Business trip
According to the Labor Code, a business trip involves performing a work task outside of the employee’s regular workplace at the employer’s explicit request.
Defining this „regular workplace” is crucial for remote employees. In some cases, calling a remote worker to the office could mean that the trip must be treated as a business trip.

It depends on whether the work is fully remote or hybrid, and when the agreement for remote work was made.

Hybrid remote work
If the employee works part-time from the office and part-time from home, where the employer’s home office is designated as one of the workplaces, then their travel to the office will not be considered a business trip.

Fully remote work agreed upon at the time of employment
If full remote work is agreed upon when the employment contract is concluded, then the place of such work will be considered the sole workplace in the meaning of Article 29 § 1(2) of the Labor Code. In this case, an instruction to come to the office should be treated as a business trip, with all corresponding consequences.

Remote work agreed upon during employment
If remote work is agreed upon after the employment has started, then there are two workplaces – the employer’s office (which remains the workplace defined in the contract) and the agreed remote workplace (which only applies to remote work, not all work).

The remote workplace is temporary, as either party may request a return to the original workplace, and that request is binding. It does not matter whether full remote work was agreed upon.

Therefore, travel between the workplace defined in the employment contract and the remote workplace is not considered a business trip. Only travel at the employer’s request to either location would be classified as a business trip.

These issues should be clarified in the remote work policy to avoid any misunderstandings, particularly when remote workplaces are far from the employer’s office.