On sourcing: the legal points below come from UODO's guide for employers (October 2018) and the official consolidated text of the Polish Labour Code (2026). The guide predates the 2019 amendment that added Article 22¹a, so where the two differ, this page follows the current statute. This is general information, not legal advice.
What the Labour Code lets an employer ask a candidate for
Article 22¹ § 1 of the Labour Code lists the personal data an employer asks of a person applying for a job:
- first name (or names) and surname;
- date of birth;
- the contact details the candidate gives;
- education;
- professional qualifications;
- previous employment history.
The last three are asked for only when they are necessary for the type of work or the position. Beyond the list, an employer asks for other personal data only when that is necessary to exercise a right or meet an obligation under the law (§ 4).
The current list does not include a home address or your parents' names, which some older templates and guides still mention. Those items come from earlier versions of the rules.
When consent is needed
The first case is future recruitments. UODO's guide asks whether an employer may use candidates' data for future recruitments, and answers "Nie, jeżeli kandydat nie wyraził na to zgody": not unless the candidate has consented. If you would like the employer to consider you for later openings, a consent sentence is how you allow it.
The second is data beyond the list. Under Article 22¹a § 1, a candidate's consent can be the basis for processing personal data other than those the Labour Code lists, with the exception of data on criminal convictions. That applies to data the employer asked for and to data you supplied on your own initiative (§ 3).
The third is special categories of data, such as health information: UODO's guide gives a separate sample clause for them (below).
Refusing is safe: Article 22¹a § 2 says that not giving consent, or withdrawing it, cannot be grounds for treating a candidate unfavorably, nor a reason to refuse employment.
The wording
UODO's guide gives sample sentences. In Polish, with an English translation:
| Purpose | UODO's sample (Polish) | In English |
|---|---|---|
| Future recruitments | "Wyrażam zgodę na przetwarzanie danych w celu wykorzystania ich w kolejnych naborach prowadzonych przez X przez okres najbliższych 6 miesięcy." | I consent to the processing of my data for use in further recruitments run by X over the next 6 months. |
| Special categories of data | "Wyrażam zgodę na przetwarzanie szczególnych kategorii danych, o których mowa w art. 9 ust. 1 RODO, które zamieściłem w liście motywacyjnym oraz załączonych do niego dokumentach." | I consent to the processing of the special categories of data referred to in Article 9(1) of the GDPR that I have included in my cover letter and the documents attached to it. |
Replace X with the employer's name. RODO is the Polish name for the GDPR. The verb "zamieściłem" is the masculine form; a woman writes "zamieściłam".
Job boards publish longer versions, including English ones, and some describe a clause as necessary on every CV. That is not UODO's position for the current recruitment. If an employer's advert gives its own wording, use that wording exactly.
Clause generator
Choose what the clause is for, then copy the result. For future recruitments and special categories of data, the generator uses UODO's samples from the table above. For an advert that asks for a clause without giving its wording, it uses the sentence CVder's editor suggests for a GDPR consent section.
See what your resume is missing — before you apply.
CVder reads the job posting and your resume side by side, then shows the exact terms to add and the formatting a parser would trip on.
What to do in practice
- Read the advert first. If it asks for a clause, copy the one it gives.
- If it asks for nothing, a clause for the current recruitment is not needed. Adding the future-recruitment sentence is your choice.
- Keep personal data to what the role needs: the Labour Code's list covers name, date of birth, contact details, education, qualifications and work history.
- Put the clause at the foot of the CV, in the same language as the CV, as the last line.
- UODO calls a recruitment consent clause on a CV "not appropriate" for the current recruitment; the employer can process the Labour Code's list of data without consent.
- Consent matters for future recruitments and for data beyond that list.
- Refusing consent cannot be held against you (Labour Code Article 22¹a § 2).
- If the advert asks for a clause, use the advert's wording.