As employers, clients of the PRWT accounting office are subject to inspection by the National Labor Inspectorate. What is the basis for such control?

The legal basis for carrying out a PIP inspection is specified in Art. 24 of the Polish Act of 13 April 2007 on the National Labor Inspectorate.

Pursuant to this provision, among others: the entrepreneur’s inspection is carried out after presenting an official ID and authorization to carry it out.

What should an authorization to carry out an inspection contain?

The authorization itself should include:

1) indication of the legal basis for carrying out the inspection;

2) designation of the control authority;

3) name and surname, official position of the person authorized to carry out the inspection and his or her official ID number;

4) determining the scope of the inspection;

5) designation of the entity subject to inspection;

6) indication of the start date and expected date of completion of the inspection;

7) signature of the person granting the authorization, specifying the position or function held;

8) instructing the inspected entity about its rights and obligations;

9) date and place of issuing the authorization.

One of the most important elements of the authorization is the objective scope of the inspection, beyond which the authority conducting the inspection cannot exceed. Here, the issues subject to control are indicated, e.g. legality of employment or occupational health and safety.

Therefore, since the scope of the inspection determines the framework of the issues that the inspector can inspect, the way this scope is formulated determines whether the inspector will have the right to request specific documents/information. If, for example, the inspection covers issues related to the legality of work of employees employed in the previous year, the request to provide information on the legality of employment of employees employed two years ago would require a separate authorization in this respect.

Emergency situations may also occur that require immediate inspection – then the inspector only shows his  card, and he is obliged to present the authorization at a later date.

The obligations of controlled entities are specified in Art. 27 of the said Act:

The inspected entity is obliged to provide the labor inspector with, among others: conditions and measures necessary for the efficient conduct of the inspection, and in particular, immediately present the requested documents and materials, provide technical equipment and, if possible, a separate room with appropriate equipment.

This provision requires the immediate presentation of documents and materials requested by the inspector. Immediately, i.e. without undue delay, does not mean that these materials and information are to be presented immediately, but as soon as possible. Therefore, if obtaining some information materials requires cooperation, e.g. with an external office, it is reasonable to present this information/materials immediately after receiving them (as soon as possible).

It is worth remembering the very important right of the inspected entity specified in Art. 31 section 4 of the Act on the National Labor Inspectorate, which provides that before signing the inspection report, the inspected entity has the right to raise substantiated objections to the findings contained in the report. Therefore, if the inspected entity has reservations as to the way the inspection was carried out, as a result of which the inspector drew incorrect conclusions or issued recommendations, the inspected entity may indicate these circumstances when signing the report with its own explanation.