The employer must consult some decisions in advance with his subordinates. If there are no trade unions in a given company, an employee representative is elected.

The employee representative, as the name suggests, represents all employees in relations with the employer. Interestingly, anyone can become one. The requirements are not specified in regulations. It is simply required to have a valid certificate of occupational health and safety training, which is standard for all employees, so it is not an exceptional criterion.

The regulations – and more precisely the Labor Code – regulate that the employer must consult all activities related to occupational health and safety with employees or their representatives. If there are trade unions in the company (their creation is not obligatory), then the representative is the social labor inspector, and if not, the employees choose their representative themselves.

One more important note: the decision to choose a representative is also not obligatory, but it can significantly improve cooperation and bring many benefits. It is worth considering this, especially in larger workplaces, although this does not mean that such a representative will not be useful in smaller ones.

The procedure adopted by a given employer – this is how the employee representative is elected. Therefore, there is no single procedure adopted and regulated by law. This may look slightly different in each workplace.

The employer cannot impose his opinion on this matter, although of course there is nothing to stop him from proposing a given selection process and, after obtaining the approval of the entire team, implementing it in his company. Furthermore, such implementation requires neither documentation nor formalization in any other way. However, it is worth preparing an internal document so that everything is clear, legible and transparent to every employee. It is a good idea to write down the selection procedure, the procedure for nominating a candidate and, if applicable, the length of the term of office.

The competences of an employee representative are divided into two categories: consultative and decisive.

In the first case, the employer is obliged to inform the representative about the need to conduct consultations. Then, he/she gets acquainted with his position and enters into a dialogue with him. However, this position is not binding. This means that even if the representative comments negatively on an issue, the employer does not have to take it into account. These issues include consultations on, for example:

• all initiatives related to health and safety at work, such as work structure, equipment of workstations, occupational risk analysis, allocation of personal protective equipment, creation of an occupational health and safety service),
• introducing rules regarding remote work,
• defining work in particularly strenuous or health-damaging conditions that may require shortened working time,
• establishing a list of high-risk works that require the involvement of at least two people, so that one can protect the other,
• intention to make collective redundancies together with the rules of procedure in matters relating to employees included in the group of planned redundancies.

However, decisive competences mean that the employer cannot make decisions on its own. Prior approval of the representative is required. We deal with this when:

• agreeing the regulations of the company social benefits fund,
• plans to introduce monitoring in sanitary rooms,
• introduction of intermittent working time,
• determining the extension of the working time settlement period and flexible working time schedules,
• concluding agreements suspending the application of labor law provisions (in circumstances justified by the employer’s financial situation),
• plans to introduce less favorable employment conditions for employees,
• defining a list of jobs that are particularly dangerous or involve significant physical or mental effort for employees working at night,
• introducing regulations with the principles and conditions of using services and benefits under the Company Social Benefits Fund.

To sum up, an employee representative is useful in many situations. If there are no trade unions in a given company, it is definitely worth considering appointing a representative. Then you can have a real influence on the decisions made by the employer.

Source:https://www.bhp-gabi.pl/a150,przedstawiciel-pracownikow-kim-jest-i-jakie-ma-obowiazki.html

Supported by Norway through Norway Grants 2014-2021, in the frame of the Programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work”.