The introduction of remote work has radically changed how employees and employers cooperate. Organisations moved from a model of constant, daily in-office contact to one in which an employee may never communicate with the employer in any way other than via digital communication channels. However, such communication has not always been straightforward, because the legal framework previously in force in the Labour Code and in implementing regulations often required written form for various employment-law actions. As a result, making binding declarations required a traditional exchange of correspondence between employer and employee, via a postal operator or courier.

Of course, there was no doubt that “written form” covered not only a standard handwritten signature, but also declarations made electronically bearing a secure electronic signature verified by a valid qualified certificate (known as a qualified electronic signature). However, in employment relationships this type of signature was rare, in practice concerning only senior employees rather than the broader group of “rank-and-file” employees.

It is therefore very positive that two recent amendments – to the Labour Code and to the Regulation of the Minister of Economy and Labour of 27 July 2004 on training in occupational health and safety – expanded the catalogue of matters that may be carried out in electronic form.

There has also been significant progress on the planned amendment to the Regulation of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of 30 May 1996 on medical examinations of employees, the scope of preventive healthcare for employees and medical certificates issued for the purposes provided for in the Labour Code. This amendment introduces an electronic form of medical certificates, alongside the previously exclusive paper form.

Electronic form of confirming the completion / provision of initial OHS training

The Regulation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy of 24 November 2025 amending the regulation on training in occupational health and safety changed §12 governing the confirmation of the completion or provision of general and on-the-job induction. From 12 December 2025, in addition to written form (covering paper forms and a qualified electronic signature), employees can confirm the completion of initial training in electronic form. This means the employee may submit confirmation, for example, in an email message concluded by typing their name and surname or other data enabling their identity to be established.

Where an employee confirms the completion of initial training in electronic form, the employer will be required to:

1. make an appropriate note on the employee’s initial training card, in the place designated for their signature, indicating the chosen form of confirmation;
2. attach to the initial training card an electronic document or documents containing the employee’s confirmation, or a reproduction of such documents;
3. place the initial training card, together with the attached documents or their reproduction, in the employee’s personnel file.

The employer will proceed in the same way where the head of the organisational unit in which the employee is employed confirms, in electronic form, the provision of on-the-job induction and the admission of the employee to work.

The change significantly facilitates the functioning of organisations that, when employing remote employees in administrative and office roles, were able to provide initial OHS training remotely, but nevertheless were required to exchange paper training cards confirming the completion/provision of training and admission to work.

Electronic form in a range of employment-law actions

From 27 January 2026, the expanded use of electronic communication will also apply to other employment-related actions in connection with the entry into force of the Act Amending the Labour Code and the Act on the Company Social Benefits Fund of 4 December 2025.

Electronic form may be used for:

1. providing information on monitoring – Article 222 § 8 LC;
2. providing information on the transfer of an undertaking to another employer – Article 231 § 3 LC;
3. consulting a planned termination of an employment contract with an in-house trade union organisation – Article 38 § 1 and § 2 LC;
4. preparing a working time schedule – Article 129 § 3 and § 4(3) and (4) LC;
5. applying for an individual working time schedule – Article 142 LC;
6. applying for a shortened working week system – Article 143 LC;
7. applying for a weekend work system – Article 144 LC;
8. applying for a flexible working time schedule – Article 150 § 5 LC;
9. requesting time off to deal with personal matters – Article 151 § 21, first sentence LC;
10. requesting time off in lieu of overtime – Article 1512 § 1 LC;
11. notifying the relevant regional labour inspectorate of employing night workers – Article 1517 § 6 LC;
12. applying for unpaid leave – Article 174 § 1 LC;
13. applying for unpaid leave to work for another employer – Article 1741 § 1 LC;
14. providing instructions and guidance on familiarising employees with OHS rules and principles – Article 2374 § 3 LC.

Introducing electronic form beyond the previously exclusive written form will reduce barriers in communication with employees and their representatives, without posing risks to legal certainty.

It should also be noted that – unlike the amendment to the regulation on OHS training – the Labour Code amendment did not impose on employers an obligation to make additional notes on the documents listed above. It should therefore be sufficient to include them in employees’ personnel files without taking further steps.

Electronic medical certificates

The introduction of electronic medical certificates issued for the purposes set out in the Labour Code is linked to the transformation of healthcare, in particular its digitalisation. While for initial OHS training confirmations and other employment-law actions the form of submitting a declaration or request remains a matter of choice, under the planned amendment to the regulation on employees’ medical examinations, medical certificates will primarily be in electronic form.

The physician conducting the preventive examination will provide the medical certificate to the employer who issued the referral, within the deadline and in the manner specified in an agreement concluded between those entities under the Act on Occupational Medicine Services of 27 June 1997. Paper form will be permissible only where there is no access to the ICT system. Employers must therefore ensure ongoing access to the system and independently download medical certificates, including those issued in appeal proceedings.

Read more about Polish HR law – PRO HR Year Book 2025