Receive a package of free GDPR guides and micro-trainings
Regulation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy on employee documentation has been in effect since January 1, 2019. Employers had 12 months to adapt the conditions for storing existing documentation related to employment relationships and personal files of employees, as specified in the relevant regulation (§ 22).
According to the provision of § 8 of this regulation, applicable from January 1, 2020:
“The employer ensures appropriate conditions to secure employee documentation maintained and stored in paper form against destruction, damage, or loss, and access by unauthorized persons, particularly by ensuring in the room where employee documentation is stored, appropriate humidity, temperature, and securing this room against access by unauthorized persons.”
However, it is problematic for the employer to define the appropriate humidity and temperature. In February 2019, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy expressed its opinion on this matter, which was confirmed by the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP). According to the Ministry, employers – in the case of independently storing employee documentation – should take into account the humidity and temperature parameters specified in the regulation of the Minister of Culture dated February 15, 2005, regarding the conditions for storing personal and payroll documentation of employers.
These parameters are
- for relative humidity of the air – from 45 to 60% with a fluctuation within 24 hours of +/- 5%
- for temperature – from 14 to 20 degrees Celsius with a maximum daily fluctuation of 2 degrees.
It should be emphasized that the above parameters apply, of course, to entities engaged in the storage of such documentation, and not to all employers; however, employers who independently store documentation should also take them into account. Regardless of the humidity and temperature parameters applied by the employer, it will be within the competence of the PIP to assess whether he has potentially committed an offense referred to in Article 281 point 7 of the Labour Code, namely, leaving employee documentation in conditions that threaten damage or destruction, which is punishable by a fine ranging from 1,000 to 30,000 PLN.
By the way, it is worth noting that thermometers are used to measure temperature, while devices called hygrometers (humidity meters) are used to measure humidity. In our country, we measure temperature in degrees Celsius, and humidity in percentages.
