A German-owned logistics company operating in Poland faced a difficult situation in late autumn 2025. It needed to terminate the employment of a senior operations manager – a foreign national holding a zezwolenie na pracę (work permit Poland) – following a restructuring of its regional hub. The procedure looked manageable. In practice, it triggered a chain of obligations that the company had not anticipated.

Employment termination in Poland is governed by the Kodeks pracy (Labour Code, KC) and requires strict procedural compliance: written form, a legally adequate reason, and adherence to statutory notice periods that can reach three months for long-serving employees. Foreign nationals holding a work permit Poland or an EU Blue Card face additional obligations – the employer must notify the relevant voivode within seven days of the employment relationship ending. Failure to follow any step can result in the court reinstating the employee or awarding compensation equivalent to up to three months' salary.

This case study traces the background, the legal strategy our team applied, and the transferable lessons for employers – including foreign investors – managing similar procedures in Poland.

What was the background and what went wrong initially?

The client, a Lower Silesian subsidiary of a German parent, employed the manager under an indefinite contract. His tenure exceeded five years. Under Polish labour law, that single fact extended his notice period to three months and triggered additional consultation obligations with the trade union active at the site – even though the manager himself was not a union member.

The company's HR team drafted a termination letter citing "organisational changes." That reason, standing alone, failed the legal adequacy test. Polish employment courts have consistently held that the stated reason must be specific, verifiable, and directly connected to the individual's role. A generic reference to restructuring does not satisfy this standard. The company also omitted the mandatory statement informing the employee of his right to appeal to the District Labour Court (Sąd Rejonowy – Wydział Pracy) within 21 days.

The manager lodged an appeal. He also filed a complaint with the National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, PIP), alleging that the termination was connected to an internal report he had submitted three months earlier regarding safety irregularities. That allegation introduced a whistleblower Poland dimension under the 2024 implementing legislation, which prohibits retaliatory dismissal and shifts the burden of proof to the employer.

We secured a negotiated settlement protecting the employer from reinstatement exposure, recovering a net saving exceeding PLN 180,000 compared to the litigation path, for this Lower Silesia client in autumn 2025.

How did we structure the legal strategy?

The first priority was neutralising the whistleblower risk. Under Polish whistleblower legislation, once an employee raises a credible retaliation claim, the employer must demonstrate that the termination decision was taken independently of the protected disclosure. The timeline was damaging: the internal report preceded the termination letter by exactly 91 days – within the statutory protection window.

Our team reconstructed the paper trail. We identified board-level documentation – financial projections, headcount reduction approvals, and correspondence with the German parent – predating the internal report by at least four months. That evidence established that the restructuring decision was genuine and pre-existing. It did not eliminate the risk, but it shifted the probability calculus decisively in the client's favour.

On the work permit Poland and EU Blue Card side, the employer had missed the seven-day notification window to the Lower Silesian Voivode (Urząd Wojewódzki). Late notification is a regulatory infraction carrying a fine of up to PLN 30,000. We filed a corrective notification with an explanatory memorandum and engaged directly with the voivode's office. The matter was resolved without a formal penalty proceeding.

For the core unfair dismissal claim, we advised the client to withdraw the defective termination letter and reissue it with a specific, documented reason tied to the elimination of the operations manager role as part of a defined restructuring programme. That reissuance reset the 21-day appeal clock and gave the employer a defensible factual basis. Simultaneously, we initiated mediation through the employment lawyer Warsaw channel, which allowed both parties to negotiate severance terms outside the court process. The settlement was concluded within six weeks.

An employment lawyer Warsaw familiar with both the Labour Code and immigration compliance is not a luxury in cross-border restructurings – it is the difference between a controlled exit and a two-year litigation.

What are the transferable lessons for employers?

Every employment termination in Poland requires at least four elements to be legally sound: a written notice, a specific and verifiable reason, the correct notice period, and the employee's right-of-appeal statement. Missing any one of these gives the employee a procedural ground for reinstatement – regardless of the underlying business rationale.

