Works councils under Polish law

The institution of the staff council occupies the most important place among the non-Union forms of employee representation. Its source in the Polish legal system is the Act with 7 April 2006 information and consultation of staff[1] .

This judicial institution was implemented into national legal order as a result of an obligation under EU law, namely Directive 2002/14 EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 11 March 2002, laying down general framework conditions for informing and consulting employees in the European Community[2] .

This study aims to present the main legal mechanisms contained in the national law, as well as serving the council as an instrument for obtaining company information.

Introduction

As shown by Article 1(2) The act in question, u.i.p.k., shall apply to employers who are engaged in economic activities by at least employing 50 employees. Without further consideration of the complexity of defining economic activities in national law, it is appropriate to use the text of the EU Directive, in which the interpretative field of the ‘enterprises’ is not narrowed down solely to those aimed at gainful activity.

In addition, considering the theme of this application of the regulation, it is worth noting the Article 1(3) u.i.p.k., which excludes from the scope of this normative act categories such as: state-owned enterprises in which the company's crew is created, mixed enterprises employing at least 50 employees and state film institutions. The bodies of a similar nature, called labour councils, function in the designated entities instead of the advice of employees.

Setting up a staff council

The process of creating a board of employees is always dependent on the will of the workers themselves. An employer may not initiate the appointment of this type of representative body. State Article 8(1) u.i.p.p.k., the procedure for the creation of councils may be initiated at least on a request from the employer 10% employees.

As a result of this application, the employer is obliged to take action to declare the election deadline at least 30 days before election day and set a deadline for the submission of candidates for members of the Board, which may not be shorter than 21 days.

Another obligation of the employer is to prepare draft election rules, which are to include the rules and procedure for appointing the members of the election committee and its composition.

The employer should also, as stated Article 10(2) the bill in question, agree on the election rules with the employees' representatives selected in accordance with the procedure adopted by the employer concerned. If this does not happen, u.i.p.p.k.

orders the employer to issue the election rules on its own, containing agreed elements so far. This often takes the form of an employer’s order. The last step in constituting this stage is the establishment of the electoral commission itself.

A candidate for election to a works council must be supported by at least 10 employees in undertakings employing no more than 100 employees and, in larger undertakings, by at least twenty employees. Only a person who has worked for the undertaking for at least 1 year may be elected to the works council, unless the undertaking has operated for a shorter period (Article 9(2) of the Act on Employee Information and Consultation).

As per content Article 9(3) u.i.p.p.k., the legislature has deprived passive electoral rights of persons who exercise the function of managing a single-person job establishment and their deputies, they are part of a collegiate body managing a job establishment, legal adviser or chief accountant, and if they are young people. The main argument in favour of depriving juvenile workers of passive electoral law, as accepted in literature[3] , is that the purpose of hiring such persons is to teach the profession, not to allow participation in the management of the company.

With regard to the way the vote is carried out, it should be noted that the legislator has acted very cautiously in this regard. Under Article 10(4) U.i.p.p.k. is only claimed to be direct and secret. Directiveness in this case should be understood as voting directly on a candidate rather than voting on a group that will later make a definitive selection of board members. The secret here is that all the security rules must be maintained so that no one can identify who the specific employee has been voted on.

It is also worth noting that the legislature has not limited the methods that can be used by choosing a member. It is widely accepted that the most optimal way is to give one vote for one candidate[4] . However, there are other, more complex mathematical combinations that comply with the bill. For example, the obligation of devotion can be indicated 3 votes 5 candidates.

Under Article 10(5) the bill in question indicates that elections are considered valid if at least they have participated 50% the total staff employed by the employer concerned. The fulfilment of the required quorum is stated by the electoral commission. If the required number of people has not taken part in the vote, re-elections to be held no earlier than 30. day from first elections. The validity of subsequent elections is not dependent on the statutory number of voters.

Term of office of the staff council

In the model arrangement provided for by the legislator in an undertaking counting from 50 to 250 staff, staff council should consist of 3 members. In an undertaking counting to 500 staff 5 members and in the largest ones – above 500 staff – minimum number of members 7. Of course, u.i.p.k.

does not prohibit the selection of more members, as this is a more advantageous solution for the crew and therefore in line with the objective of the European directive[5] . More favourable conditions regarding the size of the staff council are to be included in the election rules.

The term of office of the staff council shall continue 4 years from the date of her choice, as determined by Article 11(1) u.i.p.p.k.6 . If supplementary elections have taken place during the term of office of the council, the newly elected member is subject to the term of office of those originally elected, and therefore his term of office will not be counted since his election, only when the council is constituted as such.

The stage immediately following the election of the members of the staff council is the election of the chairman and the adoption of the Rules of Procedure, which follows directly from Article 11(4) u.i.p.k.

This is done on first meeting convened by the employer within the time limit 30 days from the date of selection of the staff council. When the term of office of the elected council comes to an end, the legislator shall oblige the employer in the content Article 11(5) u.i.p.p.k.

to inform employees of the right to choose a new council in advance at least 60 the days before the end of the current Council.

Information and consultation

The powers of the staff council are of an information and consultation nature. Informing employees here involves the employer providing information about the legal and economic state of the workplace. Information under the said Act must be understood, i.e. the information is to be provided to employees in such a way that the staff council has an objective opportunity to consult them in order to examine the possibility of consulting.

Consultation is somewhat different because it entitles employees to take a specific position in relation to the information provided, and it also gives them the opportunity to express their opinion, which can consequently be reached in the form of an agreement with the employer. The outcome of the consultation concluded by the conclusion of the agreement was adopted to call in science consultations of a strong nature[7] .

The staff council does not really have firm instruments, which is actually not an option to oblige the employer to take specific proceedings or to influence his decision.

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