Legally compliant whistleblowing in your company - country update in Poland

Poland is still working on a draft of the Whistleblower Protection Act with which the Whistleblowing Directive is intended to be transposed. The draft law is intended to provide legal protection to any person who decides to report breaches, transgressions, or criminal offences in the workplace. A whistleblower can thus be a person who is affiliated with an institution or organisation that commits breaches by virtue not only of an employment contract but by any legal or actual relationship (e.g. as a subcontractor). In addition, the report itself can be made not only during the term of the employment relationship concerned but also before this relationship begins or after it has ended, e.g. due to termination of the employment relationship.

The draft law also regulates the conditions for granting whistleblower status, the possibilities for submitting reports, and the office obligated to receive and document such reports.                               

Reports can be submitted via three reporting channels: internal, external or by means of disclosure.

According to this provision, internal reporting relates to a situation in which an employee reports breaches within an organisation. External reporting, in contrast, relates to external reporting to government authorities. Designation of the government labour inspectorate (Paenstwowa Inspekcja Pracy) as the competent authority for external reports is currently being considered.

The third reporting channel is what is known as disclosure––the release of information to the public, such as to the media, which offers protection to the whistleblowers who have communicated breaches of the law to the public.

In the case of internal channels, employers can choose between a written report, including via electronic reporting channels, and a verbal report during a meeting or by telephone call (including via an answering machine).

The Polish Whistleblower Protection Act specifies exactly which breaches can be reported within the framework of this law. However, employers can expand the scope by means of an internal policy and add cases related to labour law, safety and health protection in the workplace, for example.

The current draft of 10/01/2023 is currently being revised by the European Affairs Committee.

However, it still has to be accepted by the Council of Ministers before it is forwarded to the Sejm for further revision. It should also be noted that the draft law had been amended several times.

Autor: Katarzyna Gospodarowicz