State Labour Inspection reports on breaches of employees' rights

Source: Information on observance of employee rights to remuneration and to other benefits under their employment relation in 2004, Ministry of the Economy and Labour, July 2005.

On the downside, there was an increase (from 36.8% to 50.1%) in the percentage of employers inspected not paying out 'remuneration extras', including remuneration for overtime work. A serious problem identified is dishonest tracking and documentation of working time; the authors of the document state in this context that it is not uncommon for the employees themselves to avoid cooperation with PIP inspectors for fear of repercussions from the employer, with the result that accurate determination of actual time worked becomes even more difficult. Another negative phenomenon is the increase, even if slight (from 3.1% to 3.4% of enterprises inspected), of violations with respect to the minimum wage rules. This is seen as worrying, given that the statutory minimum monthly wage in Poland is set at a very low level, just over EUR 200 gross (PL0504103S and PL0507104F).

Findings by sector and company size

Of the PIP checks carried out in 2004, only 12% were in the public sector, with the remaining 88% in the private sector. Following control proceedings, the PIP staff were somewhat less likely in relation to public sector employers to issue decisions dealing with safety at work and to formulate conclusions concerning legal protection of labour (for both these categories, incidence among the public sector employers inspected stood at 11%). Public sector employers, on the other hand, were more likely than private sector employers to receive decisions enjoining them to pay out overdue wages and other outstanding benefits (15% of cases). Many violations noted in the private sector concerned preparation of employees for work, in terms of obligatory medical screening, training and qualification certificates, as well as formal regulation of the employment relation itself (the employment contract, employee files etc). The public sector was more prone to shortcomings in the physical infrastructure, such as facilities and work areas.

The PIP data also suggest that the incidence of labour law violations declines as company size increases. The largest number of decisions ordering payment of overdue wages was issued to medium-sized enterprises, ie those with between 50 and 249 employees. The largest proportions of such decisions were issued in the industrial processing, construction and commerce/repair sectors (39%, 14.6%, and 14.4% of all decisions calling for payment of arrears, respectively).

Compliance with labour court judgments

The PIP conducted in 2004 control proceedings covering 690 employees, verifying compliance with 2,960 final decisions handed down by the labour courts and settlements concluded before these courts. The evidence points to a certain improvement in the overall situation, but problems remain; the percentage of labour court decisions and settlements which are not observed in practice, while it may have decreased slightly, continues at a high level (57% in 2004, down from 64% the year before).

Proposed changes

The government document drawn up on the basis of the PIP findings includes a number of proposals for changes to the law in this area:

• an increase in the fines imposed by courts for violation of employee rights. The current range of the fines is between PLN 20 (approx. EUR 5) and PLN 5,000 (approx. EUR 1,241), and it is proposed that the range should be PLN 500 (approx. EUR 124) to PLN 20,000 (approx. EUR 4,963);

• an increase in the on-the-spot fine that a labour inspector may impose for employee rights violations, from PLN 1,000 (approx. EUR 248) to PLN 2,000 (approx. EUR 496);

• classification of failure to abide by a labour court decision enjoining payment of remuneration to an employee as a criminal offence penalised by the Criminal Code and attracting a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment; and

• extension to PIP bodies of the same procedural rights as apply to victims for purposes of proceedings concerning violations of the right to remuneration.

Given the imminent parliamentary elections in autumn 2005 (PL0507105F), the proposed initiatives may be taken up by the next government. If this does happen, some of the legislative proposals are likely to be considered by the Tripartite Commission and by other consultative bodies.

Commentary

The impact of the document drawn up by the cabinet on the basis of PIP inspection results has been diluted by current events unfolding in the mining sector and in the gas industry (PL0508101N and PL0507101N). This area is also affected by the overall politicisation of social dialogue in Poland, with individual social partner organisations as well as their political backers eager to take exclusive credit for positive developments in the labour market. Temptations of this sort become even more undesirable if one considers that, despite certain improvements, this area of labour relations in Poland is still plagued by many problems, and closer, more consistent cooperation between the social partners, the authorities, and the principal actors on the political scene would be very much called for. The general principles around which such long-term cooperation might be built could be defined in an appropriate social pact. (Jacek Sroka, Institute of Public Affairs, [Instytut Spraw Publicznych, ISP] and Warsaw School of Economics [Szkoła Główna Handlowa, SGH])