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The Chief Sanitary Inspectorate has published guidelines aim to allow foreign employees to work as soon as they have cross the Polish border, while undergoing mandatory quarantine, and ensuring safety conditions. These guidelines apply to entities employing foreigners for seasonal work on a homestead.

Here are some of the most important of these guidelines:

• The seasonal worker is transported to a particular farm using organized transport (e.g. bus) or transport provided by the farmer – individual transport by personal pickup, each of them, before entering the vehicle, should wash and disinfects hands and cover their nose and mouth; it is recommended that the driver’s zone be separated from the passenger’s zone by a shutter.
• The travel time from the moment of crossing the Polish border to the destination farm cannot exceed 24 hours.
• Upon arrival at the destination, the employer is obliged to report to the National Poviat Sanitary Inspector competent for the location of the farm, the actual list of persons employed and obliged to undergo mandatory quarantine.
• Seasonal employee perform a 14-day quarantine on the farm (farm habitat with plots belonging to it).
• While the employee is under quarantine, he is allowed to work with consideration of total ban on leaving the farm during the quarantine period, contact with persons residing in the farm should be also limited to the necessary minimum.
• Upon arrival at the destination farm, a PCR swab is required to rule out infection. The organization and cost lies with the host employer.
• On the 7th day of quarantine, an employee can take a swab for PCR testing, and after receiving a negative result he is released from further quarantine. The cost of the test is covered by the employer.
• Violation of the quarantine obligation is punishable with a fine of up to 30,000. PLN (approx. USD 7 100, EUR 6 600, PLN 190 840)which is borne by the employee.

In addition, quarantined persons should be provided with adequate accommodation conditions with full sanitary facilities and separate rooms.

The seasonal worker on the farm must be provided with on going access to cleaning products that will ensure his able to comply with the hygiene requirements.

The Chief Sanitary Inspector’s website provide detailed guidelines regarding the conditions of work that should be met to limit the spread of the virus, such as work in smaller groups with a space between people of minimum 1.5 m or alternatively work in a mask etc.

Finally we remind you that the so-called Crisis shield 3.0 (in force from 16/05/2020) introduced special solutions in seasonal employment, among others by allowing seasonal work without a seasonal work permit in the following cases:

• the foreigner had a work permit referred to in art. 88 section 1 or paragraph 2 of the Act on employment promotion and labor market institutions (types A and B), valid after March 13, 2020.

• the foreigner had a declaration of entrustment of work (registered) in which at least one day of the work period falls after March 13, 2020