On 10.05.2023 the European Parliament together with the Council of the EU adopted the so-called Equal Pay Directive [Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms]. Its aim is to combat wage discrimination and close the gap in pay between women and men for equal work. Member States, including Poland, are required to implement its provisions into their national laws by 07.06.2026 at the latest.

Although there is still some time left for this, in our view, it is worth starting implementation as early as the beginning of 2025 in order to be able to prepare for it properly. As our observations show, companies are aware that they are not adequately prepared and the challenges they must face to comply with the requirements are difficult and require a significant time investment.

One of the elements of preparing an organisation for the upcoming changes is also to conduct training in order to familiarise the organisation’s employees with the changes that will come into effect regarding pay transparency.

Training objectives:

• To discuss the provisions of Directive 2023/970.
• To point out the new obligations and challenges faced by employers.
• To provide recommendations on how to prepare and implement appropriate measures in organisations to ensure compliance with the new regulations.

The proposed training program will cover topics such as:

• Understanding what Directive 2023/970 is and how it will affect the remuneration policy of each employer.
• A comprehensive analysis of the requirements imposed by Directive 2023/970 on each employer in terms of remuneration reporting, from the detailed scope and form to the reporting periods.
• Analysis of the pay gap: how to identify and understand the pay gap and what are the methods of analysing it and the consequences of its occurrence.
• Challenges in reporting and sharing pay data (e.g. for recruitment or employees) and in analysing the pay gap in accordance with the requirements of the EU Directive.
• Recommendations on how to prepare and analyse the organisation’s pay data to ensure a transparent and fair pay policy in the organisation.

The topics of the training can be modified by supplementing it with the topics that you indicate.

The training is dedicated to:

HR professionals and managers, leaders and managers managing teams.

The training will be conducted by:

Anna Pułka, PhD, Attorney-at-law

Partner in Pułka i Partnerzy Radcowie Prawni Sp. p., Certified Compliance Specialist / Compliance Officer.

Cost of training:

Depending on the scope and whether it will be in-person or online training.

This training is directed to all entrepreneurs realizing investments or cooperating in them, where construction services contracts and special engineering services contracts are concluded on the basis of model conditions of contract VOB (Normalized rules of commission and execution of the construction services). VOB are widespread in Germany and because of that they are frequently implemented in other countries, mainly in the situation when one party, mostly the ordering one, is situated in Germany or has capital bounds with an entity with its seat in Germany. In Germany concluding contracts on the basis of VOB is as common as concluding contracts on the basis of FIDIC Conditions of Contract in Poland.

The knowledge about VOB seems to be indispensable for all participants of construction services market, who in the framework of their business relationships are meeting situations, when the business partner requires application of VOB.

The purpose of the training course is to acquaint participants with VOB, but also to show them benefits and risks, which are connected with agreeing on application of VOB, especially when the contract is subject to the German law.

The training course, depending on the client’s needs, is devoted to all parts of VOB or the chosen one (A, B or C). It is necessary to know that VOB consists of three parts, marked with letters A, B and C:

1. VOB/A – German: Allgemeine Bestimmungen für die Vergabe von Bauleistungen; English: General Conditions of Awarding Construction Services Contracts.
This part concerns mainly awarding of construction services contracts in the framework of public procurement. It distinguishes the proceeding of awarding public procurement depending on the value of the contract (national or European), in detail describing conditions of proceedings in particular admitted VOB and auction proceedings in both abovementioned groups of procurements. It implements a legal institution of so called prequalification of construction services contractors, proceedings in the framework of public-private partnership and so on.

2. VOB/B – German: Allgemeine Vertragsbedingungen für die Ausführung von Bauleistungen; English: General Conditions of Construction Contract Procedures.
In German law, provisions determining conditions which an agreement has to fulfil are mainly in the civil code (BGB – Burgerliches Gesetzbuch). However, taking into consideration specific problems in execution of construction service (e.g. the necessity of the compliance with technical conditions or investor’s expectations) constructions services contracts are based on the VOB/B rules.

3. VOB/C – German: Allgemeine Technische Vertragsbendingungen für Bauleistungen; English: General Technical Specifications in Construction Contracts.
This part is a collection of technical specifications and norms in that scope (a normalization DIN suitable to the type of construction services is in force; e.g. DIN 18331 for concrete services, DIN 18300 for winter services and so on).

Training addressed to all producers and service providers who, as part of their business, sell goods and / or services to consumers and / or other entrepreneurs and provide the quality guarantee for these goods / services. Since the guarantee is not mandatory – it is a contractual institution (it does not contain generally applicable legal provisions) – the producer may provide it or not. He also (if he provides the guarantee for his goods or services) decides how to remove the defect (repair or replacement). For this reason, issues related to the guarantee cause in practice a lot of disputes between the holders of the guarantee and the entities providing them. From the beginning of drawing up the content of the guarantee, up to the performance of obligations imposed by the producer or the service provider, there are legal issues in its content, that must be resolved, often by persons who do not have the right knowledge to make such decisions. The purpose of our trainings, covering this topic, is to familiarize all participants of the decision-making process related to providing the guarantee, accepting the complaints and considering them with all aspects that must be taken into account. And at the same time – to equip the participants of training with knowledge enabling them to make optimal business decisions in accordance with the content of the guarantee and applicable provisions.

The training, depending on the needs of a given client, consists of analysis of issues related to the subject of training, through analysis of document templates used by a given client, including the analysis of the guarantee document or complaint protocol etc., or is carried out based on case study. In both models, not only the theoretical issues are analyzed, but also the participants of the training use their knowledge while solving the specific cases.

The purpose of the workshops is to provide your employees with the knowledge about the rules that must be followed by every person who has a contact with personal data at a level, which will allow to act in line with the procedures adopted by your company.

The workshops are addressed to all the companies and are aimed on getting acquainted with the revolutionary changes to the protection of personal data which will become effective on May 2018. This is related with the entry into force on 25.05.2018 of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27.04.2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC, hereinafter referred to as “GDPR“.

Beginning from 25.05.2018 everyone, who hires employees and has business relationships with their contractors and clients, must adapt to the requirements of GDPR. The biggest challenge is to create by each entity its own procedures which will be followed in order to comply with the requirements of data processing under the law. GDPR does not precise what specific procedures shall be taken in the scope of processing of personal data and what requirements shall be met in this regard. However GDPR describes objectives which every entity processing personal data must achieve by such procedures. It should also be noted that sanctions provided for in GDPR for non-compliance with protection of personal data are significant. These are financial penalties up to the amount of 20 000 000 EUR or 4% of the annual worldwide turnover for the preceding financial year.

Given the necessity to adapt to specific characteristic of the activities of each company, the workshops are organized in the form of “tailor-made workshops“. The workshops will take place at the headquarters of your company or, in case of smaller groups, at the premises of our Law Firm. Agenda of every single one of those workshops will be tailored to the needs of each of our Clients and will depend on positions occupied by its employees and their professional obligations. During the workshops we will use the „Case study” method (i.e. analyse of the cases), which will allow the participants of workshops to use and practice acquired knowledge in specific cases.

The workshops, as a kind of base course, are addressed to all your employees, in particular employees of human resources, sales and purchases departments. Of course persons involved in technical and administrative procedures related to protection of personal data, including administrators of information security, may also participate.