The new face of employee loan and welfare funds.

The Press Office of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland has announced that on 19 August this year the President signed the Act on Employee Aid and Loan Funds (kasy zapomogowo-pożyczkowe). The Act regulates the rules for establishing, organising and operating these institutions at employers. It specifies, among other things, the principles of control over such funds at employers where trade unions do not operate.

What are aid and loan funds?

Until now, employee aid and loan funds have operated at employers on the basis of the Regulation of 19 December 1992 on Employee Aid and Loan Funds and Cooperative Savings and Credit Unions in Workplaces. The draft Act prepared by the Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology is largely consistent with the still valid Regulation, and the introduced changes adapt the functioning of these funds to the amendments introduced in the 2018 amendment of the Trade Unions Act and regulate the rules concerning membership in the funds as well as the rights and obligations arising from it. These funds provide employees with support in difficult life situations and constitute an additional form of financial assistance.

Upcoming changes

According to information on the government website, the draft Act on aid and loan funds provides for:

• the possibility of establishing funds by at least 10 persons performing paid work for a given employer (previously this could only be done by at least 10 employees) – this solution will make membership conditions more flexible; in particular, not only employees but also other persons performing paid work, e.g., contractors or persons performing specific tasks, will be able to join,
• rules of control over aid and loan funds at employers where trade unions do not operate – in the absence of a workplace trade union, control over the funds will be exercised by the workers’ council, and if there is no such council – by a representation of persons performing paid work appointed according to the procedure adopted by the employer (currently, control over the funds is exercised by the workplace trade union),
• regulations concerning the continued functioning of aid and loan funds in the event of changes to the employer’s organisational structure (e.g., mergers or divisions) – in such cases, the general meeting of members will have to adopt a resolution adapting the organisational structure and the statute of the funds to the employer’s organisational structure,
• possibilities for the bodies of aid and loan funds to hold meetings using electronic communication means.

Additionally, the draft Act supplements and clarifies provisions regarding, among others:

• the principles of granting loans or aid (e.g., detailed specification of loan guarantee rules),
• covering the costs of operating inter-company aid and loan funds,
• the possibility of passing a resolution on the liquidation of an aid and loan fund on the initiative of the general meeting of members,
• the rules for settling property matters in case of liquidation of an aid and loan fund.

The draft Act will now be forwarded for parliamentary proceedings. The new provisions will come into force 30 days after publication in the Journal of Laws.

Link to the full text of the amendment: http://orka.sejm.gov.pl/proc9.nsf/ustawy/1313_u.htm