Mass conversion of civil contracts into full-time employment? “We will not make anyone happy by force”

The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy (MRPiPS) and the National Labor Inspectorate (PIP) want inspectors to be able to convert a B2B contract, a contract for specific work or a mandate contract into an employment contract if the change meets certain conditions.

– We are working on a solution that would give new competences to labor inspectors. Work on the draft amendments to the Act on the State Labor Inspectorate is still ongoing – said Tomasz Zalewski, acting spokesman for the Chief Labor Inspector, in an interview with tvn24.pl a few days ago.

He assured that although the proposal came from the ministry, the Inspectorate is interested in its quick implementation.

Order at the grocery store

In an interview with money.pl, Marcin Stanecki, the Chief Labor Inspector, promised that the institution he manages will not “make anyone happy by force” and will not transform a civil contract into a full-time job, unless there are circumstances indicating an unequivocal employment relationship (compliance with the superior’s instructions, availability at specified hours, performance of duties in a place designated by the client…).

– When I was an inspector working in the field, I reacted, for example, in shops when people did not have full-time jobs and the subordination relationship was obvious there. You simply cannot run a business in a shop or work on a contract for services, especially since in these small shops people often worked on contracts for services seven days a week, so they really had a big interest in having an employment contract, because they would have more guaranteed free time, he said.

Court battles to transform a civil contract into an employment relationship

He added that in 2023, it was possible to obtain written confirmation of the terms of the employment contract for 5.2 thousand people, and for 2.6 thousand people, the Inspectorate questioned civil law contracts as concluded in the terms appropriate for an employment relationship. Today, the court decides on the transformation at the request of the inspector. Stanecki admitted that these were often legal battles, because companies, especially large and wealthy ones, provided lawyers experienced in labor law cases. On the other side stood the inspector, whose experience was often much less.

The Chief Labour Inspector said that for the new regulation to be effective, it is necessary to change the definition of an employment relationship contained in Article 22 of the Labour Code.

– The current definition is not bad in principle, but the case law has gone in a different direction. For example, the will of the parties is decisive, so what if we can draw conclusions against the will of the person concerned, since what matters to the court is what the parties want, not the labor inspector. The new definition of the employment relationship would have to be more unambiguous and understandable for all parties: the employer, the potential employee and the inspector – he said.

“We will not make anyone happy by force”

The journalists who led the conversation expressed doubts about where the line is drawn between the right of inspection and the right of companies. Contracts of mandate are a very popular form of work, for example in gastronomy, and are often concluded with the actual agreement of the parties.

– I know that there are such concerns and that there are some worst-case scenarios. However, common sense and freedom to enter into contracts are important. We will not change all civil law contracts by force. Inspectors are wise people with extensive life experience. They know that civil law contracts are entered into for various reasons, such as by students, retirees or pensioners. No inspector interferes with them, because they are beneficial to these people for various reasons – said Stanecki.

He immediately noted that the situation of specialists (translators, programmers, business consultants) is different from that of people with low qualifications. The latter often cannot be picky: the choice is either a contract or nothing, especially in municipalities with a high level of unemployment. “And these are the people who are the recipients of our solutions. They are the ones who need our help, not an IT specialist who earns even tens of thousands on a civil law contract. I want to provide them with this help,” he declared.