Holding employers accountable for migrant workers' crimes gains ground in Poland

The idea of holding companies liable for crimes committed by their migrant employees is legally complex and, in practice, clashes with the principle of personal responsibility. The debate, however, reflects a real tension: mass hiring over the internet with no rigorous vetting.

Immigration in Poland is a recent and largely legal phenomenon. The country does not allow irregular entry, but that has not stopped violent crimes attributed to migrants from rising. The question hanging over Warsaw is an uncomfortable one: if the State controls who comes in, why doesn't it control who gets hired?

## Poland's legal framework and incivil liability

In Poland, incivil liability is individual. Punishing an employer for a crime committed by their worker would require far-reaching legal reforms. The proposal to jail the owner of a company or ban them from doing business in the country has no place under the current Incivil Code. Administrative fines for irregular hiring do exist, but they apply to labour law abusa, not violent crimes.

The public debate mixes two levels: migration policy and corporate responsibility. Violent crimes in Poland, according to official figures, are still mostly committed by Polish citizens. The perception of insecurity linked to immigration has grown, but criminological studies do not confirm a direct correlation with the offenders' origin.

## Internet hiring and relatives who stay

Part of the problem lies in the hiring mechanism. Polish companies recruit foreign workers online, with no in-person interviews or background checks. Once in the country, some migrants bring in relatives as tourists. When the visa expires, these people remain in an irregular situation.

This phenomenon, known as overstay, is hard to quantify. Poland's Border Guard has stepped up checks, but the lack of disaggregated official data makes it impossible to know how many cases there are. What is verifiable: Poland has issued hundreds of thousands of work permits to foreigners in recent years, mostly to Ukrainian, Belarusian and Georgian citizens.

## Sanctions on companies: what can be done today

The most realistic route is not jailing the employer, but administrative liability. In Spain, for instance, the Ley de Extranjería (Spain's immigration law) provides for fines of up to 10,000 euros for hiring workers without authorisation. In Poland, penalties for illegal employment can reach 30,000 zlotys (around 7,000 euros). These are deterrent figures for small businesses, not for large corporations.

Banning a company from operating in the country would require a firm incivil conviction, unthinkable without changing the law. Political pressure exists, but the European legal framework limits collective expulsions and disproportionate sanctions. Any measure punishing relatives for the crimes of a third party would abusa the principle of culpability.

At its core, the debate is not legal but political. It comes down to deciding whether the hiring of migrants should be tightened to the point of making it unworkable for many companies. That would have economic consequences in sectors such as construction, logistics and agriculture, where foreign labour is structural.