The Platform Work Directive: what will change for couriers and drivers?

Who this applies to

• Couriers delivering orders from an app and drivers carrying passengers on jobs from an app.
• Also people whose contract is not with the app itself but with an intermediary company (a fleet partner, in Polish: partner flotowy).

A few terms:

• Directive - an EU legal act addressed to the member states. Each state must put its rules into its own acts. This is called transposition or implementation.
• Digital labour platform - in the directive: a company that organises work through an app or a website.
• Intermediary - in the directive: a company between the platform and you, which has a contract with the platform and with you (Article 2(1)(e)). Note: in the Polish Road Transport Act the word "intermediary" (pośrednik) means something else, namely the ride-hailing app itself.
• Presumption - accepting that something is true until the other party proves otherwise.

What to do

1. Do not assume the directive already protects you. Until the Polish act enters into force, you cannot rely on the presumption from the directive in a dispute with a platform or a fleet partner.
2. Use the current provisions. If in practice you work under someone's direction, at a set place and time, it may be an employment relationship under Article 22 § 1 of the Labour Code, regardless of the name of the contract. Check this in the Mandate or employment tool and in the guide Courier or app driver: who is your employer and what contract do you have?.
3. File a complaint with the PIP if the cooperation is ongoing. From 8 July 2026 a labour inspector may issue an instruction (polecenie) to conclude an employment contract (umowa o pracę), and if it is not carried out, the District Labour Inspector may issue a decision (decyzja) establishing an employment relationship (Article 11(1)(7a) and (2) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate). The PIP may also inspect a company that has no employees on employment contracts but cooperates with people on contracts of mandate (umowa zlecenia) or B2B (Article 13(1)). You can prepare the complaint in the complaint generator. We describe the procedure in the guide How the PIP establishes an employment relationship: inspection, instruction and OIP decision step by step.
4. Collect evidence now. Screenshots from the app, messages about blocks and penalties, rating rules, settlements, messages from the coordinator. They will be useful today at the PIP and in court, and also later, when the Polish act starts to apply.
5. Check the progress of the bill in official sources: on the website of the Government Legislation Centre and in the Sejm (the addresses are in the sources under the guide).

What the directive provides

Employment status (Articles 4-5).

• Whether you have an employment relationship is to be decided by the facts, that is, how you really work, including the operation of algorithms, and not by the name of the contract (Article 4(2)).
• An employment relationship is presumed when there are facts indicating direction and control under national law. A platform that claims it is not an employment relationship must prove it (Article 5(1)). This shifts the burden of proof from you to the platform.
• The presumption can be rebutted (Article 5(2)).
• It applies in proceedings on status before authorities and courts. As a rule it does not apply in tax, criminal and social security matters, unless the state decides otherwise (Article 5(3)).
• You can start proceedings to establish your status yourself (Article 5(4)).
• For contracts concluded before 2.12.2026 and still in force on that day, the presumption works only for the period from 2.12.2026 (Article 5(6)).

Intermediaries, that is, the model with a fleet partner (Articles 2-3). The directive covers people working through a platform regardless of the name of the contract, also when the contract links them with an intermediary (Article 2(1)(b) and (c)). People working through an intermediary are to have the same level of protection as people with a contract directly with the platform, if necessary through joint and several liability (Article 3). Joint and several liability means that you can claim what you are owed from any of the companies that are liable.

Algorithmic management (Articles 7-11). This is about a situation where a computer program assigns jobs, rates you or blocks your account.

• The platform may not, through automated systems, process data on your emotional or psychological state or your private conversations, or collect data when you are not offering or performing work (Article 7).
• The platform must inform you in writing (this can be electronic) how the monitoring and decision-making systems work, including the reasons why it may restrict, suspend or delete your account (Article 9).
• Every decision to restrict, suspend or terminate a contract, or to restrict, suspend or delete an account, must be taken by a human (Article 10(5)).
• You have the right to an explanation of the decision and to a contact person. A decision about an account, refusal of payment or the status of a contract must have written reasons (Article 11(1)).
• You can request a review of the decision. The platform replies in writing without undue delay, at the latest within 2 weeks of receiving the request (Article 11(2)). If the decision infringed your rights, the platform must correct it within 2 weeks and, if that is impossible, offer compensation (Article 11(3)).

Other rights. A communication channel between workers which the platform may not monitor (Article 20). Protection against unfavourable treatment and against dismissal for exercising rights under the directive (Articles 22-23).

