On 11 March 2024 a meeting between a delegation from the Embassy of the Republic of Guatemala and the State Labour Inspection took place at the Chief Labour Inspectorate in Warsaw. The aim of the meeting was to establish cooperation with a view to improving protection of the rights of Guatemalan workers migrating to Poland. The talks were held by the Chief Labour Inspector, Katarzyna Łażewska-Hrycko and Billy Toshiko Lam Padilla, Chargé d'affaires in the Embassy of Guatemala.
The meeting was organised upon the request of the Embassy, interested in ensuring better protection of the most vulnerable individuals, i.e. low-skilled workers or those working in agriculture. The cooperation would have a preventive and promotional dimension. Guatemala is a country with a large number of migrant workers, travelling mainly to Canada and Mexico, but also to European countries such as Italy and Germany.
The Chief Labour Inspector offered to provide materials on the terms and conditions of legal employment of foreigners in Poland and indicated the Legality of Employment Department as the contact unit in matters concerning foreign workers. She explained that consular visits to workplaces of Guatemalan nationals may be possible upon the consent of the company concerned. On the other hand, it is not possible for representatives of the Embassy to participate in inspections conducted by the SLI.
Further during the meeting, Dariusz Górski, Acting Director of the Legality of Employment Department, discussed the conditions of legal employment in Poland. He mentioned the most important obligations of employers towards foreign employees (conclusion of a written employment contract or a civil law contract, e.g. a contract of a mandate, registration of the employee for social insurance within 7 days from the conclusion of the contract, payment of remuneration for work in the amount of at least the minimum hourly rate). He stressed that immigrants working illegally risk a fine imposed by a labour inspector and notification to the Border Guard, which can order the foreigner to leave our country. He listed the permissible fees that may be charged by intermediaries (the costs of obtaining a visa, translating documents, arrival in Poland and return travel).
The delegation from Guatemala learned about the powers of the SLI in relation to foreigners (including inspection of the legality of their stay and employment), the terms of cooperation between the labour inspection and the Border Guard, and the SLI's obligations to inform law enforcement authorities in the event of a suspicion of a crime committed against employed foreigners, e.g. a crime bearing features of human trafficking. Due to the interest of embassies of other countries in obtaining similar information, the Chief Labour Inspector proposed to organise, with the possible cooperation of the Border Guard, joint training for diplomatic missions on the above issues.
During the meeting the Embassy was also represented by Luis Eduardo Luna Cifuentes, First Secretary and Consul, and Maciej Mosionek, Administrative Assistant, while the State Labour Inspection was represented by: Wojciech Gonciarz, Director of the Legal Department, Dorota Gorajska, chief specialist in the Legality of Employment Department, and Teresa Jastrzębska, interpreter from the International Relations Unit at the Chief Labour Inspectorate.