An end to the paralysis of school trips? Teachers will recover their lost money

The Parliamentary Education and Science Committee recommends that the Sejm adopt the draft amendment to the Teacher's Charter on overtime hours with the amendments adopted on Tuesday. The proposals assume payment of remuneration for unworked overtime hours from September 1 to December 31, 2025.

The first reading of the parliamentary bill amending the Teacher's Charter Act took place at Tuesday's parliamentary committee on education and science. It assumes that remuneration for unfulfilled overtime hours will be due in every case when the teacher's failure to perform the assigned hours of teaching, educational or care activities occurred for reasons beyond the control of the teacher who was ready to perform them.

When will teachers get the money?

The amendment is to enter into force on January 1, 2026. The draft states that the new regulations 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.

Hence the amendment submitted on Tuesday by MP Adam Krzemiński (KO), which gives the proposed provision retroactive effect. “This provision will apply to determining remuneration for overtime hours to be performed from September 1, 2025. Remuneration for overtime hours not performed in the period from September 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025 (…) will be paid until February 6, 2026.” – says the justification for the amendment.

Chairwoman Krystyna Szumilas announced that the committee recommends that the Sejm adopt the entire project with the amendments adopted on Tuesday. Elżbieta Gapińska (KO) was appointed as the rapporteur.

What about blood donation and training?

However, the committee rejected all amendments by non-attached MP Marcin Józefaciuk, which the legislative office assessed as defective. They included, among others: supplementing the catalog of cases in which a teacher retains the right to remuneration for overtime hours with the situation provided for in the regulations, including: donating blood, taking the exam for the next level of professional advancement, or participating in training and courses.

Although after a heated discussion, Józefaciuk prepared a revised version of the proposals during a ten-minute break, ultimately the MPs voted on their first version. The chairwoman of the committee, Krystyna Szumilas, pointed out that he may submit a revised version in the second reading.

In turn, the Ministry of National Education emphasized that the issues raised in the amendments are already regulated legislatively, but in a different way.

Why did the regulations need to be fixed?

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 amendment to the Teacher's Charter, which came into force at the beginning of the 2025/2026 school year. It's about the so-called a major amendment to the Charter. It details the regulations, including: regarding the conditions for calculating teachers' remuneration for overtime hours and ad hoc replacement hours. Specified, among others: cases in which a teacher retains or loses the right to remuneration for assigned but unfulfilled overtime hours.

After the amendment came into force, trade unions argued that a teacher who is at school and is ready to work in accordance with the overtime hours assigned to him does not receive remuneration for them when the class is not at school, e.g. because it is on a trip. The Polish Teachers' Union reported that it received signals from individual schools that teachers or entire teaching staff, as part of professional solidarity, are suspending class trips due to changes in the settlement of overtime hours.

The parliamentary draft amendment to the Teacher's Charter is the result of the intervention of the Prime Minister, who announced that it would be submitted in parliamentary mode after a meeting with teachers from Legionowo. He noted that the parliamentary procedure would speed up the procedure. The bill was submitted by a group of MPs from the Civic Coalition.

At the end of October, the Polish Teachers' Union appealed for a quick amendment of the Teacher's Charter regarding overtime hours. He stressed that he wanted to return to the provisions in force until 1992. According to it, teachers are entitled to remuneration for such hours even if classes were not held through no fault of their own. (PAP)

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