Implementation issues

• Author: Bojarski, Lukasz
• Pages: 102-109

102

8 IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES

8.1 Dissemination of information, dialogue with NGOs and between social

partners

a) Dissemination of information about legal protection against discrimination (Article

10, Directive 2000/43 and Article 12, Directive 2000/78)

All legislative acts issued in Poland are published in an official journal, which fulfils the

requirement of publicly announcing legal norms and enabling public awareness of what

the law says. Usually, however, publication in an official journal does not mean much to

the general public. Nevertheless, it should be noted that awareness of equal treatment

and the need to safeguard non-discrimination is slowly but surely increasing in Poland,

although it cannot yet be deemed satisfactory.

Because of this, the Ombud decided to focus its research on under-reported issues and

find out why victims of discrimination do not report it.404 According to annual studies

commissioned by the Ombud, 70 % to 90 % of people who believed that they had

experienced discrimination in the given year have not reported this to any public

institution (the figure was 73 % in 2018).405 Moreover, the vast majority of people are

unaware that discrimination is prohibited in areas such as employment and the labour

market or in access to goods and services.

According to the Ombud, the reasons for this are manifold and include a low level of legal

awareness; a lack of understanding of the notion of discrimination; a lack of trust in

public bodies and institutions; a fear of retaliation as a result of reporting discrimination;

a reluctance to disclose intimate information about one’s life; as well as a lack of faith in

the effectiveness of an intervention. For these reasons, the Ombud has appealed to the

state authorities to exercise special sensitivity, and in particular to take proactive

measures to counter and combat discrimination, even without specific victims taking the

initiative.406 In addition, due to both global and national developments, worrying social

processes have developed, such as an increase in hate speech and hate crime against

ethnic and religious minorities, as well as an increase in antisemitism, and rising levels of

homophobia and even physical attacks on the offices of LGBT organisations.

From the legal point of view, the most important instrument for the effective

dissemination of information re lated to the issues of discrimination in employment is

Article 94(1) of the Labour Code. It imposes on all employers an obligation to enable

employees to access, in the workplace, the legal provisions concerning equal treatment

in employment. In this way, it directly implements the option included in Article 12 of the

Employment Equality Directive. The Labour Code recommends that the employer should

meet this requirement by disseminating information in written form. The employer is,

however, free to choose other options and grant access to the information ‘by another

means accepted by a particular employer’.

The options chosen to put this provision into operation may vary among different

employers – it can take the form of printed leaflets or brochures distributed in the

workplace, or printed information given to the employee, who may be required to provide

their signature as proof that they have taken note of it.407 Such information can also be

attached to labour contracts or workplace codes of conduct. The National Labour

Inspectorate is responsible for the implementation of Article 94(1).

404 Ombud, annual report for 2013, p. 10.

405 Ombud, research commissioned from Kantar Public on legal awareness in the context of equal treatment,

October 2018.

406 Ombud, annual report for 2016, pp. 114, 70, 156.

407 See, for example, Potocka, P. (2004), Model information on equal treatment in employment, Gdask

(published by a private centre for consultancy and vocational training).