The legal changes are also designed to improve working conditions and make employment more predictable, Polish state news agency PAP has reported.
Jolanta Zarzecka-Sawicka, a partner at the advisory firm Grant Thornton, said the new regulations on paternity leave, parental leave and family leave could help "keep women active on the labour market, support gender equality, remove certain stereotypes when it comes to the division of household duties, but also, crucially, make it easier for employees to reconcile their professional and family life.”
Under the new rules, employees will be entitled to five days of non-parental leave a year.
Called care leave, it is intended for those who wish to provide personal care or support to a family member who requires it for serious medical reasons or to a member of their own household.
Employees will additionally be allowed to take two days or 16 hours of half-paid leave a year in “urgent family matters due to sickness or accident.”
Meanwhile, paternity leave has been extended to 41 weeks for a single child and 43 weeks in the case of a multiple birth.
Further, a worker raising a child of up to 8 years of age can apply for a flexible work schedule and cannot be made, without their consent, to work overtime or at nighttime, or be posted outside their regular place of employment, the PAP news agency reported.
Source: PAP, money.pl