Clients of our PRWT accounting office ask how the employer should behave when his employee informs that he has been summoned to a hearing. Is the employer obliged to justify the employee’s absence from work? Does the employee have to return to work after court hearing? Or maybe an employee should apply for unpaid leave on the day on which he is to appear in court?

These questions are answered by the Polish ordinance of 15 May 1996 on the method of justifying absenteeism and granting dismissals to employees. The employee should submit to the employer a summons from the Court confirming that on a given day at a specified time he is to appear in Court. After reading the content of such notification, the employer is obliged to release the employee from work for the time necessary to appear at the court’s summons (paragraph 6). The time needed includes the time spent in court and travel. The employer does not pay remuneration for this time (this is an unpaid excused absence). The issue of compensation for lost earnings remains with the employee. In order to obtain remuneration, he should ask the employer for a certificate of the amount of lost earnings on that day, which will be attached to the application submitted to the court (the court reimburses the costs of the witness’s arrival and lost earnings – these are the so-called proces costs). An employee does not have to take unpaid leave to appear in court. He should justify his absence and apply to the court for reimbursement of the costs of this appearance in court.

As a rule, this exemption does not cover the entire day, only the time necessary to appear and travel. If, for example, an employee who works in Krakow were to appear at the Court in Krakow at 2 p.m., then, working from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., he would be able to work calmly until 1 p.m. If, on the other hand, the employee would have to go to a hearing in another city, far away from the place of work, this circumstance should be taken into account when determining whether the employee should return to work (whether there is such a physical possibility).