State of work in Poland (15.10.2026)

• The government entered into its list of legislative work a bill on performing work through digital labour platforms, number UC160. It is being prepared by the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy. The list gives a planned date of adoption by the Council of Ministers: the 4th quarter of 2026. This is a plan, not a date of entry into force.
• On the website of the Government Legislation Centre the bill has number 12413254. The stages of inter-ministerial consultation, public consultation and opinions have a last-change date of 24.08.2026. Later stages, including adoption by the Council of Ministers and submission to the Sejm, have no dates.
• There is no platform work bill in the Sejm yet.
• According to the ministry, the bill is to introduce, among other things, a presumption of an employment relationship that will also be applied before the PIP, an obligation to inform the PIP about cooperation with intermediaries, and the rule that a human decides on terminating a contract. These are announcements. The content of the act may change during work in the government and the Sejm.

Exceptions and caveats

• The directive works through the Polish act. The directive is addressed to the states. It is not applied directly between you and a private company. Until the Polish act enters into force, a dispute about status is decided under Article 22 of the Labour Code, the procedure before the PIP and the labour court.
• The deadline of 2.12.2026 does not mean the law in Poland changes on that day. It is the deadline for the state to introduce provisions. The change for you will come only when the Polish act is passed, published and enters into force.
• Review of decisions and businesses. The rights under Article 11 do not apply to people who are "business users" within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 (Article 11(5)). How these provisions will be transposed into Polish law will be seen in the act.
• The presumption does not mean an automatic employment contract. The platform can rebut it if it shows that there is no direction and control.
• Details of the Polish bill. We do not give deadlines or article numbers from the Polish bill, because it has not been adopted and may change.

Example

Assumptions: a courier has a contract of mandate with an intermediary company that cooperates with a delivery app. On 15 October 2026 the app automatically blocks his account without explanation. Formally, the cooperation is ongoing.

Today the courier cannot rely on Article 10(5) or Article 11 of the directive against the company, because Poland has not yet implemented them. He can demand an explanation from the company he has the contract with, collect evidence (screenshots, messages) and, if the work had the features of an employment relationship, file a complaint with the PIP. When the Polish act enters into force, the rights to a decision taken by a human and to a review of the decision will follow from that act, to the extent the act provides for them.

Documents and deadlines

Frequently asked questions

Will I automatically have an employment contract from 2 December 2026?

No. 2 December 2026 is a deadline for the state. Even after the Polish act enters into force, the presumption does not create a contract automatically. It makes it easier to establish an employment relationship, and the platform can rebut it.

Does the directive apply to me if I have a contract with a fleet partner and not with the app?

Yes, the directive covers people working through intermediaries and requires the same protection for them (Article 3). How exactly this will be regulated in Poland depends on the Polish act.

What can I do if my account has been blocked today?

Ask the company you have the contract with for a written explanation and keep the evidence. If you have not been paid for work done, see Fleet partner does not pay or makes deductions: what to do?. If the cooperation had the features of an employment relationship, you can file a complaint with the PIP.

Useful tools

• Questionnaire: mandate or employment
• PIP complaint generator

Related guides

• Courier or app driver: who is your employer and what contract do you have?
• Contract of mandate or employment contract? How to check what really binds the parties
• How the PIP establishes an employment relationship: inspection, instruction and OIP decision step by step
• How do you file a complaint to the National Labour Inspectorate?
• Fleet partner does not pay or makes deductions: what to do?

Sources (documents in Polish)

• Dyrektywa Parlamentu Europejskiego i Rady (UE) 2024/2831 z 23.10.2024 w sprawie poprawy warunków pracy za pośrednictwem platform, Dz.Urz. UE L 2024/2831
• Ta sama dyrektywa, repozytorium Urzędu Publikacji UE
• MRPiPS - Projekt ustawy platformowej wpisany do wykazu prac legislacyjnych rządu (4.08.2026)
• Wykaz prac legislacyjnych RM - projekt UC160
• RCL - projekt nr 12413254
• Sejm - procesy legislacyjne X kadencji (wyszukiwanie „platform”)
• Kodeks pracy, t.j. Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1245 (art. 22)
• Ustawa o PIP, tekst ujednolicony ISAP (art. 11, 13, 34, 44)
• PIP - Jak złożyć skargę?

Sources checked on 15 October 2026. Law as at 15 October 2026.

Change history

• 15 October 2026: First publication.