The article is devoted to the topic of protecting the rights of a foreign employee who works illegally in Poland. The thesis of the article is the ineffectiveness of current legal instruments. A foreigner is often forced to take up illegal employment, which is why it is necessary to examine the conditions and causes of this phenomenon. It seems that the underestimation of the significance of this phenomenon by state authorities and the lack of an adequate response by the legislator have a key impact on this.
To examine this issue, a survey was conducted on 50 randomly selected people, foreigners who have ever worked or are currently working illegally in Poland. On the basis of its results, the article presents the main reasons why foreigners take up illegal work, including cases of coercion, their exploitation and fraud, as well as what are the conditions of their work, namely, whether they comply with employee rights and human rights.
The analysis of the phenomenon gives grounds to believe that there is a need to strengthen the system of checking the legality of employment of foreigners. It is also necessary to consider whether Polish law should provide, as at present, fairly mild penalties for both the foreigner and the entity entrusting illegal performance of work.