Labour inspectorate warns against lifting penalties for unintentionally employing immigrants illegally

A proposal by a government department to remove penalties for firms that unintentionally employ immigrants without valid legal status has been criticised by the State Labour Inspectorate (PIP). It warns that such a change could increase the number of foreigners working illegally in Poland.

In April, the development ministry proposed a package of measures aimed at making it easier to conduct business in Poland. Among its suggestions was to add the word “intentionally” in front of the current regulations that penalise employers who “entrust a foreigner with the illegal carrying out of work”.

“The proposed amendment would make liable only those who committed the act…through intentional fault,” wrote Jarosław Leśniewski, deputy chief labour inspector, to Jacek Tomczak, deputy development minister, in a letter PIP shared with Notes from Poland.

The number of foreigners in Poland’s social insurance system rose 6% in 2023 to reach 1.13 million. Immigrants now make up almost 7% of all those in the system

The largest increases were recorded by Belarusians, Ukrainians, Indians, Colombians and Nepalis https://t.co/eA1QVo0ydH

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 27, 2024

The proposals are still at the stage of interministerial and public consultation, and have not been submitted to PIP for consultation. The agency, which is responsible for monitoring labour-law violations, has nevertheless intervened.

“The introduction of this change will bring a number of negative effects on the labour market,” warned Leśniewski, In particular, it would “weaken the ban on illegal employment” and contradict the EU directive on penalising the employment of illegal immigrants.

This could have the effect of “increasing the scale of the problem of foreigners illegally staying in the territory of Poland”, he added.

Leśniewski also said that the measures would “hinder the oversight activities of labour inspectors” and increase unfair competition between companies employing foreigners, though without specifying in what way he believed this would happen.

Mass immigration has left Poland’s public administration “unable to cope”, reports the state audit office.

It found that applications for residence permits take an average of one year to process, with one individual waiting over seven years for a decision https://t.co/lXLquxNneN

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 20, 2024

Currently, any company seeking to employ a foreigner must check whether they are in Poland legally. If they fail to do so, they can face a fine of up to 30,000 zloty (€6,937).

In recent years, the number of foreign workers in Poland has grown rapidly, as the country experienced strong economic growth paired with labour shortages.

The number of foreigners registered in Poland’s social insurance system (known as ZUS) rose around six-fold between 2015, when it stood at less than 200,000, and the end of 2023, when it reached 1.13 million.

For the last six years running, Poland has issued more first residence permits to immigrants from outside the European Union than any other member state.

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