Expats/Immigrants in Poland: Needy, Greedy or contributor. Which one are you?

oh I hear ya...I had the biggest battles but then what it comes down to is science and common sense. My kids didn't wear an extra layer of clothes, they drink cold drinks, they don't wear hats all the time---my kids are never sick. oh of course a runny nose is something a child should take a week off school for. you get sick from viruses our bacteria- germs, no matter how many layers of clothes you wear- it won't protect you from a virus if you don't wash your hands. In fact being hot and sweaty is worse. and not to mention living in a smoking household.

and I hate seeing little boys running around in fairy tights. how to emasculate a male before they even reach puberty.

Thats the large gene pool, PIP

There was a Scottish family attending my kids school, they would turn up walking in the mornings temps at -10 to -15 wearing socks and coats{no hats} old Polish women would be stopping their father in the street, giving him a dressing down. He couldn't speak Polish so he would just shrug his shoulders and march on with the family in formation. They very rarely got sick during the 3 year period, it caused many problems for the Polish parents as the Scottish kids set the trend.

Can't believe they have the cheek! They should be told where to go in no uncertain terms.

how true Pip....
How many times could I not be bothered to explain that colds and coughs are caused by bacteria or viruses, not ..er...cold drinks...

PWEI wrote:


the one that sticks out the most in my mind is this one woman I knew who literally managed to stay home for 5 straight years by having 2 children. my school was stuck paying for her the whole time. 5 frigging years. the best part is her parents, along with her husband are wealthy. didn't stop her from taking what she could get.

I doubt very much that they had to pay her full salary for five years...sounds like an apocryphal story to me. I cannot believe for a minute that maternity labour laws are that generous in any country, let alone Poland.

When I took maternity leave, all my employers had to do was keep my job open for me for X amount of time, should I have wished to return. And it was months not years. They certainly didn't have to pay me.

Please if you are going to make sweeping bullshyte statements, back them up.

Believe what you want: the reality is that women in Poland can take years off. As of 1 January 2012 maternity leave will be 20 weeks, plus holiday allowance earned for that time. However, it is simple to find a doctor who will sign a mother-to-be as unable to work from the third month of pregnancy onwards, meaning leave can easily be 11 months, plus the five weeks' holiday allowance earned in that time, which makes more than a year.


Whether you claimed maternity pay or not is up to you; however, if you had a full-time contract, you were entitled to it, at 100% of your average salary over the past year.

PWEI - you obviously know the facts, but 5 years on full pay? c'mon????
As for my case, I seem to remember there was some get out clause, you had to have been working for the same company for over 2 years or something like that. OF course, I made it my business to find out the facts at the time.....it's all fading into the mists of ancient history now.....

Maternity pay must be claimed for and is a percentage of your normal salary depending on your contract. This is often extended by sick leave thus the nickname "eternity leave".

Private business is not the state. Maybe Polish workers should realize the sizable amounts of employer contributions paid each month by their employer.


The rule was after maternity and holiday allowance, the mother was allowed to take a further two years off unpaid. The company had to hold her job open during this period of time ( they could not fire her) after the two years unpaid if she did not return to work, you would have to go through the case of terminating her contract. The best thing was always leave the situation alone, allow her to return to the office. If someone has been away from the office for 3-5 years, business has moved along so much they are like a fish out of water, they soon recognize they have been busted.

it's also possible to get two weeks off at the beginning of pregnancy

PWEI wrote:


there was another woman who had been working there much longer than the woman I speak of so she knew the whole story. she sat down with me one day and explained how she did it. it was really convoluted with maternity leave/vacation time/sick leave/doctor notes/extended this and that, and by the time the pot ran dry, she got pregnant again and started the process all over again, giving her 5 years off, give or take a month or two i guess.

yea, another brainwashed individual from modern university.

as different from a brainwashed individual from a 4th century jewish cult.....

given average income in Poland I say good for them !


Hitler and his ilk called Christianity - jewish cult but I'm sure you are well aware of that.
By the way did you enjoy your time at uni as a cleaner ?
:)

Ironside wrote:


just as long as you know where your taxes/ZUS payments are going, bud.

aaaawww....you didn't think government money grew on trees, did ya'?

by saying that I don't believe god gave me children makes me brainwashed??? seriously, can you even read?

you seem a very nasty individual Ironside, full of disrespect for others. What is wrong with being a cleaner, may I ask?

nonsense ...


Nothing, as long as a cleaner do not pretend to be a philosopher.


It makes you secularised to a high degree if you deemed necessary to give an answer to my little joke in Polish. Either that or your Polish isn't that good.


Probably better than you.
I do not condone present system but as long as taxes and prices are high, pay is low, yeah why not -they should get even with the system in a small way.

nah, my Polish is good- however, I am the first to admit that idioms baffle me and I don't get reference to something culturally. Probably the same happens to Poles that live abroad.

It was not a little joke and it is plainly malicious. Clearly you still believe in the fairy-tale called the immaculate conception.

sobieski wrote:


you'd be amazed at what ironside believes in.

Expatriates represent a potential competitive advantage for multinational corporations. Expatriates carry out assignments such as facilitating the operation of foreign subsidiaries, establishing new international markets, spreading and sustaining corporate culture, and transferring technology, knowledge and skills (Brown, 1994; Klaus, 1995; Solomon, 1994). Companies that assign expatriates to foreign assignments anticipate that these employees will be successful in their position and will adjust well to the host country. However, anecdotal and empirical research indicates that all too frequently this is not the case (Caligiuri, 1997).

ntur.lib.ntu.edu.tw/bitstream/246246/84587/1/19.pdf

Well, hmmm, I'm not sure here. I never owned a company in Britain, never supplied jobs etc but I worked and paid taxes... does that make a non-contributor in my own country? In Poland I am a one-man firm because the majority of employers in the ELT industry don't want to pay my ZUS etc for me. Unlike many Polish migrant-workers in UK, I am not sending my wages home, so I imagine my taxes in Poland are helping towards paying for the limitless posters for elections, and the paperwork to prevent my local roads being repaired.

Needy? Well, my Polish aint great, although I can survive OK when I need to. Likewise, the amount of people who either insist on trying to speak English to me (either they find my Polish painful or they want to practice/show off, or are just being friendly) or express gratitude for having a non-Polish speaking teacher (so they HAVE to use English) suggests there is a number of people who don't mind my linguistic disability.

True, the other half is Polish and one of the reasons for me moving here was that when we married she would have found it a lot harder to move to UK (the British embassy once told me not to tell the border officals that she was my fiance in case they thought we would marry in UK to get her residency!). I got a job which has served me well and which I've been able to develop in, whereas she would probably have ended up as a waitress, rather than the job she holds now... as director of a very successful Culture House, which is recognised nationally... and where I occasionally assist with projects etc.

I suppose my work with village schools and Special Needs groups might class as a contribution, although some of it is paid... Not sure about my theatre and music concerts, cultural activites etc

Ex-pat holes? Avoid like the plague (although I don't know if there are any where I am)

So we have established that a large number of immigrants/expats are actively giving back to Poland more than they receive. So maybe it is about time Poland started valuing this community, by giving them the same rights as the Polish national receive abroad. Poland can not have it both ways, standing on a pedestal shouting we have our fiscal policy in order, follow the Polish model and asking for EU handouts at the same time. Either the economy is in full swing and does not need support from the EU funds, or the growth is EU subsidized and it has nothing to do with Polish fiscal policy.

I'd settle for an ID card (preferably the same size as the Polish one).

Wedle wrote:


doh!

Have not seen your comments so I can't comment, although I will accept the above as your self declaration.