Late on 13 June, Onet’s Olsztyn bureau reported that the Warmia-Mazury Border Guard Unit completed a five-month audit of workplaces across the north-eastern region, screening more than 1,400 foreign nationals. Officers identified 460 individuals—mostly from Belarus, Ukraine and Uzbekistan—who lacked valid work authorisation or had been hired on terms that violated Poland’s Labour Code. Although the inspection period ran January–May, the detailed results were released only now, coinciding with the EU migration pact’s launch and reinforcing the government narrative of strict internal controls. Fines totalling PLN 3.2 million (€710,000) were levied against 67 employers, including several logistics firms that provide services to multinational e-commerce platforms. The scale of irregularities suggests that some suppliers inflate headcount during peak seasons without updating work-permit registers—a risk for corporates outsourcing warehousing operations. Mobility managers should request updated compliance certificates from vendors and consider contract clauses that pass liability back to service providers. The Border Guard noted that 102 of the infringing workers had overstayed the 90/180-day Schengen rule, triggering separate administrative removal. Companies should educate staff on the Schengen calculator and record exit stamps to avoid inadvertent overstays when rotating crews between EU sites. Regionally, Warmia-Mazury is positioning itself as a hub for Chinese battery-component manufacturers; stricter enforcement may lead to longer lead times for local work-permit appointments, so early filing is advised.
Source: Onet (Olsztyn)
