Know your workers rights: Poland

Independent journalism cannot thrive without decent working conditions — yet media professionals, particularly those working in exile, face growing pressures that make their work unstable. Cuts to international funding and the challenging economic climate are pushing media organisations to rely more heavily on freelance relationships and cut employment-related costs. These strategies come with risks of breaching labour regulations, associated with heavy fines and even criminal charges.

So how can media organisations, especially those operating in exile, navigate complex employment laws and processes? How can they do so across multiple countries and unfamiliar legal jurisdictions?

The Thomson Reuters Foundation’s new series of guides address the complexities of employment rights and the unique challenges faced by media professionals operating in exile. This guide focuses on Polish law, providing an overview of the different types of worker contracts applicable in Poland, employee rights and employer obligations associated with each contract, and the processes to follow in the event of conflict. The final section of the guide speaks to cross-border and multi-jurisdictional issues, like the employment of a worker in a different country to where the media organisation is based.

Is this the right guide for me?

Do you work in Poland? Is your current or potential employer or client registered in Poland? Are you exploring the possibility of hiring employees or contracting an independent consultant in Poland? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this is the right guide for you.

If you work or manage workers in a different country in Europe, the other guides in this series might be more useful:

What questions will be answered in this guide?

This guide offers answers to the following questions, providing information for individual workers, managers and employers:

• What is the right contract for me?
• What do I need during the hiring process of a foreign national?
• What rights and obligations does my contract create?
• What are the costs of non-compliance?
• What do I do if things go wrong?
• If a worker and an organistion are based in different countries, which country’s laws regulate the remote-working relationship?
• If a worker and an organistion are based in different countries, in which country do I pay taxes and social security contributions?
• How can I receive individualised support?

As a media organisation, you may be able to make use of the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Legal Service for Independent Media, while as an individual journalist, you may be able to receive support from the Legal Network for Journalists At Risk.

Read more about our support for independent media.