Revolution in the Labor Code. A new obligation at work is coming. It will affect everyone

• Shortening employee working hours, providing refreshments, or installing air conditioning or fans in rooms
• These are some of the actions that employers should take during hot weather.
• The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy is working on regulating work at high temperatures. The changes are to come into force in 2027.

The employer's obligations to ensure safe and hygienic working conditions are specified in the Labor Code. The regulations cover changing working conditions, e.g. in connection with heat.

In a situation where working conditions deteriorate due to weather conditions, the employer should take action to improve them.

According to labor law, an employer may also introduce additional breaks on hot days or allow an employee to leave work earlier. However, this depends solely on the employer's good will. Leaving work earlier cannot result in a reduction in the employee's salary.

There is no maximum temperature specified in the health and safety regulations at which work can be performed. Instead, there is a minimum temperature, depending on the work performed. In the opinion of the Ministry of Labor, the current law does not protect employees sufficiently, which is why in July last year, Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk commissioned work on changes in this area.

According to the draft amendment to the MRPiPS regulation published in December 2024, the employer will be obliged to temporarily suspend work if the temperature in the room exceeds 35 degrees Celsius, and when working outdoors, 32 degrees Celsius.

As we read in the project, in the case of open spaces, work involving "physical effort causing the body's effective energy expenditure to exceed 1,500 kcal (6,280 kJ) for men and 1,000 kcal (4,187 kJ) for women during a work shift" is to be performed at a temperature not higher than 32 degrees, unless technological reasons do not allow it.

New regulations from January 1, 2027

The ministry said in a Wednesday statement that the timetable for implementing the regulation will depend on the further course of the legislative process and the results of the negotiations. Initially, the changes were to come into force on June 1, 2025, but according to the latest version of the project , the new regulations will come into force on January 1, 2027.

- The new proposed date is a compromise reached at the consultation stage. It takes into account the need to adapt internal regulations and working conditions to the new provisions - the ministry emphasized.

According to the current provisions of the Labour Code, if working conditions do not comply with occupational health and safety regulations and pose a direct threat to the health or life of an employee, or if the work performed by him/her poses such a threat to other people, the employee has the right to refrain from working, immediately notifying his/her superior .

Reducing the inconvenience of heat is possible, among other things, by ensuring proper ventilation and air conditioning of rooms. The use of such solutions releases the employer from the obligation to provide drinks to employees working in closed rooms, as long as the temperature in such rooms does not exceed 28 degrees Celsius.

When the room temperature is higher, the employer must provide employees with drinks. In this situation, it does not matter whether the workstation is equipped with air conditioning or not.

For those working outdoors, the employer is required to provide drinks when the temperature exceeds 25 degrees Celsius. Regardless of whether the work is carried out indoors or outdoors, drinks should be available to employees throughout the work shift.

Failure by the employer to comply with this obligation constitutes an offence punishable by a fine of PLN 1,000 to PLN 30,000.

In accordance with the regulation of the Council of Ministers of 24 August 2004 on the list of jobs prohibited to minors and the conditions of their employment in some of these jobs, employees from this group may not work in rooms where the temperature exceeds 30 degrees Celsius and the relative air humidity exceeds 65 percent.

Source: PAP, Prepared by AN

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