Poland: Draft New Provisions on Workplace Harassment (Mobbing)

The Council of Ministers has adopted a draft bill amending the Labour Code with regard to workplace bullying.

The proposed changes include:

• a new definition of mobbing – the core feature will be persistence (repeated, recurring or continuous conduct); the criterion of “long duration” will be removed from the definition;
• removal of the effects criterion – the occurrence of, among other things, an unjustified downgrading of an employee’s professional usefulness will no longer be a criterion for classifying conduct as mobbing. The decisive factor will be persistence;
• adoption of the reasonable victim model – the act introduces a mechanism intended to distinguish genuine harassment from events perceived subjectively and disproportionately as mobbing;
• minimum compensation set at six times the minimum wage;
• right of recourse against the perpetrator of mobbing;
• employer obligations – the act imposes specific obligations regarding the prevention, detection and response to mobbing, as well as support for victims. The obligation to establish rules and procedures in the work regulations or in a notice will also apply to small employers with at least 9 employees.