The Legal 500 > Europe, Middle East & Africa > Poland > Employment

Baker & McKenzie Krzyżowski i Wspólnicy Spółka Komandytowa's team is noted for providing day-to-day advice on a range of issues including HR policies, dismissals, employment restructurings and industrial relations. The team has established an employment litigation sub-group, which has a strong track record in representing employers before the Polish courts. Managing partner Piotr Rawski heads up the department alongside counsel Michał Lisawa, who arrived from CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang Pośniak i Bejm sp.k. and specialises in sensitive terminations and redundancies, data protection in HR, bonus schemes and discrimination and harassment cases.

Chajec, Don-Siemion & Zyto Legal Advisors has niche expertise in advising multinationals on their shared-services hubs in Poland, with a high-profile client roster, which includes AON and Booking.com. The group, which is co-led by Ewa Don-Siemion and Piotr Kryczek, is well-versed in cross-border employment matters, optimising employment costs and working time issues, outsourcings, group layoffs and foreign secondments.

The Dentons employment and labour team draws on the firm's strong international presence to provide clients with cross-border advice on contentious and non-contentious issues. The group's main focus areas include employment restructurings, the implementation of flexible and tax efficient employment structures, crisis management issues, as well as coordinating projects across the CEE region. The department is led by experienced employment generalist Aleksandra Minkowicz-Flanek. In 2019, Agnieszka Fedor departed to Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak.

The standalone employment team at DLA Piper comprises employment experts and tax advisers, who support clients with day-to-day employee management issues and risks. Areas of expertise include trade union law and employee relations, employee benefit schemes, pensions and restructurings. Dispute resolution is another area where the team stands out, with knowledge of restrictive covenants, discrimination cases and labour disputes. The Warsaw office also regularly acts as a hub for employment issues around the CEE region. Agnieszka Lechman-Filipiak leads the team, which includes senior associate Dominika Nowak, who focuses on employment contracts and incentive schemes.

Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka provides clients with a broad range of expertise, regularly handling day-to-day labour law and social security issues, as well as matters relating to tax, unfair competition and criminal law. Other areas where the team, led by Bogusław Kapłon, adds value are collective work relations, personnel recruitment issues, restructurings and reintegrations, and health and safety policies. The group also regularly assists clients with business immigration mandates. Agata Mierzwa specialises in labour and social security law.

Clifford Chance's team, led by counsel Tomasz Derda, covers the full spectrum of employment matters, with substantial experience advising corporate clients on employment restructurings including the related negotiations with trade unions. The group is also active in disputes including bullying and discrimination cases, as well as advising on HR critical incidents including fatal accidents at work.

Eversheds Sutherland Wierzbowski's core areas of expertise span labour disputes, employment restructuring issues including employee transfers, collective and individual redundancies, dismissals and incentive schemes. The group also advises on working time requirements, the posting of employees abroad and privacy issues, and conducts internal employment-related audits. Ewa Łachowska-Brol is the department head, while counsel Adam Nierzwicki is noted for his knowledge of employment agreements, as well as employment and social insurance litigation.

Gide Loyrette Nouel's employment and labour disputes team handles a wide variety of work including employment-related audits, employee incentive plans, social packages and collective bargaining agreements, as well as trade union negotiations. It also has experience in assisting with employment restructurings and collective lay-offs, as well as acting in litigation before the Polish courts. Banking and finance lawyer Paweł Grześkowiak heads up the team, while litigator Joanna Jasiewicz specialises in labour law and social insurance issues.

Greenberg Traurig Grzesiak sp. k. advises corporates on a variety of matters, including employment restructurings, mass redundancies, management contracts and share option schemes. The group also regularly leverages the firm's international office network across Europe and the US to handle cross-border matters. Anna Hałas-Krawczyk heads up the team and is a specialist in top-level management contracts and the associated incentive plans.

Sadkowski I Wspólnicy combines employment, labour and immigration law expertise to assist a wide variety of clients with operations in Poland relating to recruitments, terminations and labour relations. A particular area of focus for the group is the employment of foreign nationals in Poland, and it is well-equipped to assist clients with business and labour immigration issues. The group is jointly led by Marzena Łabędź and immigration specialist Michał Wysłocki.

Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak's employment group focuses on transactional matters and disputes, as well as handling contractual issues including terminations, collective matters and redundancies. The team also regularly handles employee investigations, employee dismissals and litigation. The team is jointly led by Agnieszka Fedor, who arrived from Dentons in mid-2019, and Roch Pałubicki.

The employment practice at Squire Patton Boggs Krześniak sp.k. works closely with the firm's European office network to handle employment cross-border matters including company expansions into the Polish market. The group is also regularly instructed on employee dismissals, labour relations and corporate reorganisations. Małgorzata Grzelak heads up the team.

Wiewiórski Legal's team stands out for employment advisory work including advising on internal regulations, trade union relations, employee recruitment, redundancies and transfers. The group also regularly represents clients in claims arising from workplace accidents and acts for management board members in cases concerning offences against employee rights. Business immigration, and work and residence permits are also areas of expertise for the practice. Founding partner Marek Maciej Wiewiórski, who has extensive experience in employment restructurings, co-leads the department with Magdalena Szeptycka, who was promoted to partner in 2019.

The team at Wolf Theiss is well integrated into the firm's wider European offering, allowing it to provide advice to its international client-base on a regional basis. The group is led by Peter Daszkowski , co-managing partner of the firm in Poland, who specialises in labour law issues including privatisations, negotiations with trade unions and labour agreements. Senior associate Agnieszka Nowak-Błaszczak  is another name to note for collective and individual employment matters, such as social insurance law and employment litigation.

Bird & Bird Szepietowski i wspólnicy sp. k. focuses its employment expertise on clients in the technology sector, advising on HR compliance projects and handling sensitive negotiations and mediations with employees and social partners including trade unions, works councils and European works councils. Karolina Stawicka heads up the team.

BWW Banasik Wozniak i Wspólnicy Sp.K. stands out for its knowledge of individual and collective labour law, and is regularly instructed by corporates, including LOT Polish Airlines, to act in collective labour disputes involving trade unions. Other areas of expertise include social security and civil law, and the group is well placed to advise on day-to-day employment issues, as well as the secondment of Polish and local employees working abroad, and the employment of foreigners in Poland. The practice is led by the highly experienced Aleksandra Woźniak, and fields senior associate Karolina Lisiecka, who handles issues related to individual employment relationships and collective employment law.

The team at Hogan Lovells (Warszawa) LLP is highly integrated into the firm's international practice and is also able to draw on other departments in the Warsaw offices to provide a full, cross-border employment service. The group is regularly instructed on cross-border M&A transactions, and assists with employment matters at the intersection of tax and IP. It is also able to handle labour investigations and compliance programmes in cooperation with the white-collar and fraud practice group. The department is coordinated by corporate head Marek Wroniak and day-to-day issues are led by senior associate Agnieszka Szczodra-Hajduk.

Noerr's employment and pensions team is particularly focused on advising international companies with operations in Poland on employment issues, often handling multi-jurisdictional matters for German clients and companies based in the CEE region. The department is led by Radosław Biedecki, who is an expert in employment issues arising out of reorganisations and restructurings.

WKB Wiercinski, Kwiecinski, Baehr's team works closely with other departments at the firm to provide employment advice on domestic and international M&A and restructuring mandates; it also handles collective redundancies and employment litigation. Wioleta Polak takes the lead, with experience in individual and collective labour relations, pay structures in the  banking industry and collective redundancies, as well as transactional employment issues.