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The Supreme Court: setting up a ‘book club’ in a shop does not entitle its owner to run the shop on Sundays
According to the law, restrictions on trading on Sundays and public holidays do not apply to retail outlets in establishments engaged in cultural, sporting, educational, tourism and leisure activities. Some traders are attempting to take advantage of this exception by setting up ‘book clubs' in their shops, which is intended to allow them to operate seven days a week.
The Sejm has passed a bill reducing the costs of employing members of the territorial forcesOn 1 October the Sejm (Polish parliament’s lower house) passed a bill (text in Polish) supporting businesses that employ staff who are also in the territorial defence or active reserve forces. Under the new law, employers will no longer be required to provide severance pay to employees called for active service in the territorial forces. Instead, the initial payment will be made by their military units.
Central Institute for Labour Protection Guidelines - working conditions for personnel suffering from depressionThe Central Institute for Labour Protection (CIOP) has decided to publish general guidelines on adapting working conditions for people with depression. In these guidelines, CIOP mentions categories such as quantitative work requirements, rewards or supervisor support and development.
ECHR: Lack of a COVID-19 vaccination justifies a change to the terms of employmentIn a judgment at the end of August this year, the European Court of Human Rights confirmed that a change to the terms and conditions of employment, because of not taking a vaccination against COVID-19, was justifiable under human rights law.
New draft bill to resolve problems with the visa issuing systemYesterday on 26 September 2024, the Government’s Legislation Centre published the announced draft bill amending certain acts in order to resolve problems in the visa system of the Republic of Poland (we learnt of the premises for this bill a few weeks ago).
Work is continuing on amending the Floods ActOn 25 September 2024, a bill was submitted to the Sejm to amend the act on special solutions for remedying the effects of flood and also certain other acts.
Whistleblower protection provisions enter into forceToday, 25 September 2024, most provisions of the Whistleblower Protection Act, including those concerning internal reporting, come into force. Accordingly, entities employing, as of 1 January or 1 July of a given year, at least 50 persons, will be required, among other things, to implement an internal reporting procedure.
Employment of foreigners in Poland - first half of 2024The Labour Market Department of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has published information on the employment of foreigners in Poland in the first half of 2024. The ministerial data confirm the trend of an increasing number of foreigners finding employment in Poland.
Rights of employees and employers in connection with floodsSpecial solutions in the sphere of labour law under the Flood Act apply in the area of municipalities affected by the September 2024 floods:
Labor Protection Council on the need for new health and safety regulations in the face of climate changeAccording to the current regulation on general occupational health and safety conditions, the temperature in work premises should be appropriate to the type of work performed. In principle, it should not be lower than 14°C, and in premises where light physical work is performed and in offices, not lower than 18°C.
The good name of an employer to be protected on the InternetOn August 30, 2024, the Sejm received a bill amending the Civil Procedure Code which is intended to make it easier to hold accountable those who anonymously infringe online personality rights (e.g., publishers of hateful posts on social networks).
Government plans to implement EU Artificial Intelligence ActThe assumptions of the Artificial Intelligence Systems Act have appeared in the List of Legislative and Programme Works of the Council of Ministers. It is intended to implement the so-termed AI Act, which we wrote about on our portal.
Another CJEU ruling on overtime for part-time workersOn 29 July 2024, the Court of Justice held that a rule under which part-time workers can only receive overtime pay for work exceeding the work time standard applicable to full-time workers constitutes unequal treatment of part-time workers which, if not justified by objective reasons, may be contrary to EU law (case ref. C-184/22 and C-185/22).
Remote working - new studies following more than a year of remote working in PolandTwo days from the office and three days from home - this is the most popular remote working model across Europe, according to a recent CBRE study. The report from the study published in July (European Office Occupier Sentiment Survey 2024) indicated that 70% of employees work from the office for two or three days and only 7% work from home four days a week.
EU Blue Card: List of professions whose practice results in recognition of higher professional qualifications for foreignersOn 30 July 2024, the following was published on the website of the Government Legislation Centre: supplementary material to the draft Act on amending the Act on foreigners and certain other acts (UC15). It includes an annex to aRegulation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration with a list of professions the practice of which results in the recognition of higher professional qualifications obtained by a foreigner.
Minimum wage billYesterday, the website of the Government’s Legislation Centre published a new draft bill on minimum wages. Its purpose is to implement Directive (EU) 2022/2041 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union.
Widow's pensionA new solution has been introduced to the Polish pension system: a so-called widow's pension. This stems from the Act of 26 July 2024 amending the Act on pensions from the Social Insurance Fund and certain other acts, as published in the Journal of Laws on 16 August 2024.
