Just 4 years ago, remote work, although practiced, was a kind of employee exotic. The pandemic experience has led to a sharp increase in people working remotely. Currently, it is practically equivalent to the traditional form of work. The legislator, who regulated remote work in an extensive amendment to the Labor Code, could not be passive in this situation. The amendment entered into force in July 2023.
Pursuant to the new Art. 67 18 work may be performed entirely or partially in a place indicated by the employee and agreed upon each time with the employer, including the employee’s home address, in particular using means of direct distance communication (remote work).
Remote work may be agreed upon at the stage of concluding the employment contract or during the employment relationship.
As a rule, however, during the employment relationship, remote work may be agreed only at the employee’s request.
The exception here is a situation of emergency, epidemic threat, epidemic, or problems with ensuring safe and hygienic working conditions due to force majeure, when the employer may order remote work.
The employer is obliged to consider the request of certain employees listed in Art. 67 19 §6. These include pregnant employees, employees raising a child under 4 years of age, as well as employees caring for another member of the immediate family or another person in the same household who is severely disabled.
Interestingly, an employee cannot be treated less favorably than an employee working stationary. In particular, this applies to issues relating to the establishment and termination of an employment relationship, terms of employment, promotion and access to training in order to improve professional qualifications than other employees employed in the same or similar work, taking into account differences related to the conditions of remote work.
The employer has the right to control an employee working remotely. This applies in particular to the performance of remote work by the employee, control of occupational health and safety or control of compliance with security and information protection requirements, including personal data protection procedures. Such an inspection is carried out in consultation with the employee at the place of remote work during the employee’s working hours.
Performing inspection activities may not violate the privacy of the employee performing remote work and other persons or hinder the use of home premises in a manner consistent with their intended purpose.
As a rule, the obligation to provide an employee performing remote work with materials and work tools, including technical devices, necessary to perform remote work lies with the employer. However, the employee and the employer may agree that materials and tools not provided by the employer, but by the employee, will be used for remote work. In such a situation, the employee is entitled to the equivalent.
The legislator introduced the institution of occasional remote work. It may be performed at the employee’s request, submitted in paper or electronic form, for a period not exceeding 24 days in a calendar year.
To sum up, the above discussion should be considered the only basic approximation of the regulations in the field of remote work. The method of regulating remote work should be considered extensive and aimed at completely regulating the matter.