Raising professional qualifications (acquiring or supplementing knowledge and skills by an employee) may take place on the initiative or with the consent of the employer. Of course, the employee may also learn on his own without the knowledge of the employer, but in this case, he does not use the benefits of the code in this regard. But what if the employer wants to participate in the costs of improving the employee’s professional qualifications? What are the mutual rights and obligations of both parties then? These are questions that are often asked by clients of the PRWT accounting office in the context of improving the professional qualifications of employees.

An employee who raises his qualifications at the initiative of the employer or with his consent has certain rights, such as training leave or other benefits granted to the employee by the employer, e.g. covering the costs of travel or training materials.

It is worth explaining right away that if we are talking about postgraduate studies, training leave is not due by law. The employee’s right to such a leave can be specified in the contract – as described below, at the same time determining its duration. However, there is no such obligation.

If the employer intends to oblige the employee to remain in employment after the employee has raised his professional qualifications, he concludes an appropriate agreement with the employee in writing, specifying mutual rights and obligations. Of course, the contract must also be concluded when the employee receives from the employer the additional benefits.

One should also remember about the employee’s obligations in connection with improving professional qualifications. The employee will be obliged to reimburse the costs incurred by the employer for additional benefits in the amount proportional to the period of employment after completing professional qualifications or the period of employment at the time of raising them, if:
– fails to raise professional qualifications or stops education without justifiable reasons,
– the employer will terminate the employment relationship without notice due to the employee’s fault during the improvement of professional qualifications or during which he was obliged to remain in employment (but not longer than 3 years)
– if the employee is improving his professional qualifications or during which he was obliged to remain in employment (but not longer than 3 years) with notice (this does not apply to termination of the employment contract by the employee due to mobbing)
– if the employee terminates the employment relationship without notice or because of mobbing during the improvement of professional qualifications or during which he was obliged to remain in employment (but not longer than 3 years), despite the fact that there were no circumstances justifying the use of such a procedure

The above-mentioned rules are the minimum that should be included in the contract concluded with the employee (they result from the provisions – Art. 103 ¹ – 103 ⁵ of the Polish Labor Code). The provisions of the contract may contain other (additional) arrangements of the parties, but they cannot be less favorable than those resulting from the provisions of the Labor Code.