flash news - Labour and employment law

A draft law on the employment of foreigners has appeared on the Council of Ministers' legislative work list. It assumes the transfer to a draft law of provisions on work permits, which are currently in the Employment Promotion and Labour Market Institutions Act.

The Council of Ministers adopted a decree on the minimum wage and minimum hourly rate in 2023.

As of January 1, 2023, the minimum wage will increase to PLN 3,490 gross, and as of July 1 next year to PLN 3,600 gross.

At the same time, the minimum hourly wage in 2023 will increase to PLN 22.80 gross from January 1 and to PLN 23.50 gross from July 1, respectively.

Less than a month after increasing per diems for domestic business travel, the Ministry of Family and Social Policy presented a new ordinance proposal that further increases the per diem rate applicable to domestic business travel from PLN 38 to PLN 45. This increase is justified by the current economic situation and the 2023 inflation forecast.

On 15 April, 2022, the Act on Foreigners was amended to enable national visas to be granted to foreigners residing in Poland (article 79a of the Act on Foreigners).

Meanwhile, a long-awaited regulation issued by the Minister of Foreign Affairs on issuing national visas to foreigners residing in the Republic of Poland was issued on 30 August, 2022. Under this regulation, citizens of Belarus and Ukraine residing in Poland can apply to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for a national visa.

Until 30 September 2022, as long as it does not affect drivers’ working conditions and the level of road safety, derogations on working time of drivers carrying out national and international road haulage of goods in the Republic of Poland can be applied:

The Regional Administrative Court in Warsaw on 4 August 2022, ref. no. II SA/Wa 542/22, revoked the decision of the President of the Personal Data Protection Office (UODO) by which an employer was admonished for unjustified processing of a candidate's data after the end of recruitment.

The judgment is not final in law. Even though the judgment was issued in a specific case, the position expressed therein could have a significant effect on recruitment and the application of data protection regulations. The view presented in the judgment, if the judgement is upheld, could give reason to assume that the jurisprudence, and practice of the supervisory authority in this regard, will become established and be that the retention of a candidates' data is also permissible for the period of statutory limitation, after recruitment has been completed, for purposes related to possible claims for unequal treatment / discrimination.