Zwolnienia od pracy członków zarządu zakładowej organizacji związkowej
Exemptions from work for board members of a labor union organization

Summary/Abstract: Among the benefits of a labor union activity, the Act on labor unions introduces, among other things, an obligation for the employer to grant exemptions from work for labor union activists. The exemptions are available both to persons performing labor union functions at the workplace level and outside of it. For persons performing labor union functions at the workplace level, Article 31 of the Act introduces exemptions from work for board members of a company and inter-company labor union organization for the duration of their term of office and the right to the exemption in order to perform an immediate labor union activity. The rules of granting exemptions from work for the duration of the term of office have been clarified since January 1, 2019. Currently, the exemption is not only granted to employees, but to all persons engaged in a gainful employment. The right to exemption depends on the number of labor union members and is exercised at the request of the company’s labor union organization. The content of the application and the deadlines for its processing are clarified in the Regulation from 2018. The application is binding for the employer, which means that if the statutory conditions are met, the employer is required to exempt the board member of a labor union organization from the obligation to perform work. However, this exemption does not come into force under law, but depends on the granting of it by the employer. The exemption from work at the request of a labor union is of a payable nature. The rules of the calculation and the protection of the salary for a board member of a labor union are specified in the Regulation from 2018. However, full financing of these exemptions by the employer is questionable. A better solution would be to introduce the principle of partial covering of the costs by a labor union. This would introduce a greater independence of labor union organizations from employers and consider the social nature of labor union activities.

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