In Poland the direct application of the Regulation
will take effect as of 25 May 2018. Given the
necessary alignment of the national law with the
Regulation, Polish legislators are working on a bill
for Provisions Introducing the Act on Personal Data
Protection (“Bill”), which proposes numerous
amendments to many legislative acts, including the
Labour Code. The Bill, which has been drafted by
the Ministry of Digitisation and is currently at its
opinion stage, is expected to be adopted by the
Council of Ministers by the end of the current year.
We outline below the solutions proposed under the
Bill with regard to the processing by employers of
the personal data of their employees, subject to
any modifications and changes before the Bill is
eventually enacted into law.
The Bill proposes in particular to realign the current
provisions of the labour law with the requirement
of Article 6.1(c) of the Regulation that introduces
the condition of the existence of a legal obligation
as the grounds for collecting personal data.
Consequently, the regulations that currently
provide only for the right of the employer to
request specific personal data in matters relating to
the employment relationship will be amended by
imposing an obligation to collect such data. The Bill
also envisages modification to the current list of
personal data collected from job applicants or
employees, taking into account its indispensability
for the employer, mandatory nature of its
collection, and protection of the employee
(amendment to Article 221 LC). Employers will be
able, among others, to process email addresses of
job applicants and employees as well as their
telephone numbers. The rules for granting consent
by a job applicant or an employee to the collection
of his or her specific personal data by the employer
(e.g. the employer will be able to process biometric
data of its employees to the extent related to the
employment relationship, subject to their consent)
have also been established. Further, a list of data is
to be provided, collection of which by employers
will be prohibited, even with the consent of the
data subject. Amendments to the Labour Code also
seek to regulate the rules for application of
monitoring by employers, as a special type of
personal data processing. The use of monitoring will
be permissible to safeguard employees or protect
property or to ensure that information which
disclosure could cause damage to the employer is
kept confidential. On the other hand, the use of
monitoring to check job performance of employees
and to monitor facilities in which work is not
performed,
e.g.
toilets,
washrooms,
and
bathrooms, locker rooms, canteens, or smoking
rooms, will be prohibited. The legal grounds for the
collection and storing by the employer of referrals
for medical examination and medical certificates
issued as a result of such referrals, if a person being
employed by a different employer holds an up-to-
date medical certificate stating that there are no
reasons to prevent him or her from working in the
relevant position, have been also written into the
Bill.
In addition to the Labour Code, the Bill also
includes amendments to certain labour regulations
laid down under the following statutes: Act on
Protection of Workers’ Claims in Case of Employer’s
Insolvency of 13 July 2006; Act on Special
Arrangements for Remedying Flood Losses of 16
September 2011; Act on Special Arrangements for Job Protection of 11 October 2013.
MILLER, CANFIELD,
W. BABICKI, A. CHEŁCHOWSKI I WSPÓLNICY SP.K.
ul. Batorego 28-32
81-366 Gdynia
Tel. +48 58 782-0050
Fax +48 58 782-0060
gdynia@pl.millercanfield.com
ul. Nowogrodzka 11
00-513 Warszawa
Tel. +48 22 447-4300
Fax +48 22 447-4301
warszawa@pl.millercanfield.com
ul. Skarbowców 23a
53-125 Wrocław
Tel. +48 71 780-3100
Fax +48 71 780-3101
wroclaw@pl.millercanfield.com
Disclaimer: This publication has been prepared for clients and professional associates of Miller Canfield. It is intended to provide only a summary of
certain recent legal developments of selected areas of law. For this reason the information contained in this publication should not form the basis of any
decision as to a particular course of action; nor should it be relied on as legal advice or regarded as a substitute for detailed advice in individual cases.
The services of a competent professional adviser should be obtained in each instance so that the applicability of the relevant legislation or other legal
development to the particular facts can be verified.