Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland

Transcription

1 By in-house counsel, for in-house counsel. InfoPAK SM Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland Sponsored by: Association of Corporate Counsel 1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC tel , fax

2 2 Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland Updated August 2008 Provided by the Association of Corporate Counsel 1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC Tel Fax Meritas, the 2008 Co-Sponsor of ACC s Small Law Department Committee, has developed this InfoPAK SM to highlight some of the differences in employment law in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and a number of European Countries. The information in this InfoPAK SM should not be construed as legal advice or legal opinion on specific facts, and should not be considered representative of the views of Meritas or of ACC or any of its lawyers, unless so stated. Further, this InfoPAK is not intended as a definitive statement on the subject and should not be construed as legal advice. Rather, this InfoPAK is intended to serve as a tool for readers, providing practical information to the in-house practitioner. This material was compiled by Meritas. For a listing of the Meritas firms which assisted in the preparation of this InfoPAK, please see the About the Author section of this document. For more information about Meritas, please visit their website at Meritas and the Small Law Department Committee would also like to thank the following members for their assistance: Douglas J. Cole, Vice President & General Counsel, Engineering Consulting Services, Ltd. Kevin M. McGraw, Associate Counsel, Protection One Alarm Monitoring, Inc. Meredith B. Stone, Vice President, General Counsel, Americas, NACCO Materials Handling Group, Inc. Jason P. Hood, Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Wright Medical Technology, Inc. Copyright 2008 Meritas and Association of Corporate Counsel

3 3 Contents A. Structure of labor law and sources of employment rights... 5 B. Resolution of disputes... 5 C. Discrimination and equal treatment... 5 D. Contracts of employment References and pre-employment checks 2. Statutory requirements for written terms 3. Types of employment contract 4. Working time 5. Holiday 6. Remuneration 7. Pension 8. Sickness and absence 9. Intellectual property 10. Fixed-term contracts and part-time work 11. Home working 12. Secondment 13. Changing terms 14. Directors and office holders E. Protection from competition Non-competition agreements 2. Confidentiality 3. Non-solicitation/Non-dealing 4. Remedies F. State benefits Unemployment 2. Maternity 3. Disability/Incapacity G. Family and maternity rights H. Statutory and non-statutory employment policies Data Protection 2. Health and Safety 3. Whistleblowing 4. Computer use 5. Disciplinary and grievance procedures 6. Equal opportunity/ non-discrimination/ harassment/ mobbing For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit

4 4 Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland I. Termination of employment Legal requirements 2. Potential claims 3. Retirement J. Redundancy Collective 2. Procedure 3. Individual 4. Remedies for breach K. Business transfers Acquired rights 2. The procedure 3. Remedies for breach L. Recruiting a foreign national EU/non-EU 2. Who needs a work permit? 3. Work permit application procedure 4. Visas 5. Dependants M. Taxation aspects N. Taxation aspects Copyright 2008 Meritas and Association of Corporate Counsel

5 Structure of labor law and sources of employment rights / Resolution of disputes / Discrimination and equal treatment 5 A. Structure of labor law and sources of employment rights Polish labor law provides for certain minimum standards of employee rights. These standards must also be maintained in employment contracts. Employment contracts may however govern employees rights in a way that is more advantageous than that required by labor law. This rule also applies to internal acts of the employer, such as working and remuneration rules, and to acts of collective labor law, i.e. collective bargaining agreements. Polish labor law consists of the Polish Labor Code (the Act dated June 26th 1974) and other acts, as well as collective bargaining agreements and working and remuneration rules. B. Resolution of disputes Individual labor law disputes are resolved by dedicated labor courts. The rules of proceedings before labor courts are specified in the Code of Civil Procedure (the Act dated November 17th 1964). Both employees and employers may file suit in the labor court, although claims by employees are much more common. Cases brought by employees generally concern disputes about overtime and appeals against termination of employment. In turn, cases brought by employers tend to involve claims for compensation for damages inflicted by the employee. Due to the increased protection afforded to an employee during court proceedings, cases in the labor courts usually last about 2 years. Industrial disputes are resolved in accordance with the Industrial Dispute Resolution Act dated May 23rd In such disputes, employees are represented by trade unions. C. Discrimination and equal treatment The Polish Labor Code prohibits discrimination in employment due to specific criteria such as age, sex, denomination, religion and trade union membership. The legal provisions also include harassment as a form of unlawful discrimination. For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit

