Changes introduced to the rules on keeping and storage of employee personal files in Poland from 2019

On January 1, 2019, new regulations was implemented, in accordance with the regulation of the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy of September 13, 2018. As a result, there are significant changes for employees, as well as in particular for employers. These changes involve, for instance, increasing the number of individual components of personal files, the time period for which they are required to be stored in the archives and the possibility of keeping all documentation in electronic form.

Current categories of employee personal files

To date employee personal files have fallen under the following categories:

• category A files – these include documents related to the seeking of employment,
• category B files – these include documents related to the entering into of an employment relationship and documents related to the course of the employment,
• category C files – these include documents related to the termination/cessation of employment.

However, from the new year, this will look a little different. Although the role that the categories fulfill will remain the same, i.e. to facilitate the organization of documents and statements/declarations related to the course of an employee's employment, the Ministry for Family, Labor and Social Policy decided to introduce four seperate categories instead of the existing three categories.

New categories of employee personal files

Following the entry into force of the regulation of the Ministry for Family, Labor and Social Policy the following categories will apply:

• category A – documents related to the seeking of employment,
• category B – documents related to the entering into of an employment relationship and documents related to the course of the employment,
• category C – documents related to the employee's disciplinary liability or other liability as defined in other regulations,
• category D – documents related to the termination/cessation of employment.

Intended benefits

According to the intention of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the introduction of the new regulation is expected to bring specific benefits for employers. As the Deputy Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology, Mariusz Haładyj, said: "The new regulation has two purposes: First, employers will keep their employee files for a shorter period: 10 instead of the current 50 years. Second, they will be able to keep such documentation in electronic form, in line with the general trend of digitalization in the business world." According to the calculations of the Ministry of Enterprise and Technology, companies employing about 500 employees, can expect to make a saving of about PLN 200,000 a year as a result of such digitalization.

How this effects the files of existing and newly hired employees?

However, it should be noted that the new regulations will apply only to new employees, that is, those employed after January 1, 2019. The exception will be people employed for the first time in the period from January 1999 to December 2018. In their case, the period of storage of files can be reduced from 50 to 10 years. For employees employed before 1999, records will still be required to be kept for 50 years.