Hire Employees in Poland From Ireland

Both countries sit within the EU’s employment protection floor, so this isn’t the same gap as with a genuinely flexible system. Where Irish employers get caught out is in the specific mechanics and thresholds, several protections that are conditional on service length in Ireland are immediate in Poland, and a few things Ireland leaves to common law, Poland fixes by statute.

Poland doesn’t have a service threshold for dismissal protection. Unfair dismissal protection under Irish law generally requires 12 months of continuous service before it applies, before that, dismissal is comparatively unrestricted. Poland requires a valid, stated reason to terminate an indefinite contract from day one, there’s no equivalent early window where dismissal is straightforward.

Statutory redundancy pay has no direct Polish equivalent for individual roles. Irish employees with at least 2 years’ continuous service are generally entitled to statutory redundancy pay, calculated at 2 weeks’ pay per year of service plus one additional week, subject to a wage ceiling. Poland doesn’t run an equivalent entitlement for standard individual redundancies, its statutory severance provisions sit within group layoff legislation, triggered once redundancies reach a certain scale.

Notice periods use a different scale. Irish statutory minimum notice runs in finer bands, from 1 week up to 8 weeks for employees with 15 or more years of service. Poland uses 3 broader tiers, 2 weeks, 1 month or 3 months, based on tenure with that specific employer, and caps out at 3 months regardless of how long someone has worked there.

Sick pay is actually more developed in Poland. Ireland’s statutory sick pay scheme is relatively new, phased in gradually and still modest in the number of employer-paid days it covers. Poland’s system is longer established, employer-paid sick leave, generally at 80% of average salary, runs for the first 33 days before ZUS, the state social security body, takes over. This is one of the few areas on this page where Poland’s statutory entitlement is the more generous of the two.

Combined time off is somewhat lower in Ireland. Ireland’s statutory minimum is 4 weeks of annual leave plus 10 public holidays. Poland’s statutory annual leave starts at 20 days, rising to 26 after 10 years of combined work history, plus 13 separate public holidays on top, a higher combined total at every stage.

Non-compete compensation isn’t required in Ireland the way it is in Poland. Irish law assesses a non-compete clause under the common law restraint of trade doctrine, reasonableness of scope and duration, without a general requirement to pay the employee for the restricted period. Poland requires that compensation, typically at least 25% of prior pay, for a non-compete to be enforceable. A clause drafted the Irish way won’t automatically hold up in a Polish contract.

IP transfer needs more explicit handling in Poland. Under Irish copyright law, work created by an employee in the course of their employment generally belongs to the employer by default. Poland requires that transfer to be set out through a properly drafted clause under the Polish Copyright Act, it isn’t assumed the same way, so it needs to be built into the Polish contract correctly.

If the Karshan test is familiar, Poland’s version will make sense quickly. Following the Irish Supreme Court’s Karshan ruling, Irish employers are already used to tighter scrutiny over whether a contractor is genuinely self-employed or functioning as an employee. Poland has its own version of the same underlying problem, and since a 2026 reform, a Polish labour inspector can now make that reclassification decision administratively, with immediate effect. If you’re currently paying a Poland-based worker as a contractor rather than an employee, see our guide on B2B contract reclassification in Poland.