6 6 Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland Under the provisions, all employees should be treated equally in the areas of terms of work and pay, access to promotion and training, and establishing and terminating employment relationships. Protection is provided to all employees. Within the meaning of Polish law, an employee is a person employed under an employment contract. Neither a self-employed person nor a contractor is an employee. If the employer wants to avoid the risk of breaching the rules on equal treatment, the first step it should take is to apply equal rules for remuneration to all employees, as well as equal rules for promotion. It should have good grounds for any differences in treatment. If the ban on discrimination and the rules of equal treatment are breached an employee may claim an award of compensation of at least the minimum national wage (currently, PLN 936, i.e. about EUR 260 per month). The regulations do not specify a cap on the award of compensation, which means that theoretically this may be a very high amount (employees often claim a sum of PLN 100,000, i.e. EUR 27,778). At present in Poland there are few court cases concerning discrimination. D. Contracts of employment 1. References and pre-employment checks Polish labor law expressly specifies the information that a prospective employer may request from a job applicant. Such information includes information about education and previous service. The law does not require a referee to issue opinions on an employee s work. On the date the employment contract ends, the employer issues an employment certificate to the employee containing material information about the length of his/her employment, but not assessing the employee s work. If the prospective employer decides to obtain information about the job applicant other than that specified in statutory provisions, it should first obtain the individual s consent in order to avoid a charge of violating personal data protection rules or the individual s personal interests. 2. Statutory requirements for written terms Labor law provisions stipulate the terms of work and pay that must be set out expressly in the employment contract. These include the type of work to be performed, the type of contract and its term (if it is to be executed for a fixed Copyright 2008 Meritas and Association of Corporate Counsel

7 Contracts of employment 7 term), the work start date, working hours (full- or part-time) and remuneration for work. Other terms of the employment contract result directly from labor law provisions. Some of these terms, such as the notice period or entitlement to annual leave, must be notified to the employee in writing. The employment contract should be executed in writing, at latest on the day the employee starts work. 3. Types of employment contract Polish labor law provides for the following types of employment contract: a contract for an indefinite term, for a fixed term, for the time of performance of specific work and for a fixed term to substitute an absent employee. Each of these contracts may be preceded by an employment contract for a trial period, which is executed independently. 4. Working time Working time is governed by the Labor Code. The basic working time standard is 8 hours per day (a day being 24 hours) and on average 40 hours a week in a standard five-day working week. This 40 hour weekly average is set by a fixed reference period, which can be up to a maximum of 4 months. The law allows certain variations from the 8 hour daily standard, but no departure from the 40 hour weekly average. Work in excess of the daily and weekly standards is treated as overtime. The regulations place limits on overtime, i.e. 48 hours of work including overtime per week and 416 overtime hours per year. The law also entitles employees to daily and weekly rest. The daily rest is a period of at least 11 hours per day, while the weekly rest is at least 35 hours per working week. 5. Holiday Holiday is set by the Labor Code. The duration of an employee s annual leave depends on his/her total length of service, including time spent in education (see below). Annual leave is 20 days if the employee s total length of service and education is not more than 10 years, and 26 days if the employee s total length of service and education is more than 10 years. According to Polish labor law, some years spent at school are treated as years of employment. The number of such years is fixed and depends on the education level as follows: For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit

8 8 Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland Education level (type of school) Basic (or other equivalent) school of vocational training Secondary school of vocational training Secondary school of vocational training for graduates of basic (equivalent) schools of vocational training Secondary school of general education Post-secondary school Tertiary school Number of years at school treated as years of employment for the purpose of calculating the annual leave entitlement ( education length ) Not more than 3 years Not more than 5 years 5 years 4 years 6 years 8 years The periods set out above are not aggregated, e.g. if an employee holds a university degree, 8 years of education may be taken into account when calculating his/her annual leave entitlement (other schools are disregarded). 6. Remuneration Remuneration for work is determined by the employer at its discretion. The regulations provide only that remuneration may not be lower than the minimum national wage determined in the regulations. For 2007, the minimum wage was PLN 936 per month (about 260 EUR). In 2008, the wage is to increase by about 20% and will probably be 1126 PLN (about 313 EUR). Employers employing at least 20 employees are obliged to establish the remuneration rules that are binding at the workplace. This means that they must set out the remuneration rules (e.g. remuneration components, bonuses, additional benefits) in writing and announce them to all the employees. Such rules are treated as an internal source of law, which is binding only at the employer s workplace. 7. Pension All employees must be subject to the common social security system. This includes pension (due to old age and disability) insurance, for which a contribution is withheld every month from the employee s remuneration. Such contribution is 19.52% of the assessment base (which is the employee s gross monthly remuneration) and is paid by the employer and the employee in equal parts. These contributions are managed by a state agency, the Social Security Institution (ZUS), which transfers 1/3 of the contribution (i.e. 7.3%) to an open pension fund selected by the employee. Future old-age pensioners will receive their pensions from at least two sources, i.e. the Social Security Institution and open pension funds. The regulations also provide for the possibility of forming Employee Pension Plans, which are voluntary and supplement the state pension system. At present only some employers Copyright 2008 Meritas and Association of Corporate Counsel

