Which categories of employees cannot be fired in Poland

In Poland, there are clear labor guarantees that prohibit employers from dismissing or reducing the salary of certain categories of employees. First and foremost, this applies to individuals who are of pre-retirement age and are under special legal protection according to the Labor Code. This is reported by InPoland.

Pre-retirement protection applies to employees who have four years or less until retirement age. Provided that this period of work impacts their future pension, the employer has no right to terminate the employment contract or reduce their pay.

Protection of employees in Poland before retirement

According to the provisions of the Polish Labor Code, pre-retirement protection applies to:

• women aged 56 and older;

• men aged 61 and older.

These guarantees apply exclusively to individuals employed under an employment contract. It does not matter whether the contract is fixed-term or indefinite. The protection does not apply to employees engaged under other forms of contracts, including civil law contracts.

It is also important to note that pre-retirement protection is granted only once in a lifetime. If an individual has already exercised their right to retire at a younger age, this mechanism cannot be applied again.

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Protection of employees in Poland and exceptions to the rules

Even with pre-retirement protection, there are exceptions when an employer may lose this restriction. This concerns the following cases:

• loss of qualifications necessary for the performance of work, not through the employee's fault;

• medical opinion on loss of ability to perform current duties;

• introduction of new pay regulations for all or certain groups of employees to which the protected person belongs.

At the same time, obtaining such protection does not require 20 or 25 years of insurance experience. For individuals born after 1949, a minimum pension contribution time for the application of these norms is not required.

Let us recall that a study by the Polish Economic Institute showed that Ukrainians in Poland have a higher employment rate than Poles, and 40% have chances to stay in the country.