Contact:
Mirosław Stefanik
ms@pnplaw.pl

Employee dismissal obligation

Pursuant to a recent resolution of the Supreme Court (January 24, 2012), an employer is not released from the obligation of informing the relevant trade union of its intention to terminate an employment contract with an employee, even if the trade union has failed to give it information about employees who are protected by the union, despite being requested to do so. This is assuming that the failure to grant the information is justified by personal data protection regulations.

Rules on acknowledging Polish citizenship for foreigners

On January 18, the Constitutional Tribunal recognized the motion of the president concerning rules on acknowledging Polish citizenship. The Constitutional Tribunal decided that Article 30 of the Act of April 2, 2009 on Polish Citizenship (the act is waiting to be signed by the president and is not a binding law yet) is compliant with Article 137 of the Constitution.

In accordance with the law in force, there are only two cases in which a voivode (the voivodship executive) may acknowledge a foreigner as a Polish citizen. Firstly, in case of a person who is not a citizen of any other country, if this person has lived in Poland for at least five years on the basis of a permission to settle. Secondly, in case of a spouse of a Polish citizen, if the marriage has lasted for at least three years and if that foreigner has permission to settle in Poland.

The act will introduce a new, wider catalog of cases in which foreigners may be acknowledged as Polish citizens. It has to be underlined that “citizenship is acknowledged” by a voivode on the basis of the Act and by an administrative decision which is not of a discretionary nature and which is subject to court supervision. At the same time, the president has the right to “grant citizenship” on the basis of the constitution. That right is of a discretionary nature and it is not subject to court supervision.

Liquidation of public schools

Pursuant to a proposed change to the Act on the Educational System, the liquidation of a public school will be possible only after a positive decision has been obtained from the school’s superintendent. Until now, local government authorities have been able to liquidate schools exclusively on the basis of economic criteria, even if it contradicted the school superintendent’s stance. According to the project’s authors, the changes should have a positive impact on the quality of teaching in Poland.