day - Article 148(3) of the Labour Code,
- it is not allowed to employ an employee without his/her consent for overtime, at night time, in the interrupted working time system, as well as to delegate him/her outside his/her permanent place of work - Article 178 § 2 of the Labour Code,
- reduce the working time for an employee entitled to parental leave - Article 1867 § 1 of the Labour Code,
- exemption from work for a period of 2 days or 16 hours for an employee bringing up a child under 14 years of age - Article 188 of the Labour Code.
Carer's allowance is available to any insured person in the event of the need for personal care for children or other sick family members. It is intended to protect the insured person against loss of wages while caring for a sick child or other sick family member.
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The above page was created in connection with the implementation of the Gender Equality Plan (Objective 3, task 21).
