Problems relating to Trade and Investment on Poland

16. Employment
Issue	Issue details	Requests	Reference

(1) Difficulty in Acquisition and Extension of Work Permit and Visa	- The procedures are complex for acquisition of Work Permit and Visa. It is frequently time consuming in many cases. In addition, it is nebulous in its implementation as its handling differs from case to case.	- It is requested that GOP -- streamlines and clearly defines the procedures, and -- cuts down the time required for acquisition of Work Permit and Visa.
	(Info) - Work Permit and Work Visa must be acquired to work in Poland. It takes about 30-days to obtain Work Permit from the filing date of application with Labour Bureau. With Work Permit obtained at Labour Bureau in hand, application for Work Visa (normally valid for one-year) is filed at Poland Embassy abroad, which application requires presentation of Work Permit. The Work Visa so obtained does not cover the applicant's dependant family members, who must obtain either Stay Visa or Stay Permit separately after entering Poland. The validity of Work Permit is maximum 3-years (maximum 5-years for enterprise directors), while Work Visa is valid for 1-year maximum. If the scheduled stay in Poland exceeds 1-year, Stay Permit must be obtained. Stay Permit application may be filed at Regional Immigration Bureau (RIB) at place of residence after acquisition of Work Permit. While Stay Permit is supposed to be valid for two-years, recently in many cases, it is good only for one-year. The validity varies at discretion of each Labour Bureau. Application for Stay Permit must be filed at least 45-days before expiry of Work Visa. It takes about 2-months to its acquisition from the filing of application complete with requisite documents at RIB. Applicants accompanying dependant family members will simultaneously file application for their Stay Permit.

(2) Excessive Workers' Protection

- With Medical Certificate issued by a doctor in hand, employees are entitled to Sick Leave for an indefinite term, plus payment of one-month wage.
- With 10 or more Union Members, it is free to form Labour Union, and the Union Executive is fully protected from dismissal for 5-years. Union Members may abandon the normal work responsibility for the reasons to perform the Union activities.
- When a managerial staff (MGS) takes leave, employers, under customary practice, must secure the same post for MGS, when MGS resumes assumption of his/her job responsibility. As it stands, it has become extremely difficult to maintain employment of backup staff for employees, who take maternity leave, or infant-care leave. Furthermore, the job separation rate has recently become higher of employees just before promotion to managerial position. Cases have increased after the managerial staff's resumption of job responsibility, while problems abound on fostering human resources. Managerial staffs tend to resist being transferred to other sections, after resumption of their job responsibility.

- It is requested that GOP reviews the relevant legislation.
- It is requested that GOP reviews the relevant legislation.
- It is requested that GOP takes steps to correct the customs of the excessive labour protection from the Socialist Administration Days.

- Labour Act

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