The employer entering into a contract with an employee for a probationary period must remember about new obligations

The change regarding concluding employment contracts for a probationary period is a consequence of the alignment of national legislation with two EU directives: on transparent and predictable working conditions in the EU and on work-life balance for parents and guardians.

At present, probationary employment contract, according to Article 25 § 2 of the Labor Code, may be concluded for a period not exceeding three months in order to check the employee’s qualifications and employability to perform a certain type of work.
An important point is that re-conclusion of a probationary employment contract with the same employee is permissible if the employee is to be hired to perform a different type of work.

The parties to probationary employment contract may agree in advance in the wording of the contract that the contract will be extended by vacation time or by the time of the employee’s other excused absence from work, if such absences occur.

A new obligation of an employer entering into a probationary employment contract is to establish in the content of the contract the period for which a fixed-term employment contract will be entered into after the end of the probationary contract. This applies to the following situations:

• in the case of intention to conclude a fixed-term employment contract for a period of less than 6 months – a trial period employment contract is concluded for a period not exceeding 1 month;
• in the case of the intention to conclude a fixed-term employment contract for a period of at least 6 months and less than 12 months – a trial period employment contract shall be concluded for a period not exceeding 2 months.

Pursuant to Article 25 § 23 of the Labor Code, the parties may extend once in an employment contract concluded for a trial period the periods referred to in § 22 (i.e., 1 month or 2 months), but not more than by 1 month, if justified by the nature of the work.