What is a traineeship?
The traineeship is the acquisition of practical skills for the work performance by an unemployed person by doing tasks in a workplace without establishing an employment relationship with an employer. The traineeship enables to acquire professional experience, improving the chances to find employment.
Whom are the traineeships for?
Every unemployed can be referred to a traineeship lasting up to 6 months. An unemployed below 30 years of age can be referred to carry out the traineeship for up to 12 months.
Who can organise them?
Traineeships can be organised by employers, sole proprietors not employing workers and by NGOs, in farming cooperatives or by adult individuals who reside in Poland and run their activity, personally and for their own benefit, related to plant or animal production, including horticulture, fruit farming, bee keeping and fish breeding, in agricultural farms owned by them, with the arable land of more than 2 comparative fiscal hectares or run a special branch of agricultural production, as mentioned in the Act of 20 December 1990 on Social Insurance of Farmers.
How to obtain the traineeship?
You can apply for the referral to the traineeship in the Poviat Labour Office. You can also find an employer who will agree to organise the traineeship workplace. However, the traineeship organisation and the referral to a vacant traineeship workplace is conditional on whether the Labour Office has appropriate funds. Also, remember that if you reject the traineeship proposal or quit the traineeship (for your fault), you will lose your unemployed status!
What are the trainee's rights?
If you receive a referral to the traineeship outside your place of residence, you can apply for the reimbursement of the costs of travelling from the place of residence to the traineeship location or of the accommodation costs in the place where the internship takes place. This refers to the entire traineeship duration.
During the traineeship, the participant is eligible to receive a scholarship of 120% of the unemployment benefit (as mentioned in Article 72 section 1 item 1), with the scholarship term being included in the period of employment required to acquire or retain employee entitlements and the contributory periods. The trainee receives a certificate of the traineeship completion from the starost, and an opinion containing information on the tasks carried out by the unemployed and the practical skills obtained during the traineeship from the employer.
Participating in the traineeship does not result in losing the unemployed status. During the traineeship, the trainee is entitled to have 2 days off per every 30 calendar days of the traineeship (on request) which they receive the scholarship for. They are not entitled, however, to an unpaid leave and special leave.
An unemployed with at least one child below the age of 6 or at least one disabled child below 18, referred to the traineeship, can apply for the reimbursement of the costs of taking care of the child or children under 7 or of a dependant during such a traineeship. The costs will be reimbursed provided:
- They have been agreed before;
- The minimum remuneration for work is not exceeded in a month;
- The costs incurred are documented.
What is a traineeship voucher?
A traineeship voucher is an instrument used to activate the unemployed below 30 years of age, being a guarantee of referring the unemployed person to the traineeship organised by a given employer for 6 months, if the employer obliges to employ the unemployed for 6 months after the traineeship is completed. A traineeship voucher is awarded based on the individual action plan. The traineeship voucher validity period is determined by the starost.
What is the value of the traineeship voucher?
Within the traineeship voucher, the starost funds:
- the costs of travel to and from the traineeship location — on a flat base, up to PLN 600, paid to the unemployed person in monthly instalments of up to PLN 100, together with the scholarship;
- the costs of required medical or psychological examinations — paid to the account of the examiner.
The employer who employs the unemployed for the declared 6-month period will receive a bonus of PLN 1,500 from the starost. The bonus and the maximum flat amount are valorised.
What is the scholarship value?
During the term of the traineeship, the unemployed person is eligible to receive a scholarship amounting to 120% of the unemployment benefit. The scholarship term is included in the period of employment required to acquire or retain worker's rights.
The scholarship is payable also for any days off (the programme participant of is entitled to two days off for every 30 calendar days). The benefit does not apply for the period when the scholarship is paid.
Is the scholarship payable also in the period when I am incapable of work?
The unemployed person retains the right to the scholarship for the period of the documented incapacity for work. This incapacity should be documented with a medical certificate or a printout of the medical certificate (this does not apply to the unemployed treated in an addiction treatment centre). The unemployed is obliged to notify the Poviat Labour Office of their incapacity for work within 2 days after the certificate is issued and submit it to the Poviat Labour Office within 7 days.