The Act states that widows and widowers, in addition to their pension (or other similar benefit such as the pre-retirement benefit), will be able to receive a survivor's pension from their deceased spouse.
One of these pensions will be due in full and the other will be paid:
- from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2026 at the rate of 15%,
- from 1 January 2027 at the rate of 25%.
Minimum wage increase from 1 January 2025On 5 August 2024, a draft regulation of the Council of Ministers on minimum remuneration for work and the minimum hourly rate in 2025 was published on the website of the Government Legislation Centre (RD111).
According to the draft, the minimum wage from 1 January 2025 will be PLN 4,626 gross and the minimum hourly rate will be PLN 30.20 gross.
EES/ETIAS and the residence permit of UK citizens after BrexitAn EU IT system is due to be launched in the first half of 2025 that will record the entries and exits of non-EU nationals (EES), as well as short-term travel permits (ETIAS) to the EU. Therefore, UK citizens living in Poland and their eligible family members should consider applying for a residence permit now - if they have not already done so.
Longer validity of disability certificatesWe recently wrote about the main assumptions of the Act of 24 July 2024 on Amendments to the Act on Vocational and Social Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities. The new Act was published in the Journal of Laws on 2 August 2024 and came into force on the next day.
Under the new legislation, persons whose certificates are due to expire on 30 September 2024 will maintain their disabled status until 31 March 2025. It should be noted that employees with a significant or moderate degree of disability are entitled to a shortened working day or additional leave, so the change may also be of interest to employers of persons with disabilities.
Collective accords and collective agreements will cover contractors?The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy is working on an amendment to the legislation on collective labour law. We have already written on our blog about the most important assumptions underlying the Collective Labour Agreements and Collective Accords Act (UC34).
The draft contains many important changes, not only from the perspective of trade unions. It has been proposed that collective agreements should also cover persons performing paid work on a basis other than employment, such as contractors.
Ministry of the Family, Labour and Social Policy plans to impose social insurance contributions on civil law contractsOn 5 July 2024, the Ministry of the Family, Labour and Social Policy announced the status of work on a draft amendment to the Act on the Social Insurance System and the Act on Social Insurance for Accidents at Work and Occupational Diseases. The draft was prepared and subsequently discussed at the last meeting of the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers. Its aim is to implement the A4.7 reform set out in the National Reconstruction Plan.
Foreigners working in Poland and the country’s demographic situationThe Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) has published a report on foreigners registered with Poland’s social insurance system in 2023.
The report states that 1,127,744 foreigners were registered with the social security system in 2023, which is nearly 513% more than in 2015.
The growth is therefore noticeable and has been almost exponential, so far.
Draft amendment: longer validity of disability certificatesOn 11 July 2024, the Government Legislation Centre’s website published a bill to amend the Act on Vocational and Social Rehabilitation and on the Employment of Disabled Persons (UD93), dated 10 July 2024.
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Can an employer process an employee's private contact data?
When an employee has been absent for a long period of time, or in other circumstances where an employer is having difficulties contacting an employee via official means of communication, HR departments often wonder whether they can use an employee's private contact data. Some more cautious employers introduce employee questionnaires requesting a private e-mail address or telephone number, or collect this data from employees in a different way. How does the issue of obtaining private contact data look from a data protection law perspective?
Upskilling – or how to train employees in compliance with regulations?Helping employees to raise their professional qualifications is a basic duty of employers and is also one of the cornerstones of labour law. Employee training is an integral part of today’s labour market, in which technological developments and the associated changes in how work is organised are, essentially, forcing upskilling and retraining. This topic is also particularly relevant to the policies that employers draw up, which increasingly offer subsidised training to employees as a benefit encouraging them accept offers of jobs or to remain in employment.
Digital platform workers: presumption of a relationship of employmentOn 24 April 2024, the European Parliament adopted new legislation to improve the working conditions of online platform workers. It is set out in the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving working conditions on online platforms. As many as 554 MEPs voted in favour of the Directive (56 voted against and 24 abstained).
Purpose of the Directive
The Directive aims to improve the working conditions of online platform workers and provide them with protection by ensuring that their employment status is properly established through introducing a presumption of employment and establishing minimum rights applicable to anyone working through online platforms in the EU.
Employing Ukrainian citizens – employment v. B2B contractUkrainian nationals have long been the most numerous group of foreigners working in Poland. Their share of the Polish labour market has risen further due to the war in Ukraine. As a result of the hostilities, some Ukrainians decided to leave the country to seek refuge in other states, including, to a significant extent, in Poland. A report of the Central Statistical Office dated 5 August 2024 shows that 690,200 Ukrainian citizens were working in Poland at the end of February 2024.
