New tasks of the National Labour Inspectorate in Poland related to inspections of legality of employment

National Labour Inspectorate National Labour Inspectorate is an authority established to supervise and inspect compliance with labour law, in particular regulations and rules of occupational safety and health, as well as regulations concerning legality of employment. Inspections of legality of employment, including legality of employment of foreigners, have been conducted by the National Labour Inspectorate since 1 July 2007.

Inspections of legality of employment In the period 1995-1999 inspections of legality of employment were conducted by provincial employment offices, in 2000-2001 by county self- government authorities and from 1 January 2002 to 30 June 2007 by legality of employment services, which were subordinate to heads of provinces and were part of the structures of provincial authorities.

Tasks of the National Labour Inspectorate Inspections of legality of employment, other paid work and conducting economic activity Inspections of legality of employment, other paid work and performance of work by foreigners Inspections of compliance with a duty: of unemployed persons – to inform employment offices about commencement of employment to pay contributions to the Labour Fund to run employment agencies in line with conditions specified in legal provisions

Organizational activities A separate Legality of Employment Department was established at the Chief Labour Inspectorate. Units for inspecting legality of employment were created in District Labour Inspectorates.

Inspection procedures Inspections are carried out by teams consisting of at least two persons, appointed by a District Labour Inspector. Only labour inspectors are authorised to carry out inspections of legality of employment. When the labour inspectorate receives information that a large number of illegal workers may be present on premises of an inspected company or that violence might be used against inspectors, then the Police assists NLI during inspection visits. Planned inspections (complaints, notifications, interventions, actions) connected with obtained information about illegal employment of foreigners are conducted – depending on circumstances – with officers from other authorities, first of all with the Border Guard.

Enterprises covered with inspections Inspections related to legality of employment are conducted first and foremost: in enterprises which may reasonably be suspected of irregularities (e.g. complaints lodged with NLI, notifications from other institutions, information from the mass media) in selected enterprises from sectors with the highest risk of (the most serious and numerous) irregularities related to legality of employment, in particular in: construction, agriculture, retail trade, hotels and restaurants as well as manufacturing.

Inspections of legality of employment 1 July 2007 – 31 December 2008 Labour inspectors conducted over 37.8 thousand inspection visits during which they examined legality of employment issues. More than half of inspections focused on small enterprises, with up to 9 employees (58% inspections). Legality of employment of over 295 thousand persons was inspected. Inspections to check payment of contributions to the Labour Fund covered over 755 thousand persons.

Legality of employment inspections – results 1 July 2007 – 31 December 2008 Illegal employment or illegal entrusting of other paid work was identified in 20% of inspected enterprises in 2008 and in 25% of inspected enterprises in the second half of 2007. In almost 5.4 thousand cases NLI managed to prove that unemployed persons failed to inform a competent county employment office about starting employment, other paid work or economic activity. The largest scale of irregularities identified – in every sixth inspected enterprise – were those related to the payment of contributions to the Labour Fund. Identified cases of non-payment of monthly contributions to the Labour Fund were related to over 72 thousand persons (about 9% of those covered with inspections). Delays, sometimes up to a few months, in the payment of contributions to the Labour Fund, referred to further 105.5 thousand persons.

Legality of employment of foreigners – inspection results 1 July 2007 – 31 December 2008 Inspections covered almost 11.4 thousand foreigners, including 5.2 thousand foreigners who were required to obtain a permit for work in Poland. Irregularities were identified in every third inspected enterprise; in 10% of those companies labour inspectors disclosed illegal work of foreigners. Inspectors proved illegal work of 612 foreigners. The most frequent irregularity was lack of required work permits – 410 foreigners. The largest group of illegal foreign workers were Ukrainian citizens – 195 individuals, that is 32% of cases. Other most numerous groups of illegal workers were foreigners from Vietnam, Moldova, Russia, China and Belarus.

Legal measures applied 21 thousand improvement letters including over 38 thousand orders to eliminate irregularities concerning over 308 thousand persons performing work, 1034 on the spot fines, 5014 motions asking magistrate courts to penalize the offenders, 3331 disciplinary measures, 379 notifications to the prosecutor’s office about suspicion of a crime. NLI identified over 11.7 thousand offences committed by almost 6.3 thousand employers and over 3.1 thousand persons performing work.

Preventative activity in the area of legality of employment providing advice on legal matters, publishing written materials (leaflets etc.) about combating illegal employment – leaflets titled „Legality of Employment”, conducting training meetings for social partners and state authorities responsible for supervision of working conditions, labour market and undeclared work, raising social awareness of the consequences of illegal work via the mass media.

Thank you for attention! Prepared by: Jarosław Leśniewski Director Legality of Employment Department