9 Contracts of employment 9 implement these voluntary plans. 8. Sickness and absence A sick employee receives sick pay for the first 33 days of being sick in a calendar year in total, and thereafter a sick benefit paid by the Social Security Institution. The total period when sick pay and the sick benefit are paid is 182 days, or 270 days if the employee is incapable of working due to tuberculosis. The level of sick pay and sick benefit usually amounts to 80% of the employee s remuneration for work. 9. Intellectual property Unless the parties agree otherwise, the right to obtain a patent for an invention or a protection right for a utility model, as well as rights deriving from registration of an industrial design are generally available to the employer where the author makes the invention or produces the utility model or the industrial design while performing his/her employment duties. 10. Fixed-term contracts and part-time work Polish labor law protects part-time and fixed-term employees. First of all, the law restricts an employer s ability to use successive fixed-term contracts. An employee can be employed on a maximum of two successive fixed-term contracts (where the interval between contracts is one month or less). The third employment contract, even if concluded for a fixed term, will be treated automatically - i.e. by virtue of law- as one executed for an indefinite term (provided that the interval between the end date of one contract and the start date of another contract is one month or less). Employers must inform part-time employees about any possibility of working full-time, and notify fixed-term employees about vacancies. Part-time and fixed-term employees are also protected against discrimination. 11. Home working Regulations concerning tele-work (home working) have been inserted into Polish labor law recently and there is no established practice as yet in this respect. These regulations should apply to all the employees who work outside of the employer s establishment on a regular basis using means of electronic communication and who transfer the products of their work to the employer using those means. Tele-workers will probably include architects and accountants, although it is up to the employee to decide whether he/she wants to become a tele-worker, and this must be agreed with the employer in the form of an agreement. For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit

10 10 Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland 12. Secondment The employer may second the employee outside the regular place of work in order to perform a specific professional task (business trip), generally at any time, if this is justified by the employer s interests. A business trip may be domestic or foreign. The duration of the business trip is treated as the employee s working time. The employee is entitled to receive financial compensation for the costs of the trip (per-diem allowance and reimbursement of costs of travel and accommodation). 13. Changing terms The employer may temporarily change the employee s terms of work and propose alternative work corresponding to his/her qualifications for a maximum of 3 months in total per year. In other instances where terms of work or pay worsen, the employer should give the employee notice of termination of those terms. 14. Directors and office holders Polish labor law does not in general provide different rules for employees in managerial positions, which can sometimes result in practical problems. There are a few exceptions to this rule, e.g. such employees are not entitled to overtime pay. E. Protection from competition 1. Non-competition agreements The employer and the employee may agree to a ban on competition, applicable during and after the term of the employment contract, in a separate agreement (a non-competition agreement). A ban on competition after employment ends can only be applied if the employee has access to information whose disclosure could potentially harm the employer. Further, to be valid, a non-competition agreement for the post-termination period must specify (i) the compensation due to the former employee and equal to not less than 25% of remuneration received immediately before the employment contract ended for the period equal to that when the ban on competition applies and (ii) the term of that agreement. Copyright 2008 Meritas and Association of Corporate Counsel