Plan to limit liability for illegally giving work to foreignersIn the Polish legal system, giving work to a foreigner who has not been authorised to undertake it, entails a liability for the employer. At present, Article 120 par. 1 of the Act on the Promotion of Employment and on Labour Market Institutions envisages a fine for illegally employing a foreigner. The fine may range from PLN 1,000 to PLN 30,000.
Amendments are now being planned to limit the extent of an employers’ liability, by changing the requirements for liability under this petty offence. The proposed amendments have been accepted by the Council of Ministers and are currently at the consultation stage.
Material scope of the Law on Protection of WhistleblowersWhat can a whistleblower report?
On 24 June 2024, the Whistleblowers Protection Act was published in the Journal of Laws. After a delay of several years, Poland - as the last European Union country - implemented the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) on the protection of whistleblowers into its legal order. Thus, the period of vacatio legis, which is three months for most provisions, commenced. They will enter into force at the end of September 2024.
The Act allows whistleblowers to make reports or public disclosures if they identify violations of the branches of law set out in the Act. It is therefore worth answering the seemingly trivial question of what matters a report can address.
Important changes regarding the legalisation of work and stay of Ukrainian citizens in PolandOn 1 July 2024, another amendment to the Act of 12 March 2022 on assistance to citizens of Ukraine in connection with the armed conflict in that country will come into force. It introduces a number of important changes concerning the legality of residence and employment of Ukrainian citizens in Poland.
Changes regarding stay
The most important change in the amendment is an extension until 30 September 2025 of:
- the period of legal residence in Poland of Ukrainian citizens under temporary protection (who arrived legally in Poland starting from 24 February 2022 and declared their intention to stay in Poland),
Care leave - documentation required from the employerCare leave, introduced into the Labour Code on 26 April 2023 is an employee entitlement that appeared relatively recently in the Polish legal order (we wrote about its granting in the article Care Leave). As a result, there is still no established case law or practice on the application of provisions defining rules for its granting. Nevertheless, every employer should consider appropriate solutions if receiving a request from an employee for care leave.
Exit interviews and regulations on the processing of personal dataExit interviews, namely interviews which employers hold with employees whose employment is ending, are widely used by HR departments and may provide useful information regarding managing the workplace. In today’s piece, we will take a look at exit interviews from the perspective of data protection legislation.
Sanctions and claims envisioned in the draft Whistleblower Protection ActOn 23 May 2024, Parliament adopted the long-awaited draft law on the protection of whistleblowers (which is supposed to implement the European Parliament (EU) Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of the rights of whistleblowers of 23 October 2019). After more than two years after the deadline for implementing the EU legislation, it seems likely that employers (and whistleblowers) will finally live to see legislation that has caused them so much concern.
Admittedly, the bill still must be passed by the Senate and then signed by the President before it can enter into force. However, many significant changes to its content are unlikely.
The draft law provides for a broad package of criminal sanctions and claims for persons to whom its provisions have been incorrectly applied. In view of the imminent entry into force of the whistleblower provisions, it is certainly worthwhile to become familiar with the potential consequences of violating them.
New Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) and Ergonomics Regulations for Workplaces Equipped with Screen MonitorsBy 17 May 2024, employers must adapt workstations that existed before 17 November 2023 to the new OHS and ergonomics requirements resulting from the amended provisions of the Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 1 December 1998 on Occupational Health & Safety at Workplaces Equipped with Display Screen Monitors.
The creation of a new workstation as of 17 November 2023 means that the employer must apply the amended legislation from the outset.
Procedure for internal reporting in light of the draft whistleblower protection billThe draft bill on the protection of whistleblowers, published on 17 April 2024, intended to implement Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of whistleblowers, provides detailed guidelines on requirements that obliged employers must meet in establishing internal reporting procedures.
Applicable scope of the law on protection of whistleblowersOn 17 April 2024, another bill on the protection of whistleblowers was submitted to the Lower House of Parliament (Sejm). The law is intended to implement the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2019/1937 of 23 October 2019 on the protection of whistleblowers into the Polish legal order. After more than two years of work, at this session the government adopted what seems to be the final version of the draft.
Important amendments to the Foreigners ActA few days ago, a bill to amend the Foreigners Act appeared on the legislative agenda of the Polish Council of Ministers. Work on the bill is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2024. It provides for changes in several important areas, including:
- Implementation into Polish law of Directive (EU) 2021/1883 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2021 on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of highly qualified employment (EU Blue Card)
- Electronic filing of applications for temporary residence permits, permanent residence permits and long-term EU resident permits, instead of filing these applications in paper form in person at the province office.
