Paid sick leave and annual leave are entitlements for people working on employment contracts. Can people working on a B2B basis also work on L4? Are they entitled to annual leave?
Sickness and sick leave on B2B contracts
The mention of sick leave (L4) on the employment contract obliges the employer to accept and respect it. In practice, this means that the L4 excuses the employee’s absence and serves as the basis for payment of sick pay or sickness benefits for that period.
The situation is different for inter-company contracts. Of course, an independent contractor can pay a voluntary sickness contribution (which, in the event of illness, entitles him to a relatively modest sickness benefit). However, in practice (for various reasons, such as the amount of this benefit), this solution is rarely chosen by contractors.
Important – in a typical situation, the illness of a B2B contractor (even if he pays sickness contributions and receives an L4 from a doctor) is of no importance to his principal. The B2B contractor is not protected in the same way as an employee, and is unfortunately not exempt from performing the B2B contract, even in the event of illness. How can B2B contractors protect themselves in such situations?
Annual leave under an inter-company contract
Under labor law, an employee is entitled to uninterrupted paid annual leave (20 or 26 days – depending on the employee’s length of service). This is a right, and the employer is obliged to grant it.
A worker on a B2B contract is not entitled to the vacations provided for in the Labor Code. However, a contractor under B2B contract often wishes to be guaranteed a break in the service contract for rest purposes. Otherwise, he would have to perform the contract virtually without interruption.
Is it possible to include “vacations” in a multi-employer contract? This is possible in several ways:
There is therefore a risk that any “paid break clause” will bring a multi-employer contract closer to an employment relationship, whereas no automatism can be assumed in this respect. If the contractor, despite the inclusion of such clauses in a B2B contract, still decides independently when he works, how much he works, from where he works, determines specific tasks for himself, is not subject to the authority of the principal and, moreover, is himself responsible for the results of his services and the risk of doing business – the danger of considering that it is only because of the inclusion of break clauses in the contract that we are in the presence of an employment relationship – is low.
To find out more about the risks involved in converting a multi-employer contract into an employment contract, click here: Risks associated with converting a multi-employer contract into an employment contract.
Pracodawcy podejmują różne kroki mające na celu zmniejszenia kosztów zatrudnienia oraz wyeliminowania niektórych obowiązków leżących po ich stronie. Niektórzy z nich, zamiast klasycznej umowy o pracę, decydują się na zawarcie tzw. umowy B2B z kandydatami. Inni podejmują również decyzję o zmianie „zatrudnienia” już w jego trakcie – z umowy o pracę właśnie na kontrakty B2B. Zawieranie umów B2B może jednak wiązać się z pewnego rodzaju ryzykiem.
