What an employment agency may charge for

What an employment agency may charge for

Pursuant to Article 19d(1)(1) of the Act of 20 April 2004 on employment promotion and labour market institutions, an employment agency is entitled to charge its clients only for actual costs incurred in connection with the referral to work abroad. These include:

• travel and return of the referred person,
• issuing a visa
• medical examinations,
• translation of documents.

In addition, before referring a person for work abroad or temporary work, the employment agency is obliged to provide him/her in writing with information on the costs, fees and other amounts due, related to the referral for work and taking up and performing work abroad.

Pursuant to Article 85(2)(7) of the aforementioned Act, information on the amounts payable to the employment agency on the aforementioned grounds should be included in the contract signed by the agency with the persons directed to work abroad.

It is an offence under Article 121(2) of the cited Act for an agency to charge a person for whom it seeks employment, other gainful employment or to whom it provides consultations in the selection of a suitable profession and place of employment, additional fees other than those mentioned above. The penalty is a fine from PLN 3000 to 5000. The same punishment is also threatened for failing to provide the person referred to work with written information on costs, fees and other charges or providing information inconsistent with the facts (Article 121c of the cited Act). Where such violations are found, labour inspectors shall submit penalty requests to the court.