Appeal against a PIP decision establishing an employment relationship — deadline and procedure

Deadline and how the appeal is filed

Art. 477(7)b § 1 k.p.c.: an appeal against a decision of the regional labour inspector referred to in art. 11 ust. 1 pkt 7a of the Act of 13 April 2007 on the National Labour Inspectorate is filed in writing through the regional labour inspector within one month of the date it was served. The appeal should state the challenged decision, briefly set out the objections and the requests, their justification, and the signature of the appellant (§ 2).

This should not be confused with an appeal against the other decisions of a labour inspector: against decisions under art. 11 ust. 1 pkt 1–7 and art. 11a of the PIP Act an appeal lies to the regional labour inspector within 7 days of service (art. 34 ust. 5 of the PIP Act). The court rejects an appeal filed after the deadline, unless the delay is not excessive and occurred for reasons beyond the appellant's control (art. 477(7)b § 7 k.p.c.).

Evidence preclusion

The appellant is obliged to raise all assertions and evidence in the appeal, and the remaining parties in the response to the appeal. The regional labour inspector instructs the parties about this obligation and about the consequences of failing to meet it at the same time as serving the decision (art. 477(7)b § 3 k.p.c.).

Assertions and evidence not raised at that stage may be raised only where the party shows it to be plausible that raising them earlier was not possible or that the need to raise them arose later (§ 4). In practice this means that the evidence has to be gathered within one month of service of the decision, not in the course of the proceedings.

Self-review by the authority, competent court and course of the case

If the regional labour inspector considers the appeal to be entirely well founded, the inspector may amend or set aside the challenged decision, and the appeal is then not processed further (art. 477(7)b § 5 k.p.c.). Otherwise the inspector transfers it to the court together with the complete case files and the inspector's own position, no later than within one month of its filing (§ 6).

The case is heard by the district court regardless of the value of the matter in dispute (art. 461 § 1(1) k.p.c.), the court competent for the place of performance of work established in the decision (art. 461 § 2(3) k.p.c.). It is a labour law case (art. 476 § 1 pkt 1(2) k.p.c.), and the parties are the parties to the challenged decision and the regional labour inspector (art. 477(7)c k.p.c.). A settlement is possible only by all parties to the proceedings, and submitting the dispute to arbitration is inadmissible (art. 477(7)d k.p.c.).

The court dismisses the appeal, amends the decision in whole or in part and rules on the merits, and where the decision was issued in flagrant breach of the law it sets the decision aside and refers the case back to the regional labour inspector for re-examination (art. 477(7)g k.p.c.). A request to lift immediate enforceability and a complaint against the order granting it are heard by the court in camera by a single judge, no later than within 3 days of receipt; the deadline for filing the complaint is one week (art. 477(7)f k.p.c.).

Enforceability of the decision and limitation of contributions

From the date it is issued, a decision under art. 11 ust. 1 pkt 7a of the PIP Act produces the legal effects connected with establishing the existence of an employment relationship under labour law, tax law, social insurance and health insurance, as well as mandatory payments to funds (art. 34 ust. 2j of the PIP Act). It becomes enforceable on the day following the day on which the deadline for filing an appeal expires, if no party filed one, or on the date of a final and binding court ruling, or on the date immediate enforceability is granted (ust. 2k).

Filing an appeal suspends the running of the limitation period for contribution liabilities — from the day the appeal is filed until the day the decision becomes final, and in the case of an appeal to the court until the day the ruling becomes final and binding (art. 24 ust. 5h of the Act of 13 October 1998 on the social insurance system).