Remote Work in Poland: Your Rights Under the Labour Code
Short answer: Since April 2023 remote work is part of Poland's Labour Code: it is agreed between you and your employer, parents of children under 4 and several other groups can demand it, occasional remote work covers 24 days a year, and the employer must cover equipment, electricity and telecom costs.
Poland wrote remote work into the Labour Code in April 2023, and the rules are more specific than most expats expect: your home office costs are partly your employer's problem, parents of small children have a near-automatic right to work remotely, and even a "yes" to remote work can be undone with 30 days' notice. Here is what the law actually says, based on the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy's guidance.
What counts as remote work
Remote work (praca zdalna) replaced the old "telework" chapter of the Labour Code on 7 April 2023, under an amendment adopted on 1 December 2022. It means working fully or partly from a place you indicate - including your home address - agreed each time with the employer. Both fully remote and hybrid arrangements are covered, so a two-days-home, three-days-office pattern is a standard remote-work setup under the Code.
Remote work can be agreed in two ways: when the employment contract is signed, or later during employment as a change of conditions (no written form required). A separate, lighter category is occasional remote work: up to 24 days per calendar year, granted on the employee's request - and the employer may refuse it, since the request is not binding.
When the employer can order you home
Normally remote work is a mutual agreement. The exception: the employer can unilaterally instruct you to work remotely during a state of emergency, epidemic or epidemic threat (and for three months after it ends), or when force majeure - a fire or flood at the workplace, for example - temporarily makes safe on-site work impossible.
Who has a near-automatic right to remote work
For most employees a remote-work request can be refused. But the employer must, as a rule, grant it to:
- pregnant employees
- parents raising a child under the age of 4
- employees caring for a close family member (or a person in the same household) who holds a disability certificate
- parents of children with certain disability or special-education certificates
The employer can refuse only if remote work is impossible due to the nature of the work or its organisation - and must give the reason. If your company has no remote-work agreement or regulation at all, an individual request is still possible.
What your employer must pay for
This is the part many employers quietly skip - the Code is explicit. A remote employee is entitled to:
- materials and tools, including the technical devices needed for the job
- installation, servicing and maintenance of that equipment, or coverage of those costs - including electricity and the necessary telecom services (read: your internet)
- other costs directly tied to remote work if the workplace agreement or regulation says so
- training and technical support
- access to the office: the right to be on the premises, contact colleagues, and use the company's social facilities like everyone else
If you use your own computer or equipment by agreement, the employer owes you a cash equivalent set between the two of you.
How the rules are set at your company
The details - who can work remotely, how costs are settled - should be defined either in an agreement between the employer and the workplace trade unions, or in a remote-work regulation the employer issues after consulting employee representatives when no union exists. If your company has neither, individual requests fill the gap.
Changing your mind, on both sides
Remote work agreed during employment is not permanent by default. Both the employee and the employer can file a binding request to return to on-site work. The two sides should agree a date for restoring the previous conditions; if they cannot agree, the return happens automatically 30 days after the request.
Frequently asked questions
### Can my employer force me to work from home?
Only in the exceptional cases the Code names: a state of emergency or epidemic (plus three months after), or force majeure that makes the workplace temporarily unsafe. Otherwise remote work must be agreed with you.
I have a two-year-old. Can I demand remote work?
In practice, yes. Parents of children under 4 are on the list of employees whose request the employer must grant, unless the nature or organisation of the work genuinely makes remote work impossible - and the employer must state that reason.
Does my employer have to pay my home internet bill?
The employer must cover the costs of the technical tools needed for remote work, including necessary telecommunications services and electricity. How exactly this is settled - a lump sum, an equivalent - should be fixed in the company's remote-work regulation or agreement.
Can I be called back to the office permanently?
Yes. Either side can make a binding request to end the remote arrangement. You negotiate the return date together; failing agreement, you are back on-site 30 days after the request.
