Art. 207 of the Labor Code imposes a general obligation on the employer to ensure safe and hygienic working conditions for employees. However, it does not indicate specific methods of their implementation, which seems reasonable because it is difficult for the legislator to foresee all the circumstances that should be taken into account in individual types of activity.
However, this lack of regulation may cause the employer’s doubts to what extent and how he should fulfill his obligations.
In our opinion, any considerations should take a liberal approach and take into account that this provision is only a general outline of obligations, but does not take into account the individual circumstances of each type of activity, as well as situations as special as a pandemic outbreak.
In times of pandemic, entrepreneurs raise many doubts, incl. Asking about the possibility of measuring temperatures for employees, obtaining information from them about being in zones of increased infection risk, or the possibility of obtaining information about the results of tests on Covid 19. Their concerns mainly focused on the lack of regulations directly allowing such activities and the possibility of violating the provisions of the GDPR.
In our opinion, when interpreting the general provisions, good must be weighed, and in this case health and safety at work is a good that has priority over the right to privacy.
