Poland: The Supreme Court case law allows sobriety tests even before the awaited changes to the Labour Code

There is no statutory regulation prohibiting an employer from conducting a check on employees as to their sobriety before they start work. The employer may refer to the provisions on work organisation and health and safety in this respect, but the statutory power to test the sobriety of an employee without the employee’s consent does not derive from them. Indeed, the employer has no legal basis to carry out an inspection of an employee that interferes with the employee’s personal rights. Since the employment relationship is based on the will of the parties (Article 11 of the Labour Code), the employee’s consent also entitles the employer to conduct a test for the content of alcohol in the body of an employee as part of a preventive sobriety check before starting work.