[Poland] National Labour Inspectorate – agenda for 2024

At the beginning of this December, the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) presented its agenda and priorities for 2024. It takes into account the latest changes in legislation, e.g., this year’s amendments to the Labour Code, as well as the demands and positions of social organisations and EU institutions. 

How many inspections does the National Labour Inspectorate plan to carry out in 2024?  

In 2024, the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) intends to carry out 60,000 inspections – similar to the current year. PIP also plans a series of preventive, promotional and advisory activities to cover at least 35,000 entities such as entrepreneurs and employers, pupils and students. Therefore, PIP will not limit itself to inspection and supervision activities. 

What are PIP’s priorities and challenges in 2024? 

The coming year finalises the three-year “Programme of Action of the State Labour Inspectorate for 2022-2024”, which focused on 3 strategies:  

1. control and preventive actions for the construction sector  

2. control of hazards of chemical working environment factors  

3. increased supervision of workplaces  

Despite a number of changes to labour law, new pro-employee solutions and progressive changes in social awareness, there are still many violations in this area. PIP itself receives an increasing number of complaints. This results in higher penalties imposed on employers for whom the PIP controls revealed irregularities.   

In 2022, the majority of complaints reported by employees concerned non-payment or delayed payment of wages and incorrect settlement of holiday pay.  

Learn more about the increasing number of violations of employee rights and penalties imposed on employers here.  

PIP identifies the following priorities and challenges in its 2024 agenda: 

• compliance with labour legislation on working time and annual leave in local government units 
• compliance with the provisions on the company social benefits fund  
• inspections of the list of jobs where work in special conditions or of a special nature is performed   
• handling complaints from employees, in particular any signals regarding delays and underpayment of employees  
• checks on the records of workers carrying out work in special conditions or of a special nature  
• investigating the circumstances and causes of accidents at work – fatal, serious and collective 

New areas of inspection activities   

For next year, the PIP has announced new areas for inspection activities in the field of technical occupational safety. The following industries have been added:   

1. heating plants and combined heat and power plants powered by solid fuels (e.g. coal, biomass)  

2. storage, sale and processing of metal scrap  

3. renewable energy sources 

 Amendments to the 2023 Labour Code and the activities of the PIP in 2024 

Year 2023 has been revolutionary for labour law due to the largest amendments to the Labour Code in years. Amongst others, the institution of remote working, new holidays and a number of other pro-parental and pro-employee solutions have been introduced into the Polish legal order. These changes pose a challenge not only to employers, but also to the National Labour Inspectorate. Although PIP has announced that it will verify compliance with the amended Labour Code, it has not yet indicated how it will control this.   

PIP inspections do not occur only in response to a complaint filed by an employee. Any company may be targeted by the authority, so it is worth checking on regularly whether internal procedures and employee documentation comply with the regulations in force. The punishment for violating employee rights may not only be severe financially, but may have a negative impact in terms of PR.  

See also: Review of HR procedures and regulations 

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