Poland: the anti-crisis emergency law is overlooking temporary workers

According to Polskie Forum HR, the professional umbrella organization for temporary employment companies, more than 75,000 temporary workers risk losing their jobs. The emergency ‘Crisis Shield’ law (c.f. article No. 11798) has de facto excluded temporary agency workers from its scope. Companies using temporary workers are eligible for State aid, but only as concerns their own direct employees. In practice, temporary employment agencies cannot demonstrate a cessation of business activity, as it is defined in the law, because the cessation actually occurs in the companies seeking recourse to temporary workers rather than within the temporary employment companies themselves. Temporary employment agencies cannot therefore request State salary subsidization for the temporary workers, who as a result are left without any safety net net during the Covid-19 pandemic. Polskie Forum HR believes the provisions are discriminatory and run counter to the Temporary Agency Work Directive, which guarantees equal working conditions vis-à-vis other types of employees. This is a hard blow for the temporary employment sector, which has been on the front line during this current crisis and which had already observed an 8% drop in activity in 2019.