For more than 20 years, the provisions on workplace bullying (mobbing) in the Polish Labour Code barely changed. In 2026 that comes to an end – and in a way that, for many organisations, will mean rebuilding procedures, documentation and management practice rather than a cosmetic fix. What is changing?
The amendment to the Labour Code and the Code of Civil Procedure (draft UD183, Sejm print no. 2289) was published on 4 August 2026. It enters into force on 5 November 2026; until then, the existing definition of workplace bullying and the existing rules for pursuing claims still apply. It is one of the most important changes in the protection of employees’ personal rights since the provisions on workplace bullying were first added to the Labour Code.
Four changes matter most in practice:
1. A simpler, broader definition.
The amendment simplifies the definition of workplace bullying – the starting point becomes persistent harassment of an employee, and the provisions include an illustrative list of behaviours that may constitute bullying: humiliation, intimidation, unjustified criticism, obstructing someone’s work or isolating them from the team. Importantly for employers: it is no longer necessary to prove that the perpetrator acted intentionally, or that there were effects such as a health disorder or a lowered assessment of professional suitability – although one-off, incidental behaviour will still not be considered bullying. At the same time, the legislator protects managers from over-interpretation: justified actions of the employer expressed in the right form, including holding people accountable for assigned work and criticising work, cannot be considered bullying.
2. Higher minimum compensation – and an easier path to it.
The minimum compensation for workplace bullying will be six times the minimum wage, i.e. approx. PLN 28,836 gross in 2026, and employees will be able to claim it even if the bullying did not cause them a health disorder. This is a real change in the financial scale of the risk – and a signal that the legislator treats bullying as a violation of personal rights in itself, regardless of documented health effects.
3. A duty of active prevention – not declarations.
This is the change most often overlooked, and the one with the greatest operational significance. Employers will be obliged to counteract workplace bullying systematically through a three-tier model: prevention, detecting bullying and responding appropriately, and remedial action and support for those affected. In other words: having an anti-bullying procedure in your work regulations will no longer be enough. You will have to show that it actually works.
4. Recourse against the perpetrator and stronger powers for the Labour Inspectorate.
An employer that has paid compensation to an employee will be able to recover that money from the specific person who engaged in bullying behaviour – the amount of the claim depends on the degree of that person’s fault and the employer’s fault. At the same time, the powers of the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) are being extended, giving it tools to verify whether the employer has actually implemented bullying prevention – this is no longer just an inspection of documents, but an inspection of practice.
In addition, there are changes to the definition of discrimination – the Labour Code will explicitly name discrimination by assumption (when an employee is treated less favourably because of a characteristic wrongly attributed to them) and discrimination by association (when unequal treatment results from a connection with another person with a particular characteristic) – which further broadens the employer’s field of responsibility.
How much time do organisations have?
Employers have 6 months from the date the act enters into force to adapt their work regulations and collective agreements to the new rules – which gives a horizon of roughly May 2027. But adapting the documentation is only the starting point. Effective anti-bullying procedures, training and documenting actions are becoming a legal requirement, not just good HR practice.
Where the risk lies for organisations
Three things worth realising right now:
A procedure on paper doesn’t protect you. The Labour Inspectorate and the courts will check whether prevention, detection and response actually work – not whether a document exists.
Managers become more exposed. A simpler definition of bullying means that more ordinary but poorly handled conversations (appraisals, feedback, holding people accountable for goals) may be perceived as bullying – even if the intention was different. The protection the law gives to “justified criticism” only works if the manager actually knows how to express that criticism “in the right form”.
No documentation of actions = no defence. In a court dispute, it will be the organisation that has to show it actively counteracted bullying – not that bullying wasn’t confirmed after the fact.
Why this leads back to the conversation – not the procedure
This is exactly where NESSE’s experience meets the new law. Since 2009 we have worked with organisations precisely at the point where the system (regulations, procedures, forms) meets the real conversation between people – in appraisals, in feedback, in difficult people decisions. The new act formalises something we have seen in management practice for years: the biggest legal risk isn’t the lack of a procedure. It’s an unprepared manager in a difficult conversation.
NESSE’s certified training programmes (ISO 9001, DEKRA) address this at three levels that correspond directly to the three-tier model in the amendment:
Prevention – Leadership and Management Academies and workshops built around a specific client’s appraisal system and organisational culture teach managers to distinguish justified criticism and accountability for goals from behaviour that may be perceived as harassment – before any complaint is made.
Detection – diagnosing the flashpoint (our standard first step in every project) makes it possible to identify where conversations go off the rails in the organisation before a labour inspector or a court does.
Documentation and proof of due diligence – taking part in a certified programme, with real exercises on your own cases, is exactly the kind of documented action that the new rules will require as proof that the organisation actively counteracted bullying – not just declared a procedure.
The amendment doesn’t punish companies for bullying happening. It punishes them for not having a real, documented system that counteracts it. The difference between those two states rarely lies in the work regulations. It lies in whether a manager in a room with another person knows how to hold a conversation without hurting anyone – so that the company doesn’t have to prove it in court later.
Let’s talk before the labour inspector does. Book a free assessment of your organisation’s readiness for the changes coming into force on 5 November 2026.