Unauthorised access to employees’ personal dataThis is the fourth in a series of articles in which we discuss the duties of a data controller with respect to data protection breaches in the employment context, drawing on Guidelines 01/2021 on Examples regarding Personal Data Breach Notification adopted on 14 December 2021 (version 2.0) from the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).
Leave from work due to force majeureSince 26 April 2023 the Labour Code has allowed leave from work due to force majeure. The introduction of this institution was mandated by the so-called Work Life Balance Directive (Directive 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU).
What if an employee loses a laptop?This is the third in a series of articles in which we discuss the duties of a data controller with respect to data protection breaches in the employment context, drawing on Guidelines 01/2021 on Examples regarding Personal Data Breach Notification adopted on 14 December 2021 (version 2.0) from the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).
Carer's leaveCarer's leave was introduced into the Labour Code on 26 April 2023 by the Act amending the Labour Code (LC) and certain other acts of 9 March 2023. The Act was intended to introduce two directives into Polish law:
- Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union
- Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU.
When a former employee takes data from the companyThis is the second in a series of articles in which we discuss the duties of a data controller with respect to data protection breaches in the employment context, drawing on Guidelines 01/2021 on Examples regarding Personal Data Breach Notification adopted on 14 December 2021 (version 2.0) from the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).
No more asymmetry in wage negotiations?In the current Polish labour market, disclosure of salaries by employers is standard only in certain industries, particularly in the IT sector. Many employers do not disclose salary information to protect company secrets. Hence, it appears, that the norm is not to disclose salary ranges in recruitment advertisements, use of salary secrecy provisions and for employers to increasingly rarely set pay grades, which translates into less disclosure of salaries in organisations.
When an employment agency falls victim to a cyberattackResponding appropriate to a data breach is one of the fundamental duties of data controllers under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But practice shows that complying with these duties often poses major problems for data controllers, including when the breach occurs in an employment context. These difficulties include in particular assessing:
- Whether a breach has occurred
- The risk associated with the breach
- What legal duties are imposed on the data controller in relation to the breach
- What measures should be implemented in connection with the breach.
Pay Transparency Directive: Strengthening the principle of equal pay in the European UnionDirective (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 was adopted on 10 May 2023. What new obligations will employers face? How does EU law understand equal pay?
Recruitment of a foreigner and personal data - what you can and should ask the candidate about and at what stage?For a recruiting employer, a candidate’s professional competence is crucial. Equally important, however, is sometimes the timing of starting work.
The start date is affected not only by the notice period for the candidate's current employment. In the case of candidates who are citizens of third countries (i.e., outside the European Economic Area or Switzerland), the need to legalize their stay and work in Poland matters.
Act on foreigners: voluntary departure and other changesOn 21 March 2023, the President signed the Act of 9 March 2023 Amending the Act on Foreigners and Certain Other Acts. The amendment was published in the Journal of Laws on 23 March 2023 and, with certain exceptions, will enter into force 14 days after its publication. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure the application of Regulations 2018/1860 and 2018/1861, dated 28 November 2018, of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU).
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Changes in immigration regulations
There are a lot of changes in immigration regulations. How to navigate them? Take a look at our continually updated guide.
Citizen of UkrainePolish ID number (PESEL) (UKR)Notification on hiring of a citizen of UkraineWork permitsEU Blue Card (temporary residence permit to work at a job requiring higher professional qualifications)Sanctions for violating regulations on hiring foreignersIntroduction of ETIAS and EES -
Pay transparency
Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 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
Adoption of the directiveText of the directive (on EUR-lex)
Pay transparency in the EU (on the European Council website)
No more asymmetry in wage negotiations? (on HRlaw.pl)
Implementation of the directiveReports of medium and large employersEmployers with 250 employees or more will file first reports by 7 June 2027 and every year thereafter
Employers with 150 to 249 employees will file first reports by 7 June 2027 and every three years thereafter
StatisticsThe member states will provide Eurostat with national data allowing the calculation of the wage gap on an annual basis from 31 January 2028 (for 2026) and every year thereafter
Reporting by statesThe member states will provide the European Commission with data on the wage gap obtained from employers and collected as a result of complaints filed by employees by 7 June 2028 and every two years thereafter
Reports of small employersEmployers with 100 to 149 employees will file first reports by 7 June 2027 and every three years thereafter
At the same time, it is the deadline for member states to report on the application of the directive and its impact in practice
Commission ReportThe European Commission will report to the European Parliament and the Council (EU) on the implementation of the directive, along with possible legislative proposals