Labour Inspectorate: Not every warehouse job can be performed under a civil contract

A warehouse operator cannot automatically place every individual task under a civil-law contract, Poland’s Chief Labour Inspector has concluded in a new interpretation concerning warehouse work.

The proposed arrangement would have assigned contractors individual tasks such as completing orders, receiving deliveries, labeling, packing and keeping the warehouse orderly. Assignments would have been offered according to the company’s immediate needs.

Workers would have decided for themselves whether to accept each assignment. Accepting one job would not have required them to take further assignments or remain permanently available to the company. The arrangement also would not have guaranteed a minimum number of assignments or minimum pay.

Those conditions alone do not determine the legal classification of the relationship. If the predominant features resemble an employment relationship, it should be treated as employment, even when the arrangement contains elements associated with civil-law contracts, according to the interpretation.