On Monday, four employers’ organizations – Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs, Lewiatan Confederation, Employers of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Bank Association – issued statementregarding the allegations made former president of PKO BP, Zbigniew Jagielle By Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin.
Problematic holiday allowance
“These allegations concern seven employment contractsin which the Bank’s employees were granted for which there was no economic or legal justification, severance pay and other monetary benefitsand, moreover, omissions enforcing the right to holiday leave from seven employees of the Bank and our own, overdue annual leavein the preceding period termination of employment contracts in order to conclude the agreements required by law management contracts, which resulted in the payment of cash equivalents for unused holiday leave,” we read in the statement of the employers’ organization. – “The allegations formulated in this way raise particular concern and raise questions about the actual intentions of the Prosecutor’s Office,” it added.
Employer representatives pointed out that “granting benefits to employees, including severance pay, falls within the competence of the president and does not require +legal justification+”. They added that what is of concern is the accusation of a crime “consisting of failing to enforce the use of annual leave from employees and justifying the allegation of causing damage to the employer.” They added that nationwide, “tens of thousands of employees annually receive compensation for unused leave.” This cannot be the basis for accusing managers of committing crimes.
Management contracts for UoP
Employers’ representatives also pointed out that the action of the former president of PKO BP, consisting in termination of employment contracts in order to conclude management contracts required by law“refers to changes in the basis of employment of members of the Bank’s management board in connection with its entry into force Act on the principles of shaping the remuneration of persons managing certain companies“.
“In these cases, the termination of employment contracts and their replacement with management contracts was forced by changes in regulations, and the procedure and deadline for introducing these changes depended on the decisions of the General Meetings and Supervisory Boards. It is not the President who terminates employment contracts with other members of the management board, but board of directors, which employs and fires the Management Board. In such a case, accusing the President of necessity payment of leave compensation to management board members this is an obvious mistake,” the statement said.
Property damage
As reported by “Rzeczpospolita”, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin was to bring charges against the former president of PKO BP, Zbigniew Jagielle, regarding his actions in 2011-2016. Seven of them refer to the so-called breaches of trust that allegedly took place when concluding employment contracts with seven bank employees on behalf of PKO BP. Jagiełło allegedly granted severance pay and other monetary benefits that were not justified. According to the prosecutor’s office, these actions were intended to cause property damage in the property of PKO BP SA with a total value of PLN 3.2 million.
The eighth accusation, reported by “Rz”, concerns the failure to enforce the right to holiday leave from seven bank employees and their own outstanding holiday leave in the period from September 2016 to June 2017.
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