In 2008, the Central Labour Inspection published its findings on inspections carried out by the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP). An amendment to the law regulating the operations of the PIP was introduced in 2007, marking a significant year for the inspectorate. The amendment placed a particular emphasis on inspecting the legality of employment, which has emerged has a central priority in its workplace inspections.
The National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, PIP) is an authority established to supervise and inspect the observance of labour law – in particular, occupational health and safety rules, as well as regulations on the legality of employment and other paid labour, as specified by the PIP Act of 13 April 2007 (207Kb PDF); the previous PIP Act had been in force since March 1981. In 2008, the Chief Labour Inspectorate (Główny Inspektorat Pracy, GIP), which manages the PIP, published a report on the details of inspections conducted by the PIP in 2007.
Details of inspections
In 2007, PIP labour inspectors carried out some 80,500 inspections in more than 61,000 enterprises. The inspections resulted mostly from the necessity to verify the implementation of legal measures applied earlier and the execution of improvements in law abiding. The inspected enterprises employed almost 4.5 million people altogether. From a sectoral perspective, the highest numbers of inspections were conducted in trade and repair, manufacturing and construction (Table 1).
Table 1: Enterprises inspected by PIP in 2007, by industry (%)
| Industry | Percentage (% of majority of inspected enterprises) |
| Trade and repair | 27 |
| Manufacturing | 24 |
| Construction | 15 |
| Property services | 7 |
| Services | 4 |
| Transport and storage | 4 |
| Hotels and restaurants | 4 |
| Education | 3 |
| Healthcare | 3 |
| Other | 9 |
| Total | 100 |
Source: GIP report on PIP inspections in 2007, Warsaw 2008
Due to the labour law infringements found in the course of the inspections, the PIP officers issued 369,500 decisions. The majority of the infringements concerned the following:
- inadequate preparatory measures for employees, such as in relation to health and safety training, medical checkups and qualification licences;
- poor work posts and technological processes, for example, improper safety measures in executing the most dangerous tasks;
- inadequate or lack of protective measures regarding the operation of machines and appliances.
Results of employment legality inspections
As of 1 July 2007, under the new PIP Act of 13 April 2007, the inspections pertaining to the legality of employment are no longer to be conducted by the regional representatives of the state (voivode), but rather by PIP labour inspectors.
In 2007, PIP labour inspectors carried out 12,200 inspections regarding the legality of employment. These inspections included the following:
- 1,800 inspections regarding the legality of employment and other paid labour;
- 770 inspections regarding the legality of employment, other paid labour and the performance of work by immigrants;
- 240 inspections regarding employment agencies’ observance of the Employment promotion and labour market institutions Act of April 2004 (297Kb PDF);
- 542 inspections regarding the observance of the employment regulations of workers, including seasonal workers.
In total, inspections were conducted in 12,000 entities employing almost 800,000 people, some 80,000 of whom were employed on civil law contracts – employment relationships based on the Civil Code (PL0210109F) – and 4,400 of whom were self-employed. More than half (58%) of the inspections were carried out in small enterprises, employing up to nine persons.
Reasons for irregularities
Most of the irregularities regarding the legality of employment resulted from:
- failure to submit or late submission of social security contributions in the case of 717 workers, which was found in 2,184 of the inspected entities. The total amount of unpaid social insurance contributions amounted to over PLN 12 million (about €2.7 million as at 2 February 2009) and concerned 2,959 persons;
- employing workers without any formal employment contract, which was found in 8% of the inspected enterprises;
- entering into civil law contracts in circumstances where standard employment contracts regulated by the Labour Code should have been made, which was found in 460 of the inspected entities.
Illegal employment among foreign workers
The 770 inspections regarding the legality of employment and performance of work by foreign workers pertained to a total of 735 entities employing 3,484 foreign citizens (out of an overall 246,800 employees), of whom 1,313 had been required to hold work permits to perform work in Poland. The majority of inspected entities operated in the following sectors of the economy: manufacturing (34%), trade and repair (19%), and hotels and restaurants (9%). Irregularities regarding the legality of employment or other form of paid labour by foreign citizens were found in 82 entities, which was the equivalent of 26% of the inspected entities that employed foreign citizens required to hold work permits. The illegal performance of work by foreign citizens – especially without the required work permit, or on a different work post or in different conditions than those resulting from the work permit – concerned about 20% of those foreign citizens who are required to hold such a permit to perform work in Poland.
Table 2: Infringements of regulations regarding legality of employment of foreign workers
| Irregularities regarding: | Number of migrant workers to whom the irregularity applied |
| Performance of work inconsistent with terms specified by job contract | 6 |
| Performance of work unspecified by job contract | 11 |
| Performance of work after expiration of work permit | 30 |
| Contracting of workers for periods longer than that specified by work permit | 33 |
| Performance of work without required work permit | 152 |
Source: GIP report on PIP inspections in 2007, Warsaw 2008
In terms of nationality, the most prevalent group of foreign illegal workers were citizens of neighbouring states that are not part of the European Union – namely Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine – which together accounted for 167 illegal workers, or 62% of all illegal workers in Poland (Table 3). The remaining group were mostly workers from China, Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Table 3: Nationality of illegal foreign workers identified by PIP inspections in 2007
| Nationality | Number of citizens |
| Ukraine | 105 |
| Russia | 38 |
| Belarus | 24 |
| Malaysia | 17 |
| Vietnam | 16 |
| Republic of Korea | 15 |
| China | 11 |
| Japan | 7 |
| Georgia | 5 |
| India | 5 |
| Other | 26 |
Source: GIP report on PIP inspections in 2007, Warsaw 2008
Commentary
The data outlined in the GIP report indicate a move towards greater stabilisation regarding the observance of labour law and employment regulations in Poland. A new phenomenon which is likely to gain increased significance in the future is the influx of migrant workers. At present, however, this influx is not substantial. Despite its significance, the report fails to provide information on the issues of equal treatment between men and women, mobbing and the employment of persons at risk of social and professional exclusion.
Jacek Sroka, Institute of Public Affairs