The Polish Parliament has adopted an act that became effective 1 January 2019 and shortens the retention period of human resource files and allows them to be stored in an electronic form.
HOW LONG TO STORAGE EMPLOYMENT DOCUMENTATION?
Former law required employers to store documentation related to
an employee and the employment relationship ("employee
documentation") for a period of 50 years from the date of
employment termination. This retention period is now shortened to
10 years for employees employed on and after 1 January 2019.
Employers are also now required to submit monthly reports to the
Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) containing information necessary
to determine the amount of retirement pension, as well as any
disability pension, due to an employee.
Employee documentation of individuals employed after 31 December
1998, but before 31 December 2018, must continue to be stored for
50 years. However, this period may be shortened under the
conditions that (i) the employer submits a one-time declaration
(ZUS OSW) on the intention to provide reports on all employees'
social insurance contributions and benefits to ZUS and (ii) these
reports (ZUS RIA) are actually sent to ZUS. In such a case, the
period of storage will be shortened to 10 years starting from the
end of the calendar year in which such an employee's
information reports were submitted to ZUS.
NEW RESPONSIBILITIES FOR EMPLOYERS
The new law will expand the scope of an employer's
obligations related to the termination of employment relationships.
When an employment relationship is terminated, the employer will be
required to provide the employee, in addition to a work
certificate, with information (in paper or electronic form) on how
long the employee's documentation will be stored and on what
date such employee documentation will be available to be handed
over to the employee, as well as on the employer's right to
destroy the employee's documentation should it not be picked up
by the employee at the offered time. If an employer fails to submit
this information to an employee, and if the employee suffers damage
due to the destruction of his/her personnel files, this failure may
be grounds for the employee to claim damages.
It is also important to note that the destruction of employee
documentation before the compulsory deadline is an offense against
the employee's rights and is subject to a fine of up to PLN
30,000.00 (approx. EUR 7,000).
METHOD OF STORING EMPLOYEE DOCUMENTATION
The new law will also impact the method of storing employee
documentation. Employers now have the option to store employee
documentation in either a paper or an electronic form regardless of
when an employee was first employed. An employer may change the
form in which employee documentation is kept and stored at any
time.
Switching to electronic storage from paper is to be done by
scanning paper documents and adding a qualified electronic
signature or a qualified electronic seal. Unfortunately, this
requirement may create a practical barrier due to the fact that
qualified electronic signatures and qualified electronic seals are
still not common among most Polish employers. Employees will need
to be informed about any changes to how their documentation is
maintained and stored, as well as of the possibility of obtaining
the previous form of their documentation. The employee has 30 days
to collect their documentation from the date they are notified by
their employer about a change in storage methods.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.