Magdalena Rycak

Controversies surrounding the processing of certain types of personal data of candidates for employees at the request of a potential employer

The article discusses the topic of obtaining by employers information concerning their future employees in the provisions on the protection of personal data applicable in Poland. The main research problem is to determine whether the processing of personal data of candidates for employees at the request of a potential employer has been regulated in the provisions of the Labor Code in a way that allows for their unambiguous interpretation and does not create an opportunity to discriminate candidates for employees in the course of recruitment processes. The first part of the article describes the general principles of the processing of personal data of candidates for employees and the general principles of the protection of personal data of candidates for employees processed at the request of a potential employer. The following sections focus on more detailed problems, such as: the processing of personal data of a candidate for an employee regarding education, professional qualifications and the course of previous employment, or the processing by a potential employer of the date of birth and PESEL number and residence address of a candidate for an employee. The summing-up includes the most important de lege lata and de lege ferenda conclusions resulting from the conducted considerations.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

The article presents an analysis of employees’ obligation to be sober in the context of legal possibilities of running preventive sobriety tests on employees. It thoroughly discusses the Supreme Court judgment policy on employees’ obligation to be sober in the workplace and legal consequences of their failure to fulfil this duty. The article also conducts a critical analysis of the opinion that  an employer can carry out preventive checks only based on an employee’s consent expressed on his/her own initiative. The author proves that a contrary thesis is right and that, in case of some jobs, such as drivers or persons working at height, an employer is obliged to do preventive tests for employees’ sobriety and employees are obliged to take such tests. At the same time, employees’ consent to process data concerning the state of their sobriety is not required. 

ASJC: 3308

JEL: K31

Rights and obligations of parties to an employment relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic

The article discusses the most important regulations regarding the rights and obligations of employers and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, both for employees performing remote work and employees who, due to the nature of their work, must perform it at the workplace. In order to counteract COVID-19, the employer may instruct the employee to perform, for a fixed period, work specified in the employment contract, outside the place of its permanent performance (remote work). In the current situation, in principle, the employer may, whenever an employee performs remote work, order it for 180 days from the date of the Act’s entry into force. There appear a number of problems in the field of labour law when working remotely, including how to comply with OSH regulations, how to proceed in the event of an accident at work or control of working time. An employer may commission remote work to only part of the employees, e.g. those who have children. Yet, this should be justified by objective circumstances. The employer should take all available precautions, such as ordering remote work or even temporary closure of an enterprise, if his employees are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in order to enable State Sanitary Inspection or physicians or himself to take action. During the epidemic, the employer also has the right to carry out preventive checks of employees’ temperature. There is no legal basis for employers to send their employees to quarantine themselves. The employer may also not allow an employee to work without a preliminary and control examination. The last part of the article deals with the so-called crisis agreements concluded with employee representatives.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31