Enactment of Act amending the Labor Code in relation to the GDPR is getting closer.

On November 6, 2018, the Council of Ministers adopted the long-awaited draft of an act that will amend certain acts in order to ensure implementation of Regulation No. 2016/679 („GDBR”). The first draft was presented by the Ministry of Digitization in September 2017. The current, third version of the project, is the result of extensive public consultations conducted by the Ministry. Despite the fact that the GDPR is directly applicable in Poland from 25th of May 2018, the lack of a law that would amend regulations in specific sectors to the Regulation, raises many doubts, for instance in the implementation of the obligation to prove the legal basis for personal data processing in accordance with art. 6 of the GDPR or to prove the period of data processing for archiving.

The amendment will include cover a total of 186 acts, including those in the areas of administration, education, labor law, banking, insurance and public procurement. It is worth keeping up to date with the works on the act, because the changes in the regulations will come into force after 14 days from the date of passing the amending act.

The employers are among those most interested in the amending act. Amendments to the Labor Code include, among others:

a) enabling the employer to process the contact details of the candidate forwarded by him during the recruitment procedure, e.g. phone number and email address,

b) allowing the employer to process additional data of the candidate and employee based on his / her free consent (with the exception of information on criminal records), provided that the lack of consent does not constitute grounds for his less favorable treatment,

c) enabling the employer to process employee’s biometric data if it is justified by the control of an access to particularly sensitive information, the disclosure of which may expose the employer to detriment or an access to premises requiring special protection,

d) No video monitoring restriction covering the premises provided to the trade union organization and restriction of the scope of potential situations in which monitoring in sanitary rooms, locker rooms, smoking rooms and canteens can be installed.

Amendments to labor law, in practice, also mean a significant reduction of opportunities of screening of job applicants within the scope of background screening. Companies that have used so far such services so far in the recruitment process should adapt their recruitment process to new requirements as soon as possible.

Our Law Firm successfully supports entrepreneurs in effective adjustment of their activities to the requirements of the GDPR, including in the area of ​​HR.