For foreign nationals, the compliance layer doubles. A work permit Poland or EU Blue Card is tied to a specific employer and role. Termination ends the permit's validity. The employer has seven days to notify the issuing voivode. Separately, if the employee held a residence permit linked to employment, the Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców (Office for Foreigners) may also require notification. Missing either deadline exposes the company to administrative fines and, in repeat cases, restrictions on future permit applications.

The whistleblower Poland rules add a third layer. Any employee who has made an internal or external disclosure within the preceding 12 months – whether about financial irregularities, safety concerns, or regulatory breaches – benefits from a rebuttable presumption of retaliation. Employers must maintain documentation showing that the termination decision was taken on independent grounds, ideally before the disclosure occurred. For further context on compliance obligations affecting foreign employers in Poland, see our analysis of employment law compliance for Slovakia companies in Poland.

For companies planning workforce reductions, the interaction between employment termination rules and restructuring obligations is significant. Our restructuring practice in Poland addresses the broader framework, including collective redundancy thresholds that trigger additional consultation and notification duties when 10 or more employees are dismissed within 30 days.

  • Draft the termination reason with specificity – generic references to "restructuring" are insufficient.
  • Verify the notice period based on the employee's total seniority, not just tenure with the current entity.
  • Notify the voivode within seven days if the employee holds a work permit Poland or EU Blue Card.
  • Check whether any internal report or disclosure was filed within the preceding 12 months.
  • Include the 21-day right-of-appeal statement in every termination letter.

For employers with internationally mobile workforces, the obligations around posted workers add further complexity. Our guide on posted workers from Switzerland to Poland and A1 certificates illustrates how cross-border employment status affects compliance requirements at each stage, including termination.

The client in this matter emerged from the process with a clean settlement, no court judgment, and a compliance protocol for future terminations. The cost of early legal advice was a fraction of the litigation exposure that a contested reinstatement claim would have generated.

The specific facts of your company's situation require individual assessment – a defective termination letter can preclude a clean exit and expose the business to reinstatement orders that are difficult and costly to reverse.

If your company is planning an employment termination in Poland – whether for a single employee or as part of a wider restructuring – our team will review the documentation, identify procedural risks, and structure the process to minimise exposure: contact info@kordeckipartners.com.

Frequently asked questions

Q: How long is the notice period for employment termination in Poland?

A: Notice periods under Polish labour law depend on the employee's total seniority with the employer. The periods are two weeks for service under six months, one month for service between six months and three years, and three months for service exceeding three years. Seniority with predecessor entities may be aggregated where the employer has changed through a business transfer.

Q: Does a foreign employee's work permit affect the termination procedure?

A: Yes. Terminating a foreign national holding a work permit Poland or an EU Blue Card requires the employer to notify the issuing voivode within seven days of the employment relationship ending. Failure to notify within that window is a regulatory infraction. The employee's residence permit status may also need to be addressed separately with the Office for Foreigners.

Q: Is it a common misconception that a vague business reason is sufficient to justify termination?

A: It is one of the most frequent errors we see. Polish labour courts require the stated reason to be specific, verifiable, and causally linked to the individual's role or conduct. A general reference to "organisational changes" or "economic reasons" without further detail regularly fails this test, giving the employee grounds to challenge the termination as procedurally defective regardless of the underlying business rationale.

KORDECKI & Partners is a law firm based in Warsaw and Krakow, advising business clients across 30 jurisdictions. Our team combines expertise in Polish and international law with a practical approach to employment termination, workforce restructuring, and cross-border mobility compliance. We work with Polish entrepreneurs, foreign investors, and in-house legal teams. To discuss your situation, contact info@kordeckipartners.com.

Disclaimer: This publication is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information herein should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel tailored to your specific circumstances. KORDECKI & Partners assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@kordeckipartners.com.