Raising professional qualifications – selected provisions of the Labor Code
The Labor Code stipulates that the employer is obliged to help employees improve their professional qualifications. This obligation was expressis verbis expressed in Art. 17 of the Labor Code and art. 94 points 6 of the Labor Code It is primarily about those professional qualifications that increase the competences of the employee in the position held by him.
Raising qualifications should be understood as gaining or supplementing knowledge and skills by an employee. It should be emphasized that only in the case of raising qualifications on the initiative or with the consent of the employer, the employee may apply the provisions of the Labor Code regarding the professional qualifications of employees. Then, unlike in the case of self-improvement of qualifications, the employee is entitled to, inter alia, training leave or dismissal from all or part of a working day.
The Labor Code indicates that the employer concludes an agreement with an employee raising his professional qualifications that specifies the mutual rights and obligations of the parties, i.e. training contract. It contains it in order to oblige the employee to continue working for him for a maximum period of 3 years from the moment of commencing or completing the improvement of professional qualifications. The employer may freely shape the content of the training contract, but may not include provisions less favorable to the employee than the provisions of the Labor Code.
When is an employee obliged to reimburse training costs?
An employee raising professional qualifications:
- who, without justified reasons, fails to raise professional qualifications or stops improving these qualifications,
- with whom the employer terminates the employment relationship without notice due to his fault, during the improvement of professional qualifications or after its completion within the period specified in the training contract,
- who in the period specified in point b will terminate the employment relationship with a notice, with the exception of termination of the employment contract for reasons specified in art. 94 (3) of the Labor Code (mobbing),
- who in the period specified in point b will terminate the employment relationship without notice pursuant to Art. 55 of the Labor Code (termination without notice of the employment contract by the employee) or Art. 94 (3) of the Labor Code (mobbing), despite the lack of reasons specified in these provisions
– is obliged to reimburse the costs incurred by the employer for this purpose
for additional benefits, in proportion to the period
employment after completing the improvement of professional qualifications or period
employment during their lifting.
Therefore, if the employee works only half of the time required by the training contract, he is obliged to pay back half of the costs of the vocational training.
What do the costs of vocational training include?
The reimbursement of the costs of vocational training covers the costs of additional benefits granted by the employer, i.e. payment for education, training materials, accommodation during training.
The reimbursement may not include the remuneration paid for the training leave or for the period of dismissal from work for the period of participation in the training. The costs of vocational training do not have to be reimbursed, inter alia, also when:
- the employer terminates the employee’s employment relationship,
- the employment relationship will be terminated by agreement of the parties,
- the employment contract will expire
- the employment contract will be terminated without notice, but not through the fault of the employee,
- the employment contract is terminated due to the fault of the employer.