articles - Labour and employment law

Whistleblowers are individuals who voluntarily and in good faith report or disclose information about abuse, contributing to the prevention of harm and the detection of public-interest risks and threats that would otherwise remain undetected. Although national institutions and bodies, as well as social organisations, have repeatedly raised the need for regulations to protect such persons, Poland has not yet developed a comprehensive regulation to protect whistleblowers. This is expected to change in the near future, as on 7 October 2019 the Council of the European Union adopted the...

The reform of Poland’s Civil Procedure Code which entered into force on 7 November 2019 introduced changes in the separate procedure for labour-law cases, mostly deriving from changes in the general procedure.

A common phenomenon on the Polish labour market is for an employee to establish an individual business and then pass from an employment contract to a cooperation agreement between business entities (B2B contract). But when deciding to modify their form of cooperation, the parties must ensure that the new legal relationship is framed in compliance with its proper classification.

Determining whether a work created by an employee is an employee work for copyright purposes has serious practical consequences. The use of the employer’s equipment or materials doesn’t necessarily mean that a work is an employee work. Similarly, the employee’s use of his own equipment or materials doesn’t automatically mean that the work is not an employee work. Warsaw Court of Appeal judgment of 20 June 2018 (case no. I ACa 18/17)  

Our blog is for everyone professionally involved with labour law and human resources. The profile of employment law is clearly rising. The complexity of issues presented in this field is also growing. It can be said without exaggeration that nearly everything in business revolves around employees. Apart from inflation in the regulations, this is affected by changes in society and civilisation, including demographics, increased mobility of workers, and growth of new technologies. 

Polish employers sending workers on foreign business trips more and more often have legitimate doubts whether they should apply for an A1 certificate for such staff. This is a document required in the case of posting of workers, confirming that they are covered by the social security legislation of the given jurisdiction. The problem mainly involves how to understand the notion of “posting” as used in European rules for coordination of social security systems, which govern the issuance of A1 certificates.