Article

Where a dispute between the employer and the employee is taken to court, the question arises which court is competent for settling the dispute. The answer ‘the court having jurisdiction over the seat of the employer’ is only partly correct.

It results from the fact that Article 461 of the Civil Procedure Code (hereafter: ‘CPC’) provides for the so-called ‘optional jurisdiction’ for labour law disputes, which means that the parties to the employment relationship may file a claim before one of the courts indicated in the provision in question. Therefore, it may be: (1) the court having general jurisdiction over the defendant (e.g. the seat of the employer where the employee files a claim) or (2) the court having jurisdiction over the district where work is, was and was supposed to be performed, or (3) the court having jurisdiction over the district where the establishment (place of work) is located. Thus, an employer having its seat in Poznań with an employee working in Warsaw may be taken to court by that employee in matters concerning labour law either in Poznań or in Warsaw. The party choosing the court is the plaintiff.

Importantly, the parties to an employment relationship may, under the provision of Article 46 of the Civil Procedure Code, agree for any disputes arising from the employment relationship to be settled by a specific court and thus clearly indicate the court having jurisdiction in this regard. Such an arrangement must be considered lawful as the provisions governing proceedings in labour law do not exclude the application of Article 46 of the Civil Procedure Code. The condition for validity of such an arrangement is to make it in writing, e.g. as a clause included in the employment contract.

From the point of view of the employer it is important, particularly where a given employee works off the premises or the employer has several establishments in various parts of Poland, or the establishment concerned has a different location from the seat of the employer, to unambiguously specify in the contract the court competent for settling disputes with that employee, e.g. according to the seat of the employer. It then allows to avoid expenses on legal proceedings, including transport to the place of court sittings, in locations significantly distant from a place more logistically convenient to the employer.