Internship bill draft: employment contract and fines up to PLN 60,000
The third version of the draft specifies how much a company will pay an intern, how many interns it may take on, and what penalties apply for breaking the rules. Some employers fear there may be fewer internship offers.
On 13 October, the third version of the internship bill draft (UD307), prepared by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, was published on the website of the Government Legislation Centre. The internship is to be carried out on the basis of a fixed-term employment contract, for a total of no more than six months. The draft is to be submitted to a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers. The regulations are to enter into force on 1 January 2027.
An adult intern will, among other things, have the right to leave, and the company will have to keep their employee records. The draft excludes selected provisions of the Labour Code, including the limits on successive fixed-term contracts, time off to look for work, and retirement and disability severance pay. It will not be possible to complete an internship in particularly hazardous work.
Remuneration for a full month of internship may not be lower than 65% of the minimum wage. The government proposes a minimum wage of PLN 4,950 gross for 2027, so an intern will receive at least about PLN 3,200 gross. The benefit for underage interns will increase from PLN 250 to PLN 500 per month. Subsidies from the Labour Fund for the organiser of an underage internship will increase from PLN 250 to PLN 750 for each full month of internship.
The number of interns depends on the size of the company. For 3-9 employees, the limit is 50% of staff; for 10-49 employees, 25%; for 50-249 employees, 15%; and in larger companies, 10%, calculated in full-time equivalents. A fine of PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000 applies, among other things, for exceeding the limit, signing a contract longer than six months, and requiring professional experience from a candidate. Offences will be prosecuted by the National Labour Inspectorate.
Comments collected by pulsHR.pl (opens in a new tab) show that opinions on the draft are divided. Katarzyna Kamecka of the Polish Economic Society believes that the obligation to use an employment contract may discourage even corporations that have so far run internships under mandate contracts. Prof. Grażyna Spytek-Bandurska, an expert at the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs, warns that companies may stop taking on young people or move this cooperation into the grey economy. The All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ) believes that the draft is better than the April version, but criticises the level of interns' pay.
If the draft passes in its current form, companies running internships under civil-law contracts will have to change their contracts and recalculate the costs of internship programmes before 2027.