In case of signing a contract with a Polish entity, a few possibilities of the work legalization are accessible:
- receiving a work permit of the type A or B,
- work on the basis of a declaration of the intention to entrust a job to a foreigner
- work without the need of applying for a work permit at the conclusion of a contract with a Polish entity. More precisely about this matter- in the section of the Portal devoted to the legalization of the work in Poland.
In accordance with Polish law, there are three types of contracts:
- contract of employment
- service delivery contract
- specific-task contract
At the contract of employment or the service delivery contract, a Polish entity entrusting with the job is a payer, while foreigner workers are obligatorily liable to the social insurance on the general rules, meaning the same ones that are applicable to the citizens of the Republic of Poland carrying out work in Polish business entities.
In accordance to the Act 26 June 1974 The Labour Code, the employer is organizational unit, even though it may not have the legal personality, as well as a person employing workers on the basis of the contract of employment. The obligation of paying contributions is related to a situation of being subject to the social insurance. This means that in order to be insured, the person should work on the basis of the contract of the employment or other contract that guarantees the obligation of the social insurance.
If you are covered by the social insurance, then your children and spouse can be covered by it as well. To enable them using the social insurance it is enough to report them to ZUS [Social Insurance Company] on the ZUS ZCNA form.
The Labour Code
All foreigners who start working under the contract of employment in the territory of the Republic of Poland are liable to the compulsory social security and health insurance, while their employers are liable to pay contributions to the Labour Fund and the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund. Additionally, if you work on the basis of the service delivery contract, you are also obliged to pay social security contributions on the same terms as in the case of the contract of employment, i.e. obligatorily to the pension plan, social security, sickness benefit and resultant (the social and health insurances of persons performing the work on the basis of the civil law agreements)
If a work on the basis of the service delivery contract is the only work that entitles foreigner to the insurance, he or she is a subject to a compulsory (the pension and social security plan, paying contributions of Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund and to the Labour Fund as well as resultant insurance, if the work is performed in the employer’s registered office) and voluntary (sickness benefits) social insurance. From January 1st, 2010 every agent will be covered with the insurance pension and social security, and also will obligatorily be subject to resultant insurance.
The terms of liability to national retirement insurances and the health insurance, establishing the accounting basis and paying contributions of employee benefits to this insurance as well as to the Labour Fund and the Guaranteed Employee Benefits can be found at the website (p. 14).
A person, working for two different employers, for example for one employer under the contract of employment and for the other one under the service delivery contract, is a subject to a compulsory social security (contributions are being paid by the employer for whom employee works, i.e. the one with whom employee signed the contract of employment). If the remuneration from one work is equal to or higher than the minimum salary, the social security contributions (pension and social security) can be paid from the second contract, but such arrangement is voluntary. If the accounting basis of contributions from the employment is lower than the minimum salary, the person is obligatorily liable to the insurance pension and social security, also on account of carrying the service delivery contract out (the social and health insurances of persons performing the work based on the civil law agreements). If an agent is obligatorily liable to insurance pension and social security, both on account of the service delivery contract and the contract of employment, an obligation of paying the contribution for the Labour Fund arises from each of these contracts.
A person carrying several service delivery contracts out is obligatorily a subject to insurance on the basis of the one which was drawn up the earliest. However, one can voluntarily decides, on one’s own diligence, that the pension insurance and social security can be paid from the remaining, each or selected, service delivery contracts. One can also change the arrangements of the compulsory insurances (the social and health insurances of persons performing the work based on the civil law agreements).
Pupils of secondary schools, post-secondary schools and students up to 26 years, performing the work on the basis of the service delivery contract, are not subject to a social insurance, neither obligatorily nor voluntarily.
