On Thursday, 5 November, an amendment to the Labour Code (Kodeks pracy) comes into force, simplifying the definition of mobbing and raising minimum compensation for employees. The changes also cover discrimination and impose new obligations on employers.
Mobbing means persistent harassment
The Act of 19 June 2026 amending the Labour Code and the Code of Civil Procedure was published in the Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) on 4 August and enters into force after three months. The amendment was signed by President Karol Nawrocki, as reported by portal pit.pl.
According to the new Article 94³ of the Labour Code, mobbing means conduct consisting of persistent harassment of an employee. Persistence means repeated, recurring or continuous conduct. An employee no longer needs to prove the perpetrator’s intent or that the harassment led to a health disorder. As RMF24 describes, the provisions cover physical, verbal and non-verbal conduct.
The Act gives an illustrative list of manifestations of mobbing: humiliation, intimidation, ridicule, unjustified criticism, obstructing work and isolating an employee from the team. The perpetrator may be a superior, but also a colleague, a subordinate or a group of people. However, justified and properly expressed holding to account for duties, or constructive criticism, is not mobbing.
Higher compensation
An employee who has experienced mobbing may claim compensation of at least six times the minimum wage. With the 2026 minimum wage of PLN 4,806 gross, that is at least PLN 28,836. This is a lower limit; the final amount depends on the circumstances of the case. The alternative remains damages under the general rules of the Labour Code.
The changes also concern discrimination. The amendment introduces discrimination by association (less favourable treatment because of a characteristic of a person close to the employee) and by assumption (wrongly attributing a characteristic to the employee). The minimum compensation for a single instance of discrimination equals the minimum wage, and for repeated discrimination, three times that amount.
Employers’ obligations
Employers are required to systematically counter mobbing and discrimination, not merely have a document with an anti-mobbing policy. Companies employing at least 10 people must define the rules, procedures and frequency of such actions in a collective agreement, work regulations or a separate set of regulations. They have six months to adapt the documents, that is until 5 May 2027.
What it means
The new rules will also apply to harassment that began before 5 November but continues after that date. According to PAP, in proceedings initiated and not concluded before the Act enters into force, the existing regulations still apply. People reporting mobbing should therefore collect evidence: correspondence, dated notes and names of witnesses. Help can be sought from the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) or a labour law attorney.
Employers with at least 10 employees should prepare regulations and train management before the May deadline. Firms below this threshold are not obliged to have regulations, but they are liable under the new definition and the new minimum amounts.
