Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Poland (Ratification: 1954)

The Committee notes the detailed information supplied by the Government in its reports in reply to the Committee’s previous comments as well as the attached documentation.

Article 6 of the Convention. The Committee notes that the Labour Code contains no provision explicitly prohibiting employers from limiting in any manner the freedom of workers to dispose of their wages. The Committee hopes that the necessary action will be taken in the very near future to ensure that this provision of the Convention is fully applied.

Article 8. Further to its earlier comments, the Committee is bound to observe that section 91 of the Labour Code, as last amended in 1996 (Dziennik Ustaw, No. 24, Text 110), allowing for deductions upon the worker’s prior consent in writing is not consistent with the provisions of this Article. The Committee once again stresses that according to the terms of the Convention the types and extent of permissible deductions from wages may only be prescribed by national laws or regulations or fixed by collective agreements or arbitration awards, and not by individual agreements. It invites therefore the Government to consider the possibility of adopting suitable measures to specify the types and extent of deductions permitted with the worker’s written consent in order to bring the national legislation into closer conformity with the Convention. In this connection, the Committee notes the proposed amendment to the Trade Union Act providing for deduction of trade union fees with the prior consent of the worker concerned, and requests the Government to keep it informed of any developments in this matter. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to provide further clarifications on how workers are informed of the conditions under which and the extent to which deductions from wages may be made in general.

Article 9. The Committee notes that the Labour Code contains no specific provision prohibiting any deduction from wages with a view to ensuring a direct or indirect payment made by a worker to an employer for the purpose of obtaining or retaining employment, as required under this Article. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to give full effect to the Convention in this regard.

Article 11. The Committee notes with interest the Ministerial Order of 21 February 1994 (Dziennik Ustaw, No. 14, Text 109) concerning the statutes of the Fund Council which was established pursuant to the Act of 29 December 1993 (Dziennik Ustaw, No. 1, Text 1) concerning the protection of workers’ claims in the event of the insolvency of their employer as well as the Ministerial Order of 11 January 1995 (Dziennik Ustaw, No. 7, Text 35) extending the scope of employees’ benefits financed by the Work Benefits Guarantee Fund. It notes in particular that the workers’ claims financed by the Work Benefits Guarantee Fund may also include claims for paid absence relating to a period not exceeding three months prior to the insolvency or prior to the termination of employment as well as claims for holiday pay relating to a period not longer than six months prior to the insolvency or prior to the termination of the employment. The claims so protected are limited to an amount which may not exceed the average monthly remuneration. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on the functioning of the wage guarantee institution in practice and ventures to draw the Government’s attention to the Protection of Workers’ Claims (Employer’s Insolvency) Convention, 1992 (No. 173) which sets out the most recent standards on the subject of the protection of workers’ claims in the event of the employer’s insolvency.

Article 13. The Committee notes that under sections 86 and 104(1) of the Labour Code, the employer is obliged to pay remuneration at a location and time specified in the workplace regulations or in other provisions of labour law. The Committee would be grateful if the Government could supply copies of any such workplace regulations as examples or other texts giving effect to the requirements of this Article.

Part V of the report form. The Committee recalls the very interesting statistical information concerning the violations of the legislation on wage protection reported in 1994. The Committee recalls in particular that infringements were recorded in 5,455 establishments, or 72 per cent of all inspected establishments, relating in most cases to non-payment of wages and obligatory wage supplements. In total, wage benefits were not paid to some 104,326 employees with the amount of unpaid dues reaching nearly 192 billion zlotys as compared to 139.9 billion in 1993. Wages were not paid on time in 56 per cent of the establishments in which wage-related violations were observed while in 26 per cent of those establishments the delay in the payment of wages exceeded two months. According to the information from the inspection services, 18 per cent of the total number of employees whose employment relationship was terminated did not receive redundancy payments, this phenomenon being intensified in recent years. In many enterprises, the difficult financial situation prevents not only the settlement of outstanding workers’ claims but even the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings, and thus the role of the Work Benefits Guarantee Fund becomes of particular importance. Finally, labour inspectors instituted proceedings and imposed fines in 3,505 cases, that is a 27 per cent increase compared to 1993 figures, while supervision and application of enforcement measures resulted in the settlement of more than half of the amounts of wages and benefits due. Taking into account the above figures and also considering that cases of abuse concerning the payment of wages might increase, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide more recent and detailed information on the practical difficulties encountered in the application of the Convention, especially with regard to the late payment of wages, the reinforcement of the supervisory and inspection machinery and the imposition of dissuasive sanctions to offenders.