11 State benefits Confidentiality Employer s secrets are protected by law by virtue of both the Act Against Unfair Competition dated April 19th 1993 and the Labor Code. Trade secrets may also be protected directly under an employment contract or non-competition agreement during and after employment. 3 Non-solicitation/non-dealing A ban on soliciting the employer s customers (non-solicitation clause) usually derives from the Act Against Unfair Competition; it is rarely included in noncompetition agreements. Nonetheless, Polish law does not prevent the use of a non-solicitation clause in a non-competition agreement that applies to the period after employment has ended. 4. Remedies Penalties for breach of a non-competition agreement are as follows. If the employer breaches the agreement, the ban on competition no longer applies to the employee. If the employee breaches the ban after employment has ended then a contractual penalty may apply as stipulated in the non-competition agreement (a contractual penalty is not allowed during the term of the employment contract). F. State benefits 1. Unemployment Unemployment benefit is available to the unemployed who meet the criteria specified in the Employment Promotion and Labor Market Institutions Act dated April 20th At the moment, the benefit is about PLN 538, which is the equivalent of about EUR 150 per month. The criteria for unemployment benefit are as follows. The individual must first of all not be employed and not performing any gainful work. In addition, he/ she must be: capable of taking up and ready to take up employment on a fulltime basis (subject to such full time as applies to a given profession or service or other gainful work); not a student; registered with the labor office with jurisdiction over his/her place of residence; and seeking employment or other gainful work. 2. Maternity Maternity benefit is paid during maternity leave at 100% of remuneration for For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit

12 12 Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland work. 3. Disability/Incapacity Pensions are available where a person loses his/her income due to being incapable of working (disability pension) or due to his/her provider s death (family pension). The disability/family pension insurance contribution is 10% of the assessment base (6,5% is paid by the employer and 3,5 % is paid by an employee). A person is eligible for disability pension if he/she is found to be incapable of working by a physician working for the Social Security Institution; has been employed for a period specified in the regulations; and became incapable of working during employment or not later than 18 months after employment ended. G. Family and maternity rights Pregnant employees enjoy special protection. The law allows the employer to dismiss a pregnant employee only for a disciplinary reason, e.g. if she has seriously violated her employment duties, and provided that the trade union operating at the establishment agrees to the dismissal (labor law does not say what should be done if there is no trade union). If a pregnant employee is engaged under a fixed-term employment contract that is due to end after the third month of her pregnancy, her contract must be extended until the delivery. Generally speaking, in view of the strong protection afforded to pregnant employees by Polish labor law, an employer should only dismiss in very exceptional cases. Pregnant employees cannot work overtime or at night, or be seconded outside their regular place of work. A pregnant employee must be transferred to another job if this is recommended by her doctor, and retain her existing remuneration. Moreover, pregnant employees must not perform any work forbidden to pregnant women on health grounds. The length of maternity leave is as follows: 18 weeks upon the first delivery, 20 weeks upon any further delivery, and 28 weeks if two or more children are born at the same time. Note that for the part of the maternity leave which starts 14 weeks after the delivery date, the father may take the leave instead of the mother. Each nursing employee is entitled to two 30-minute nursing breaks a day, and these breaks are included in working time. Employees both mothers and fathers - raising children of up to 4 years of age cannot work at night, work overtime or be seconded outside their regular place Copyright 2008 Meritas and Association of Corporate Counsel

13 Statutory and non-statutory employment policies 13 of work, unless they consent to do so. Furthermore, any employee may apply for and take unpaid child-raising leave of 3 years in total, until the child turns 4. H. Statutory and non-statutory employment policies 1. Data protection In general, the employer may request both employees and job applicants to provide some personal information, such as their name, residential address and the personal identification number called PESEL. Other information not specified in the Labor Code can only be obtained with the individual s consent. The employer is not usually obliged to obtain permission from the competent authority (the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection) to deal with employees personal information. However, this may be required under certain circumstances, e.g. if procedures are implemented under which employees personal information may be transferred abroad. 2. Health and safety Polish labor law places great emphasis on occupational health and safety (OHS) and the legal provisions correspond to the OHS law of the European Union. This generates many obligations for employees and employers, specifically the obligation for both parties to observe healthy and safe conditions of work. A summary of an employer s obligations is as follows. The employer must hold OHS training courses, in particular before employees commence work. It must also arrange for employees medical examinations both before they start working and during their work. The employer should ensure safety of machinery and tools, provide protective clothing and personal protection measures, constantly assess occupational risks and inform employees about them. 3. Whistleblowing Polish labor law does not include any regulations referring to whistleblowing. 4. Computer use There are no legal provisions concerning computer use. Such rules and procedures are usually set out by employers in internal rules which are issued unilaterally. Whilst they are not contrary to general provisions of labor law, they may sometimes impact on the domain of protection of employees personal informa- For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit

