GMILegalUpdate: Work has started on draft act on access to labor market for foreigners

An overview of the main goals of a new draft Act on Access to Labor Market for Foreigners has been published on the government website listing current legislative projects of the Council of Ministers. The new act is meant to comprehensively regulate the matter of employing foreigners in Poland. The overview indicates many changes as compared to the regulations in force today.

The most interesting changes foreseen in the new bill are:

• replacing the so-called labor market test requirement with another, more effective procedure, to be applicable in specific cases only (no details of this new procedure have been revealed)
• full digitization of procedures related to employers obtaining work permits and other documents authorizing employment of a foreigner
• increasing penalties for illegal employment of foreigners and improving the means of carrying out audits of their employment by the Border Guard and the National Labor Inspectorate
• introduction of additional conditions for granting a work permit at the request of newly established entities or entities using virtual offices
• limiting the possibility of employee leasing under the guise of the so-called employee outsourcing
• an obligation for employers to inform foreigners about their rights in connection with employment, including the possibility of forming trade unions

The new bill is another initiative to comprehensively amend provisions regulating employment of foreigners, following a draft Act on Employment of Foreigners, which was developed by the previous government, but work on it was ultimately discontinued.