The month of September did not abound with many new pieces of legislation in Poland.
On September 25th 2024, a new law on whistleblowers finally came into force in Poland meaning that entities employing more than 50 persons are obliged to introduce bylaws about the procedure of reporting breaches and misconduct and protection of whistleblowers. As a result, it has been necessary to insert many organizational changes within their internal structures in particular within operations and accounting departments. There are still voices and fears of employees that these changes will not be effective, and that the anonymity of whistleblowers will not be maintained sufficiently.
It should be recalled that a whistleblower is a person who when working in a company spots and reports on transgressions at the working place such as money laundering, corruption, or tender tampering. Such a person should be given secure communication channels within his/her company to report about these breaches without facing any retaliation from higher – up.
There is no doubt that due to broad public discussion about whistleblowers the majority of entrepreneurs have prepared themselves in advance for the implementation of the new provisions, nevertheless some of them waited until the last minute and until the final version of the new law was enacted, a compilation of which was extremely time consuming.
New provisions about the earlier retirement of schoolteachers and about the curriculum for school children from Ukraine were introduced this month. As from September 1st 2024, all children and pupils from Ukraine will be subject to obligation of education in pre-schools and schools in Poland except for pupils of the last class of high school who will seek to obtain the certificate of Ukrainian Secondary Education. The major reform in this field is expected to be introduced in 2026 along with a new education program.
On September 24th 2024, the Council of Ministers approved a new bill on the removal of the consequences of the heavy flood that hit especially some southwestern parts of Poland in summer of this year. There have been many measures introduced, in particular aid for people in need who were affected by this disaster. The support will be provided by the Creditors Support Fund and by the National Health Fund. Different forms of subsidies were foreseen for flood victims as well.