Employment contract: written confirmation before allowing an employee to work

If an employment contract has not been concluded in writing, the employer must confirm to the employee in writing the agreed details concerning the parties to the contract, the type of contract and its terms before allowing the employee to work. This scope and timing of confirmation are described by the Polish National Labour Inspectorate (PIP).

This guide concerns the obligation to document agreed terms. It is not intended to assess the validity of a particular contract or determine whether an employment relationship exists in a particular situation.

What the confirmation of agreed terms covers

The scope specified by PIP covers three areas:

• the parties to the contract;
• the type of contract;
• the terms of the contract.

It is therefore not merely a statement that a particular person is to start work. The confirmation should cover these agreed details and must be provided before the employee is allowed to work.

Basic details and terms in the contract

According to PIP, an employment contract should specify:

• the parties to the contract;
• the address of the employer’s registered office, or, if the employer is a natural person and has no registered office, their residential address;
• the type of contract;
• the date the contract was concluded;
• the working and pay conditions, including in particular those listed below.

The basic working and pay conditions include:

• the type of work;
• the place or places where work is performed;
• remuneration appropriate to the type of work, specifying its components;
• working time, such as full-time or part-time hours;
• the date work begins.

This is an overview of basic elements common to employment contracts, not an exhaustive list for every type of contract. Specific elements relating to probationary and fixed-term contracts, and the rules for determining their duration, fall outside the scope of this guide.

Optional comparison of agreed terms with the document

As an organizational aid, we suggest comparing the agreed terms with the contents of the document. You can work through the following questions:

• Do the parties’ details and the employer’s address match what was agreed?
• Have the type of contract and the date it was concluded been recorded as agreed?
• Do the description of the work and the place or places where it will be performed match what was agreed?
• Have the agreed remuneration and its components been recorded?
• Do the working hours and start date match what was agreed?

This is an optional organizational recommendation, not an official form, a contract template or a complete list of employer obligations. It does not replace the obligation to confirm agreed terms in writing when the contract has not been concluded in writing.

Do not confuse confirmation with information on employment conditions

Written confirmation of agreed terms before allowing an employee to work must be distinguished from the separate information on employment conditions. For that information, the PIP guide specifies deadlines of no later than 7 and 30 days from the day the employee is allowed to work, depending on the information concerned.

The 30-day deadline concerns the information specified in the source about social security institutions and social security protection; the source provides an exception where the employee chooses the social security institution. The detailed scope of this separate information is not discussed here.

The 7-day and 30-day deadlines are not deadlines for confirming the agreed contract terms. If the contract has not been concluded in writing, confirmation of the parties, type and terms of the contract must take place before the employee is allowed to work.