Teachers dissatisfied with the settlement of trips. “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 the legislative chaos, says the educational “Solidarity”. The Free Trade Union “Forum-Oświata” signals that the proposal does not solve the problem of unpaid money for these hours from September 1, 2025.

On Tuesday, after last week's announcement by the head of government, Donald Tusk, a draft amendment to the Teacher's Charter submitted that day by MPs of the Civic Coalition was published on the parliamentary website. It follows that the provisions under which teachers will be paid for unfulfilled overtime hours if they are on standby are to enter into force from January 1, 2026, without compensation for the period from September 1 to December 31, 2025. According to the information, the draft has been sent for review by the Parliamentary Office of Legislation and the Office of Expertise and Regulatory Impact Assessment.

PAP asked three teachers' trade unions for comment.

The chairman of the Free Trade Union “Forum-Oświata”, Sławomir Wittkowicz, pointed out that the amendment was scheduled to enter into force on January 1, 2026. – So there remains the problem of four months of unpaid money for overtime hours from September 1, 2025 – he said.

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

A parliamentary bill may be submitted, among others: by a group of at least 15 Members of Parliament. Wittkowicz, however, pointed out that the project “does not have the signature of Barbara Nowacka, MP of the Civic Coalition”, i.e. the head of the Ministry of Education, which, in his opinion, “reflects the essence of the problem”. – We perceive it as an attempt to distance ourselves, despite all the spins on raising the prestige of the teaching profession, in-depth analyzes and talks with unions, which no one knows about, except maybe one trade 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.

Waldemar Jakubowski, chairman of the National Education Section of NSZZ “Solidarność” (KSOiW), said that “the project gives the impression that its only goal is to calm down the mood among teachers after the wave of criticism of previous changes.”

“In fact, this is not a reform, but a cosmetic amendment intended to cover the legislative chaos caused by the 2025 amendment. Instead of simplifying the system of remuneration and settlement of hours, the legislator creates another layer of unclear exceptions and clarifications, which will only deepen the interpretation mess in schools and offices,” he said.

Jakubowski noted that the “main shortcoming” of the project is that “the right to remuneration for overtime hours is conditional on the implementation of tasks specified in Article 42(2)(2) of the Teacher's Charter and it has little – to say nothing – to do with the institution of readiness for work.” As he added, “in other words, the school principal is forced to look for tasks for teachers in the event that students play truant, for example.”

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

ZNP spokeswoman Magdalena Kaszulanis commented on the submission of the project 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 changes. – As part of professional solidarity, many teachers have suspended class outings and trips due to the new regulations, which are financially unfavorable – she explained.

When asked whether the MP's project had been consulted with the ZNP, she replied: – There were talks with the ZNP about it. However, I have not seen this project (then – PAP), she said.

Kaszulanis pointed out that the Polish Teachers' Union was trying to change the regulations to be favorable for teachers from September this year. – And that's how we treat this project – she added.

Overtime hours are hours of classes or lessons assigned to a teacher in excess of the mandatory working hours. They have become famous recently in connection with the so-called a major amendment to the Teacher's Card, which entered into force at the beginning of the 2025/2026 school year.

In the bill, the MPs proposed that remuneration for unfulfilled overtime hours should be granted in every case when the teacher's failure to complete the hours of teaching, educational or care activities assigned to him was due to reasons not attributable to the teacher, and the teacher was ready to carry out these activities.

The condition for maintaining the right to remuneration is that the teacher remains ready to carry out these classes at that time.

Moreover – as noted – in order to avoid doubts as to whether it is possible to assign other tasks to a teacher who is ready to work at that time, the project proposes to clarify that in such a case the teacher may be assigned to carry out classes at the time when the scheduled hours are not due to the fault of the teacher.

Moreover, it is proposed to clarify the wording of another provision. Currently, the weekly mandatory teaching hours (salary) of a teacher are reduced for the purposes of determining remuneration for overtime hours by 1/5 or 1/4 of this amount, respectively, for each day of justified absence from work, a public holiday, a day on which no classes are planned for the teacher, or a day in a given week that falls in another month. “The legislator's intention was for the above-mentioned reduction to also cover weeks in which there are days when the teacher was not scheduled to have classes,” it was reported. The authors of the project propose to clarify the provision by specifying that it concerns “other classes and activities resulting from the school's statutory tasks, including care and educational activities that take into account the needs and interests of students.”

It is also proposed to change the provision regarding ad hoc replacements. Currently, ad hoc replacement hours may be carried out at the time in which the teacher's classes were planned to be carried out in the event that, for reasons related to the school, on a given day the teacher would not be able to complete the classes resulting from the obligatory weekly number of teaching hours. In such a case, he performs 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 could not complete classes on a given day resulting from the so-called salary” – it was reported.

MEPs propose extending this provision to include overtime classes. If a teacher, for reasons related to the school, is unable to complete overtime hours, he or she may be assigned ad hoc replacement hours instead of the planned hours of teaching, upbringing and care activities.

“In such a case, the teacher performs the hours of ad hoc replacements as part of the remuneration he is entitled to for planned teaching, educational or care activities, i.e. in the case of planned overtime hours, he will receive remuneration for the overtime hours. However, he will not receive additional remuneration for the hours of ad hoc replacements, as this would constitute double remuneration,” we read in the justification.

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

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