articles - Labour and employment law

Mobbing is a particularly harmful and dangerous phenomenon. It adversely affects employees as well as the employer. Mobbing also negatively affects the work atmosphere and thereby assessment of the employer by present and future staff.

The possibility of issuing medical certificates electronically in Poland arose in 2016, and since 1 December 2018 this has been the only acceptable form of issuing them (paper certificates can be issued only in certain exceptional situations). This also applies to certificates of temporary incapacity to work due to illness, i.e. sick notes. Today, almost every sick note goes directly to the employer, without the employee’s involvement. This may raise doubts whether the employee still needs to inform the employer of his or her absence from work due to sickness.

A bill entitled the Act on Specific Solutions Facilitating Business Operations During the COVID-19 Epidemic has been filed with the Sejm. It would allow employers in Poland to demand information from employees about COVID-19 test results, having undergone a COVID-19 infection, or vaccination against COVID-19.

According to the proposal, an employer would be entitled to demand information from an employee or a person in a civil-law relationship (e.g. a contractor) to the effect that the person has obtained a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours before submission of the information.

Work is underway on a bill implementing the EU’s Whistleblower Directive (2019/1937). It is not yet clear whether the directive will be implemented into Polish law on time (by 17 December 2021), but many companies are already drafting the necessary documents and organisational procedures.

The beginning of 2022 will bring significant social security changes for both insured (employees) and payers (employers). These changes relate to the amendment of social security regulations, including the Act on cash benefits from social insurance in case of sickness and maternity (the Act of 24 June 2021 amending the Act on the social insurance system and some other acts), some of the provisions of which have already been in force since 18 September 2021  

Two years passed in July since a Polish Card (Karta Polaka) may also be received by foreigners with citizenship of countries other than which emerged from the Soviet Union’s collapse. The applicant’s knowledge of Polish is checked when considering the application. This seems one of the reasons why the confirmation of Polish citizenship route appears more popular among Poles living in countries such as Brazil or the United States. However, there are situations in which a Polish Card application is a better, and sometimes the only available solution enabling an applicant to be able to...