14 14 Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland tion and personal interests. 5. Disciplinary and grievance procedures Polish labor law addresses employees disciplinary liability for breaches of work order and discipline, working time infringements and drinking alcohol at work. Penalties include warnings and reprimands, which are recorded in the employees personal files, as well as financial penalties. The employee concerned may appeal against those penalties within 7 days of having been punished. If the employer refuses to allow the appeal, the employee may lodge an appeal with the labor court within 14 days of having being informed that his/her appeal was rejected. There are no provisions in labor law concerning grievances. 6. Equal opportunity/non-discrimination/harassment/mobbing Polish labor law bans discrimination (see Subsection C) and requires employers to prevent what is termed mobbing. Within the meaning of Polish labor law, mobbing is any act or behavior regarding the employee or against the employee comprising long-term and persistent harassment of or threats to the employee, which lowers the employee s opinion of his/her professional capabilities, resulting in or aimed at humiliating or ridiculing the employee, or keeping him/her isolated or ostracized. By analogy to remedies for breach of the prohibition of discrimination, the employee can claim compensation for mobbing of not less than the minimum national wage (at the moment, this is PLN 936 or about EUR 260 per month). Polish law does not stipulate any cap on such compensation, which means that it may theoretically be very high (employees often claim PLN 100,000/EUR 27,778). Furthermore, an employee who suffered injury to health as a result of mobbing may claim financial compensation from the employer for the harm caused. I. Termination of employment 1. Legal requirements Polish labor law imposes certain legal requirements on employers when they intend to terminate an employment contract. An employment contract may be terminated in several ways, including unilaterally by the employee or employer with or without notice. Copyright 2008 Meritas and Association of Corporate Counsel

15 Termination of employment 15 Termination with or without notice must be justified. Polish labor law specifies reasons for termination without notice (including primarily gross violation of the main employment obligations). Both employer and employee are obliged to give reasons for termination without notice. The law does not specify any reasons that may justify terminating the employment contract with notice. In practice, it is assumed that any such reason should be real, true and specific. Only the employer is obliged to give reasons when terminating the employment contract with notice. When the employer gives notice of termination, there is a mandatory notice period of 2 weeks, 1 month or 3 months, depending on the employee s length of service. When the employer terminates an employment contract with or without notice, it must do so in writing, stating the reason for termination and explaining the employee s right to appeal to the labor court. In addition, the employer is under a duty to obtain the trade union s opinion, if one operates at the workplace. If this is the case, the employer must first ask the trade union whether it is going to represent the employee (if the employee is a trade union member, he/she is represented automatically, otherwise he/she has to apply for such representation). If the trade union is representing the employee, the employer should notify the trade union of its intention to terminate the employment contract. The trade union then issues its opinion within 5 days, stating any reservations as to the termination. The opinion is not binding on the employer. 2. Potential claims When an employee s employment contract is terminated with notice, he/she may appeal to the labor court within 7 days of receiving the notice. When an employee s employment contract is terminated without notice, he/she may appeal to the labor court within 14 days of having received the document that terminated the employment contract. If the labor court finds that the contract was terminated in breach of these rules, it may award compensation not higher than three times the employee s monthly remuneration, or reinstate the employee and award remuneration for the time he/she was unemployed. If the claim concerns the termination, with or without notice, of a fixed-term contract, the employee is entitled to compensation only. 3. Retirement An employment contract does not expire automatically due to an employee s retirement. In general an employee who qualifies for an old age pension has a For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit

16 16 Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland right to continue in employment or to take an old age pension and terminate the employment. In the latter case he/she is entitled to old age pension bonus. J. Redundancy 1. Collective Specific regulations concerning collective dismissals apply if the employer employs 20 or more employees in total. The collective dismissals procedure applies to dismissals for reasons that are beyond the employees control. Such reasons usually include the employer s organizational changes, resulting in loss of jobs, and closure of the business as a whole caused for instance by the employer s bankruptcy. Employees who are dismissed as part of the collective dismissals procedure should be paid severance equal to once, twice or three times their monthly remuneration, depending on how long they have been employed by the employer. 2. Procedure The collective dismissals procedure includes the following stages: notifying trade unions, issuing the rules relating to dismissals, notifying the local authorities and terminating employees employment contracts. 3. Individual This procedure does not need to be followed if the number of employees covered by the collective dismissals is lower than that specified by the legal provisions. However, the employees are still entitled to severance pay as described in Subsection J Remedies for breach The employees may appeal to the labor court and claim compensation (see Subsection L 2). In most cases, reinstatement will not be possible. K. Business transfers 1. Acquired rights The principle of protection of acquired rights applies when a business or part of a business is transferred from one employer to another. When a business is Copyright 2008 Meritas and Association of Corporate Counsel

