Civil-law contracts
Order contract
The order contract (umowa zlecenie, also known as an agreement to act diligently) is a civil-law contract in which one entity (the ordering party) requests a given task, and a second entity (the contractor) undertakes to perform it. The order contract is always concluded for a fixed period of time and is regulated in art. 734-751 of the Civil Code. The parties to the agreement can be any natural or legal persons. The Labor Code does not apply to order contracts, so the contractor only has the rights that derive from the content of the agreement. The subject of the agreement is most often a specific service, and the diligent execution of the ordered action is what fulfills the contract.
What are the advantages of this form of employment?
- flexible employment – you have freedom in concluding and dissolving an order contract, you are not bound by a notice period
- 20% business costs deduction – the basis for taxation is 80% of the contract value
- flexible work time – you aren’t required to work for a set duration or at certain hours
- social insurance – the employer is obligated to make retirement and disability insurance payments from all agreements, up to the level of the minimum wage
Contract for a specific work
The contract for a specific work, (umowa o dzieło, also known as an agreement for a result; “work” here is used in the sense of “a work of art”) is a civil-law contract in which the contractor undertakes to perform a defined task (meaning a particular outcome of work) and the ordering party agrees to pay the compensation described in the agreement. This contract is regulated by art. 627-646 of the Civil Code. In concluding such an agreement it is necessary to describe precisely the work that the contractor is to create. It can be anything: for example, a computer program or a news article. The agreement specifies the expected results of the actions and the amount of compensation or the criteria on the basis of which it will be determined. The contract for a specific work is not subject to the Labor Code, so the contractor is entitled only to the rights that derive from the content of the agreement.
What are the advantages of this form of employment?
- flexible working time – you decide when you’ll do the work and how much time you’ll spend on it
- higher net compensation – unlike the other types of agreement, the contract for a specific work doesn’t require withholding of social-insurance contributions, so you receive the highest net pay
- freedom in executing your work – you work in any location you want, without supervision; the only thing that counts is the result of your actions
