HRlaw.pl – Page 23 – Labour and employment law blog

25 November 201928 November 2019personal data

Electronic versions of employee documentation and electronic form

Since January 2019, employers may keep their employees’ records in electronic versions. However, labour law regulations do not define the concept of electronic version. Nonetheless, certain guidelines are to be found in the provisions of the Labour Code and the regulation dated 10 December 2018 of the Minister of the Family, Labour and Social Policy on employee documentation specifying the requirements related to changing the version of employee documentation from paper to electronic.

25 November 201925 November 2019personal data

Employees’ consent to processing of their personal data by the employer

Amendments to the Polish Labour Code in force since May 2019 resolved the existing doubts as to the admissibility of obtaining employees’ consent to processing of their personal data by employers.

Before, the courts had held quite clearly that if an employee’s consent to processing of his personal data were considered a circumstance legalising the gathering of personal data from an employee other than those specified in Art. 22¹ of the Labour Code, that would constitute a breach of that provision and a circumvention of the law (Supreme Administrative Court judgments of 1 December 2009, case no. I OSK 249/09, and 6 September 2011, case no. I OSK 1476/10). Therefore, as a rule, obtaining personal data other than those indicated in Art. 22¹ of the Labour Code based on the employee’s consent was deemed inadmissible.

19 November 201925 November 2019mobbing

Uprooting mobbing at firms

A major change to the Labour Code entered into force on 7 September 2019, making it easier for employees to pursue claims for mobbing.

Under Art. 94³ of the Polish Labour Code, an employee may seek compensation (zadośćuczynienie) for a detriment to the employee’s health caused by mobbing, as well as damages (odszkodowanie) in an amount no less than the minimum wage. But previously, as a condition for seeking damages, the employee had to terminate the employment on the grounds of mobbing.

12 November 201925 November 2019hiring foreigners

Employment contracts with foreigners. Part 4: right to salary

In the case of a foreigner who has lost or not yet obtained rights to work and stay in Poland, the issues of conclusion and termination of the employment contract and setting the starting date for work (discussed in earlier blog posts) largely boil down in practice to the issue of the employer’s obligation to pay salary to such an employee.

This issue is basically resolved in its entirety by the applicable regulations.