Month: July 2022

From 30 July this year it will be possible to apply for the Pole’s Card (Karta Polaka) by foreigners from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia without leaving Poland. It is a facilitation for persons of Polish origin from these countries. Previously, applicants had in most cases to leave Poland to submit an application to a Polish consulate abroad.

Currently, only citizens of Belarus (or persons who have status of a stateless person in that country) can use the possibility of submitting an application to the voivode in Poland. Moreover, applications are accepted only in Podlasie and Lublin regions. After the changes, citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (or persons with stateless status in the above-mentioned countries) will be able to submit an application for issuing or extending the Pole’s Card to each voivode in Poland.

The changes result from the restriction of the work of the Polish consulates, caused by the Russian aggression on Ukraine. Submitting the application in Poland will only be an additional option. It will be also still possible to apply for the Pole’s Card abroad at Polish consulates by the above-mentioned persons and other foreigners.

Additional options for submitting the application do not change the criteria for obtaining the Pole’s Card. A foreigner may apply for the Pole’s Card if is able to demonstrate e.g. knowledge of the Polish language and Polish nationality.

Meeting the requirements to receive a Pole’s Card should be demonstrated with appropriate documents, especially with regard to Polish origin of e.g. parents of the applicant. Documents should be presented in the original version, also in the case of a procedure in Poland. This may be an obstacle for foreigners who have not brought the relevant documents to Poland.

Having a Pole’s Card is associated with the possibility of faster obtaining a permanent residence permit in Poland, and – in the longer term – Polish citizenship. The Pole’s Card also gives other privileges, such as full access to the Polish labor market or to a free education (including higher education) in Poland.

In order to verify whether the amount of remuneration is adequate in a particular case, it is first necessary to assess the nature of the duties actually performed by the employee on a given position, according to an objective model, and then their equivalence to the amount of remuneration received. Only this makes it possible to objectively determine whether the salary is fair or unfair. – Kinga Polewka-Włoch and Mariusz Maksis comment for ius.focus.

Aricle: here. 

If the company is on the sanctions list and cannot operate, then such a compulsory management of miracles will not work. – Sławomir Paruch comments for prawo.pl.

Article: here. 

Based on our experience, employers often encounter unfortunate situations that raise serious concerns as to whether remote working employees adhere to the workplace rules, one of which is the obligation to stay sober. Because of that, employers deliberate whether they are permitted to conduct sobriety checks on those who work from home, and reasonably so. We took a closer look at this problem.

Article: here. 

It is not permitted to entrust work under conditions other than those indicated in the permit or declaration. As a consequence, the control authorities are of the opinion that, since the permit indicates the number of hours within which the employer decides to entrust work to a foreigner, even the slightest exceeding of this number will constitute illegal employment. However, it is hard to agree with this approach – Kinga Polewka-Włoch and Ewa Wysocka comment for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

Article: here. 

In the residence permit for the purpose of work issued to a Ukrainian citizen, the immigration office should not include a reference to the Special Act on Assistance to Ukrainian Nationals. It is uncertain whether a residence permit issued this way actually authorizes the holder to continue work legally – Tomasz Rogala and Marcin Snarski comment for Rzeczpospolita.

Article: here. 

Despite the holiday period, further changes are being made to the situation of Ukrainian citizens residing in Poland. The rules related to the status of people who fled to Poland before the war are being modified.

At the same time, employers will be obliged to provide more information in case of employing Ukrainian citizens (also those residing in Poland before the war) on the basis of a so-called Special Bill.

The most important changes introduced are:

1. Abolition will allow employers to submit overdue notifications about employment of an Ukrainian to the local labour office, if the notifications were not correctly submitted between 24 February and 17 June 2022. Provided that the Ukrainian was registered with the Polish social security authorities (ZUS), the work will be considered legal. It will be possible to submit overdue notifications in this mode only until 15 July 2022;
2. As of 15 July 2022, in the case of employment of Ukrainian citizens on the basis of a notification to the local labor office, the employer will have to provide additional information (on amount of remuneration, information on the working hours and statistical data on the number of employees before the outbreak of the war and at present);
3. The above change does not require correcting of previous notifications about employment of Ukrainian citizens;
4. Due to the changes, the authorities may expect submission of a new notification in a greater number of situations when conditions of work of a foreigner (working on the basis of a notification) change e.g. in the event of a reduction in remuneration or in working time;
5. Automatic losing of the status of a beneficiary of the Special Bill (a so-called UKR status) – status will be automatically deleted when the Border Guard registers that a Ukrainian citizen has left Poland for a period longer than a month or has received documents that exclude holding the UKR status (e.g. a temporary residence permit);
6. A citizen of Ukraine who is a beneficiary of the Special Bill will not lose the UKR status by leaving Poland for more than a month – provided the departure resulted from delegating to perform work by an entity operating in Poland.
7. Regulating the possibility of regaining the UKR status in a situation where a foreigner re-entered the territory of Poland from Ukraine in connection with the war. Confirmation of regaining the status may require additional formalities.

Other works on the status of Ukrainian citizens who came to Poland in connection with the war are still in progress e.g. on solutions related to issuing documents enabling them to travel in the European Union.

To establish that there was an accident at work the accident must happen in the course of carrying out employee duties and the injury cause must be external, out of the ordinary and unforeseeable. It is precisely that part which is both crucial and questionable because it is not easy to distinguish between an external and internal cause of injury, the latter being directly related to work itself – Łukasz Chruściel comments for Rzeczpospolita.

Article: here. 

The topic of the form of different activities in the scope of labor law is very relevant, i.e. because of the increasing number of remote workers. In what form should an agreement or a document be made, and what are the risks of non-compliance? – Pawel Sych comments for Rzeczpospolita.

Artykuł: tutaj.

August this year is the deadline for implementing into the Polish legal system two EU directives: directive on work-life balance and directive on transparent and predictable work conditions in the EU. Employers should also keep in mind predicted changes related to remote work and employees sobriety testing. – Paweł Sych and Kinga Ciosk comment for magazine HR na szpilkach.

Artykuł: tutaj.