On January 1, 2019 a new Regulation of Poland's Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy dated December 10, 2018 on employment documentation (the "Regulation") entered into force. The Regulation introduces new rules for keeping and storing personnel files and employment documentation.

The Regulation provides for a new part of the personnel files (part D), which will include documents related to the employee's disciplinary sanctions. The Regulation also introduces a new catalogue of documentation to be stored in particular parts of the personnel file. Additionally, the Regulation defines the scope of employment documentation, which does not form part of the personnel file but which is subject to the same retention period. The employment documentation includes: documents connected to working time records, among which should be stored documents connected to application of a task based working time system, documents connected to annual leave or the remuneration payment card.

The new Regulation will apply in its entirety to the employment documentation of employees hired since January 1, 2019.

For employment relationships already in force on January 1, 2019, the old regulation will apply regarding the scope and manner of keeping personnel files regarding documentation gathered until that date.

Consequently, employers are not obliged to adjust old documentation to the new regulations. They may do so voluntarily. However, all documents collected after January 1, 2019, including documents regarding employment relationships established prior to that date, should be kept and catalogued in accordance with the rules resulting from the Regulation.

Since the Regulation does not include templates of employment documents, the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy published example templates of such documents in the Public Information Bulletin. The Ministry stated that due to the planned changes in the Labor Code regarding the scope of personal data collected from employees, these templates may be subject to change.

The published templates may be helpful for employers, but it should be noted that they are not part of the legal act and they are not valid. Therefore, when using these templates in creating the company's templates, the applicable rules of personal data protection, including the rule of data minimization, should be taken into account.

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