Although it has been more than 3 years since the introduction of support from the so-called anti-covid shield and the first disbursements, labour offices are still inspecting the correctness of the disbursements and the use of the funds. They demand repayment and threaten lawsuits if irregularities are found to have occurred.

One of the issues questioned by the labour offices is the simultaneous use by employers of job protection benefits from the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund (FGŚP) and the deferral of Social Security (ZUS) contributions. According to the labour offices, the deferral of payments to ZUS means that employers have not fulfilled their agreement with them.

We do not agree with this position. First of all, the agreements did not include a deadline for using the funds allocated to pay the contributions. The labour offices derive the existence of such an obligation from the fact that employers were required to document how the funds were used by a certain deadline. In our view, the agreements should be interpreted differently. Considering that they did not specify a deadline for the payment of contributions, the deadline under generally applicable regulations and the possibility of deferring it by agreement with ZUS applied. Making deferred payments does not, therefore, justify the labour offices' claims for refund of granted funds.

Find more in the PRO HR June 2023