The President of the Office for Personal Data Protection Mirosław Wróblewski made a request to the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Policy for urgent legislative work on the rules governing the use of artificial intelligence systems in recruitment and employment processes. It pointed to the need for additional national guarantees to effectively protect candidates for work and workers from the risk of discrimination.
According to the President of UODO, AI systems process personal data on a large scale, often reaching for information going beyond the catalogue allowed in Article 221 of the Labour Code. These algorithms tend to perpetuate prejudices in training data, which may lead to duplication of stereotypes and unequal treatment on grounds of sex, age, disability or other legal features. In addition, there is a risk of processing data of a particular category without adequate safeguards.
The existing provisions of the GDPR and the Labour Code provide basic protection mechanisms, including the prohibition of discrimination and the right to remain independent of solely automated decisions. However, the dynamic development of AI technology requires more precise solutions. The systems used in recruitment were classified as high-risk categories in the Act on Artificial Intelligence (AI Act). This requires an impact assessment on the protection of personal data and an impact assessment on fundamental rights before the implementation of such a tool.
The new rules should, inter alia, set objectives for the application of AI systems, identify the data controller, introduce data quality requirements, technical documentation, incident recording, transparency and effective human supervision. The President of the UODO placed particular emphasis on transparency – those affected by a decision taken by a high-risk AI system are entitled to a clear and substantive explanation of the role of this system in the decision-making procedure and the main elements of the decision taken.
The UODO declared its willingness to cooperate in drafting legislative proposals and offered expert support from a personal data protection perspective. Without appropriate national regulations, the growing use of artificial intelligence tools in the area of employment may lead to violations of fundamental rights, including privacy, equality and human dignity.
Source: Communication from the Office for Personal Data Protection of 16 July 2026 (DPNT.0623.18.2026).
