Strona Kancelarii » Types of legal relationships entered into with natural persons

When conducting business activity—whether in the form of a commercial company, e.g. a limited liability company, or as a sole proprietorship—a business establishes legal relationships with natural persons as employees, contractors under mandate contracts, and service providers.

Regulations allow these relationships to be structured in the form of several contracts expressly defined by law, including an employment contract, a mandate contract, a contract for the provision of services, and a contract for a specific work (work-for-hire). In many cases, there is also nothing to prevent a more specific relationship with a service provider from being structured as an unnamed (innominate) contract, combining several different legal regimes.

The choice of a given form of cooperation determines what types of rights and obligations will be granted to each party, and it may also be reflected in tax and social security (ZUS) obligations.

In this article, we briefly describe the most common forms of cooperation encountered in practice.

1. Employment contract – the most popular and most preferred by the state form of establishing an employment relationship with employees.

An employment contract is governed primarily by the Act of 26 June 1974 – the Labour Code.

The characteristic features of this type of employment are:

The employer’s authority and the employee’s subordination,
Work performed at the time and place designated by the employer,
Durability and continuity,
The employee’s personal performance of work.

Employees hired under an employment contract are entitled to a range of social benefits, including paid leave, paid absence from work due to illness, and special protection of the employment relationship in the form of statutory notice periods.

The amount of remuneration is determined by the parties; however, the legislator provides for a minimum gross salary which, as of 01.01.2026, amounts to PLN 4,806.00.

From the employer’s perspective, employment under an employment contract generates the most obligations and costs. In addition to the gross salary paid to the employee, the employer is obliged to pay social and health insurance contributions to ZUS. The employer also bears the exclusive risk for the effects/results of the employee’s work.

2. Mandate contract (umowa zlecenia) – another popular form of cooperation, which is much more flexible than an employment relationship.

A mandate contract is a named contract regulated in the Act of 23 April 1964 – the Civil Code.

Under this contract, the principal entrusts the contractor with the performance of a specified scope of tasks, generally leaving the contractor freedom as to the manner in which these tasks are carried out.

Unlike persons employed under an employment contract, mandate contractors are not entitled to social benefits such as paid leave. A mandate contractor also bears full liability for damage caused to the principal in the course of performing the mandate.

In return, the contractor has greater independence in performing the entrusted tasks and therefore (unless the parties agree otherwise) may choose the place and time of performing the activities.

As with an employment contract, the legislator has provided for a minimum hourly rate when determining the mandate contractor’s remuneration. As of 01.01.2026, it is PLN 31.40 gross.

In the case of a mandate contract, the principal’s costs will, as a rule, be calculated similarly to those under employment contracts. This means that, in addition to the gross remuneration, the principal also pays the contractor’s social and health insurance contributions.

3. Contract for a specific work (umowa o dzieło) – another example of a contract regulated in the Civil Code, intended for a relationship in which the ordering party expects the contractor to produce a specific, pre-defined result (work).

A characteristic feature of a contract for a specific work is the contractor’s achievement of the contractual objective, i.e. completion of a specific work, which may be material (e.g. installing custom kitchen cabinetry) or immaterial (e.g. a film script). The contractor has freedom to choose the time and method of performing the work.

Under a contract for a specific work, the contractor is not entitled to any protection provided in the employee–employer relationship; moreover, unlike an employment contract and a mandate contract, a contract for a specific work is not subject to social or health insurance.

Remuneration under a contract for a specific work is agreed by the parties within the limits of the freedom of contract principle (it should correspond to rates customarily applied on the market for a given work).

Liability for proper performance of the work specified by the parties rests with the contractor.

Due to the lack of social security contributions for contracts for a specific work and potential abuses in this area, the legislator introduced a register of contracts for a specific work, to which most such contracts concluded with natural persons must be reported.

4. Contract for the provision of services – as a rule, it corresponds to the legal regime of a mandate contract; however, the key difference is that both parties to the legal relationship are entrepreneurs (a B2B relationship).

As with a mandate, the contractor is entrusted with performing specific activities (services) for the benefit of the ordering party. As a professional entity, the contractor has independence in choosing the method and place of providing the services. The contractor should also provide the resources necessary for proper performance of the contract.

Contractors in a relationship with the ordering party are not entitled to any social benefits or statutory protection against termination of the contract. The contractor bears full liability for any improper performance of the contract.

For the ordering party, choosing a contract for the provision of services with a person conducting business activity will have the most favorable economic effect. The ordering party pays only the VAT invoice or bill issued by the contractor, without the need to pay advance income tax, social and health contributions, and without any obligation to report the contract to any register.

At this point, it should be emphasized, however, that if any contract other than an employment contract in fact corresponds to the characteristics of an employment contract, there is a risk that such a contract may be reclassified as an employment contract. Such a change may be made by a court as a result of a claim filed by the contractor or by the National Labour Inspectorate.

If you are looking for legal support in this issue, please contact us.

Attorney at law - Michał Kubiak

e-mail: biuro@kancelariakubiak.pl or

phone/Whatsapp +48724293339

724 293 339

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