Polish Radio Rzeszów journalist reinstated
02.07.2020
The Rzeszów District Court ruled that the journalist’s employment was terminated unlawfully, and reinstated her in her job.
In 2019 an editor at Polish Radio Rzeszów broadcast a comment on the air by a listener critical of the President of Poland. The management board of the radio station then took a number of steps to remove the editor from the air. She sued the radio station, alleging that the employer’s actions were not objectively justified and constituted discrimination and mobbing and infringed her personal interests. Several days later she was fired for misconduct.
The court hearing the case found that the termination was unlawful because the journalist was chairing the council of employees and thus her employment was subject to special protection. In the court’s view, the editor’s actions displayed conscientiousness and did not violate her employment duties.
At the request of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the journalist was represented pro bono by lawyers from the employment practice at Wardyński & Partners: Agnieszka Lisiecka, Katarzyna Żukowska, Dr Marcin Wujczyk and Aleksandra Wójcik.
More information on the foundation’s website