17 Recruiting a foreign national 17 transferred, the new employer replaces the former employer, by operation of law, as a party to the employment relationships with the employees who have been taken over. This applies specifically when the employer s going concern (the assets) is sold. Business transfers are regulated by the provisions of Polish Labor Code (Article 231). 2. The procedure Employees should be informed in writing about the transfer of the business and its legal and economic consequences, not less than 30 days before the planned transfer date. They may terminate their employment relationships within 2 months of the transfer by giving 7 days notice. 3. Remedies for breach Polish labor law does not expressly stipulate any penalties for violation of the rules on business transfers. L. Recruiting a foreign national 1. EU/non EU As a rule, foreigners must obtain work permits in Poland on a reciprocity basis. This includes citizens of EU countries, although Polish authorities are less strict with regard to them. 2. Who needs a work permit? Following accession of Poland to the EU, most member states opened their labor markets to Poles. At the moment, limitations on Polish nationals right to work are applied by Austria, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France, Luxemburg, Norway and Malta. Switzerland and Liechtenstein also apply limitations. 3. Work permit application procedure An application for a work permit must be filed by the employer before the employee is hired. The employment contract can only be executed after the work permit has been obtained (it takes at least one month to get a permit). Requisite supporting documents for the application include a local authority opinion on the labor market, documents confirming the employee s qualifications, and a letter of secondment (when required). A fee equal to the minimum wage in Poland (936 PLN in 2007) is also required. A work permit is issued for a specified period of time. For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit

18 18 Small Law Department Human Resources Manual Poland 4. Visas There are many different types of visas in Poland and also several types of residence permits. Work permit holders need to obtain a residence visa issued for work purposes or a residence permit. The visa or residence permit can be obtained together with the work permit. 5. Dependants The requirement to obtain a visa or residence permit for family members of work permit holders depends on various factors. M. Taxation aspects There are four tax brackets referring to payroll income applicable in Poland (in 2007). They depend on the income level and are as follows: 19% (where annual income is max. 37,024 PLN), 30% (where annual income is from PLN 37,024 to PLN 74,048), 40% (where annual income is from PLN 74,048 to PLN 600,000) and 50% (where annual income is PLN and more). Copyright 2008 Meritas and Association of Corporate Counsel

19 About Meritas 19 N. About the Author 1. Meritas Meritas is one if the world s largest and most respected legal resources an integrated, non-profit global alliance of more than 170 independent commercial law firms, located in over 60 countries with 200 locations worldwide. The purpose of this alliance is to deliver local legal service of the highest quality to business clients with worldwide legal needs through close integration among its members. That means no fewer than 6,500 experienced lawyers are at your disposal, all around the world. For current Meritas law firm information, please visit Meritas web site at 2. Contributing Meritas Law Firms Austria Siemer - Siegl - Füreder & Partner Gerald Gries [email protected] Tel: Belgium Lydian Jan Hofkens [email protected] Tel: Bulgaria Dimitrov, Petrov & Co Plamena Nikolaeva plamena.nikolaeva@dpc. bg Tel: Czech Republic Triska & Zak Jiri Zak [email protected] Tel: Denmark Rønne & Lundgren Anne Marie Abrahamson [email protected] Tel: England Finers Stephens Innocent Howard Goulden [email protected] Tel: Finland Bützow Attorneys Ltd Maria Penttilä maria.penttila@butzow. com Tel: +358 (9) Luxembourg LG@vocats Céline Lelievre [email protected] Tel: Netherlands Lexence Bas Westerhout [email protected] Tel: Poland Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka Boguslaw Kaplon [email protected] Tel: Spain Jausas August Tora [email protected] Tel: Sweden Advokatfirman Af Petersens Stefan Walhagen [email protected] Tel: To learn more about the topics covered in the Small Law Department Human Resources Manual, contact the contributing Meritas law firms listed above, or contact Meritas headquarters at (612) For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit