POLAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Sabina Famirska, Hansberry Tomkiel
Types of labour-related agreements One type of arrangement concerning employee mat - ters that has the potential to be classified as an agree - ment restricting competition is wage fixing ‒ ie, the collaborative determination of employee remuneration between two or more independent entrepreneurs or within the framework of business associations. Such actions may serve collectively to inhibit wage growth or to reduce wages. The term remuneration in this context should be understood as any component of remuneration, including (but not limited to) awards, task allowances, functional allowances, and bonuses. The harmfulness of such agreements is demonstrated by the fact that anti-competitive wage fixing impacts the fundamental parameter of competition ‒ ie, remu - neration (the “price”, in this context) ‒ as entrepre - neurs compete in the labour market for employees mainly on the basis of the level of wages offered. Wage fixing means that none of the entrepreneurs involved in the agreement will offer their employ - ees better remuneration and, as a result, employees receive lower wages. The agreement benefits the col - luding entrepreneurs by eliminating the risk that an employee will leave their job upon receiving a better offer from one of the employer’s competitors. Agree - ments concerning other components of renumeration may consist of, for example, stipulations that no entre - preneur pay bonuses to employees in a given year or that bonus payments are to be fixed at a specified amount or as to whether the payment of bonuses may be delayed. Another type of anti-competitive agreement that may be subject to assessment under antitrust law is the no-poach agreement. Entrepreneurs or associations of entrepreneurs may decide not to poach each oth - er’s employees. Such actions may serve to eliminate competitive pressure between them and remove the risk that a competitor will recruit another’s employee – in return, the entrepreneur undertakes not to poach employees from their competitor. This practice can take various forms. Entrepreneurs may agree among themselves that they will not active - ly seek out their employees (eg, the HR department or an employment agency will not contact a competitor’s
Agreements Restricting Competition in the Polish Labour Market Anti-competitive conduct in the labour market has become a hot topic both in the EU and the USA. Various national authorities worldwide are active in labour-related public enforcement at the national level. In June 2025, the EC imposed a fine of more than EUR300 million on Delivery Hero and Glovo for participating in a no-poach cartel in the online food delivery sector. The case is considered the first EC decision regarding collusion in the form of no-poach agreements. In Poland, the issue of anti-competitive agreements concerning the labour market is also on the enforce - ment agenda of the Polish Competition Authority (PCA). In July 2025, after a year-long investigation, the PCA brought charges against Jeronimo Martins Polska (the owner of Poland’s largest food retail chain, Biedronka), several dozen transport companies, and several managers of some of the charged companies. The PCA suspects that these entities were involved in an agreement restricting competition ‒ the aim of which was to limit the possibility of drivers moving between transport companies serving Biedronka. Ear - lier, in 2022 and 2023, the PCA issued two decisions concerning agreements on the levels of players’ sala - ries in basketball and speedway league competitions. These two decisions fall within the scope of collusion in labour matters. In 2024, the PCA published a guide entitled Collusion and Abuse in the Labour Market: Com - petition Law and Employee Matters, which explains practices that restrict competition in the labour market and thereby potentially give rise to damages claims by employees. These practices apply not only to per - sons employed under an employment contract, but also to other persons performing work ‒ for example, those signing civil contracts and those running a sole proprietorship. This article presents a summary of the types of prac - tices in the labour market that are of particular interest to the PCA and its decision-making practice to date. It also highlights which practices in the field of employee matters are unlikely to give rise to antitrust concerns.
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