Teachers dissatisfied with trip settlements. "It's not a reform, but a cosmetic fix."

The parliamentary bill on overtime hours submitted on Tuesday is not a reform, but a cosmetic amendment to cover up legislative chaos, argues the education trade union "Solidarity." The Free Trade Union "Forum-Oświata" (Forum-Oświata) has indicated that the proposal has not resolved the problem of unpaid overtime hours from September 1, 2025.

On Tuesday, following last week's announcement by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the draft amendment to the Teachers' Charter, submitted that day by Civic Coalition MPs, was published on the parliamentary website. The draft amendment stipulates that teachers will be paid for unfulfilled overtime hours if they are available for work, and will take effect on January 1, 2026, without compensation for the period from September 1 to December 31, 2025. According to the report, the draft has been submitted for review by the parliamentary Legislation Office and the Regulatory Impact Assessment Office.

PAP asked three teachers' unions for comment.

The chairman of the Free Trade Union "Forum-Oświata", Sławomir Wittkowicz, pointed out that the amendment was scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2026. "There remains the problem of four months of unpaid overtime hours from September 1, 2025," he said.

In his opinion, "teachers should receive compensation for at least this period" and "repayment, for example, is possible." "We see no problem with the compensation being paid from next year's budget," he added.

A parliamentary bill can be introduced by, among others, a group of at least 15 MPs. Wittkowicz noted, however, that the bill "does not bear the signature of Civic Coalition MP Barbara Nowacka," meaning the head of the Ministry of Education, which, in his opinion, "reflects the essence of the problem." "We perceive this as an attempt to distance ourselves, despite all the talk about raising the prestige of the teaching profession, in-depth analyses, and talks with unions, which no one knows about, except perhaps one union organization," he added.

He informed that the project had not been consulted with the trade union, although in his opinion it should have been.

The chairman of the National Section of Education and Upbringing of the NSZZ "Solidarność" (KSOiW), Waldemar Jakubowski, said that "the project gives the impression that its only goal was to calm down teachers after the wave of criticism of the previous changes."

"In reality, this is not a reform, but a cosmetic amendment intended to cover up the legislative chaos caused by the 2025 amendment. Instead of simplifying the remuneration and hours settlement system, the legislator is creating another layer of unclear exceptions and clarifications that will only deepen the interpretation mess in schools and offices," he assessed.

Jakubowski noted that the "main drawback" of the bill is that "the right to remuneration for overtime hours is contingent upon the fulfillment of the tasks specified in Article 42, Section 2, Item 2 of the Teachers' Charter, and this has little—if not nothing—to do with the institution of readiness for work." He added, "In other words, the school principal is forced to find tasks for the teacher in the event that students, for example, play truant."

Moreover, he added, "the project was not consulted with teachers' unions, even though it directly concerns working conditions and remuneration."

Magdalena Kaszulanis, spokeswoman for the Polish Teachers' Union, commented on the bill's submission on Tuesday. "It's good that the government is correcting the ministry's mistake so quickly," she said.

She emphasized that not only teachers but also students are waiting for the changes. "Many teachers, out of professional solidarity, have suspended outings and class trips due to the new regulations, which are financially disadvantageous," she explained.

Asked whether the parliamentary bill had been consulted with the ZNP, she replied: "There were discussions about it with the ZNP. However, I haven't seen the bill (then - PAP)," she stated.

Kaszulanis noted that the ZNP has been pushing for a change in regulations favorable to teachers since September of this year. "And that's how we view this project," she added.

Overtime hours are hours of instruction or lessons assigned to a teacher beyond their mandatory teaching load. They have recently gained attention in connection with the major amendment to the Teachers' Charter, which came into effect at the beginning of the 2025/2026 school year.

In the bill, MPs proposed that remuneration for unfulfilled overtime hours should be due in every case where a teacher's failure to complete the assigned teaching, educational or care hours was due to reasons beyond the teacher's control, and the teacher was ready to perform these activities.

The condition for retaining the right to remuneration is that the teacher remains ready to carry out these activities during this time.

Moreover - as noted - in order to avoid doubts as to whether it is possible to assign a teacher who is on standby to perform other tasks during that time, the draft proposes to clarify that in such a case the teacher may be assigned to perform other tasks during the time in which the scheduled hours of classes are not held due to the teacher's fault.

In addition, it is proposed to clarify the wording of another provision. Currently, a teacher's mandatory weekly teaching load (hours) is reduced for the purposes of determining overtime pay by 1/5 or 1/4 of that amount, respectively, for each day of excused absence from work, a public holiday, a day on which the teacher has no classes scheduled, or a day in a given week that falls in a different month. "The legislator's intention was for the aforementioned reduction to also cover weeks that include days on which the teacher has no classes scheduled," the report states. The authors of the bill propose clarifying the provision by specifying that it refers to "other classes and activities arising from the school's statutory tasks, including care and educational activities that take into account the needs and interests of students."

A change to the provision regarding ad hoc replacements is also proposed. Currently, ad hoc replacement hours can be provided during the teacher's scheduled teaching hours if, for reasons related to the school, the teacher is unable to complete the required weekly teaching hours on a given day. In such a case, the teacher will complete the ad hoc replacement hours within the agreed remuneration. "This provision therefore provides for the possibility of assigning ad hoc replacement hours to a teacher, within the agreed remuneration, if the teacher is unable to complete the required teaching hours on a given day," the release states.

MPs propose expanding this provision to include overtime hours. If a teacher is unable to complete overtime hours for school-related reasons, they may be assigned ad hoc replacement hours instead of scheduled teaching, educational, and care hours.

"In such a case, the teacher will complete the ad hoc replacement hours as part of the remuneration they are entitled to for scheduled teaching, educational, or caregiving activities. This means that in the case of scheduled overtime hours, they will receive remuneration for the overtime hours. However, they will not receive additional remuneration for the ad hoc replacement hours, as this would constitute double remuneration," the justification reads.

The authors of the bill propose that the amendment enter into force on January 1, 2026. The proposed regulations will apply to determining remuneration for overtime hours to be performed starting from the date the bill takes effect. This means that teachers will not receive compensation for the period from September 1 to December 31, 2025. (PAP)

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