Remote Work Performed by Employee
The Act of March 2nd, 2020, on Specific Solutions Connected with Preventing and Combating COVID-19, Other Communicable Diseases and Crisis Situations Caused by Them (hereinafter the “Act”) introduced the term of remote work.
In the light of the Act’s provisions, remote work consist in performing work determined in the agreement, outside place of its continuous performance. Possibility of such work performance appears on the basis of the employer’s instruction and the remote work can be performed only for definite period of time.
An employee can be instructed to perform remote work if he has skills and technical as well as housing conditions for such work performance, and moreover if type of work allows to perform it remotely, especially by means of distance communication.
In connection with remote work, the employer is obliged to provide the employee with tools and materials necessary for such work performance. However the employee may use tools and materials not provided by the employer but only under condition that they allow to keep confidentiality of information including business secret, personal data and information revealing on which might compromise the employer.
The above regulation was supposed to expiry on September 5th, however due to the epidemic being still in force, it has been extended for 3 months after the end of the epidemic state announced due to COVID-19.
It has to be pointed that remote work regulation is desired in the Polish law. It seems that the employees as well as the employers accepted it with enthusiasm and it should be introduced into the Polish law as constant institution accompanying telework.
