Katarzyna Magnuska

Katarzyna is a Polish qualified lawyer (radca prawny), senior associate in the employment practice based in Warsaw, Poland. She handles individual and collective Polish and European labour law, advising both local and multinational clients. For over a decade she has been developing her professional expertise in employment restructuring, with particular focus on staff outsourcing, contingent staffing, cross-border employee transfers, group layoffs and atypical / flexible forms of engaging individuals in Poland, as well compliance in HR area. She acted as clients’ trusted advisor in sensitive dismissals (including of top management and those following whistleblowers’ concerns) and developing solutions for protection of employers’ competitor-sensitive information.

Work highlights

Katarzyna's most notable transactions include:

• German group Brose: advising on employment aspects of a joint venture with Volkswagen to establish a key global system supplier for vehicle seats and interior concepts. The transaction was unique not only due to its value (the JV was expected to double business volume to EUR 2.8 billion by 2030 and the number of employees to grow to approx. 7,000), but also complexity of employment-related aspects. 
• Global biopharmaceutical company and biotechnology company: advising on the Polish employment aspects of the multijurisdictional merger of two leading global pharmaceutical companies, including post-merger harmonisation of developed employment terms and conditions in Polish subsidiaries belonging to the merging groups. 
• Leading European technology company: providing on-going employment advisory to the client for its delivery platform, including developing and implementing new structure of engaging and remunerating individuals cooperating with the client to be fully compliant with fast-changing legal framework for platform workers.
• Numerous fintech clients: advising in establishing the clients’ Polish subsidiaries in Poland and developing their business in their employment aspects.

Katarzyna frequently speaks at client and industry conferences, in particular those dedicated to impact of and application of new technologies at workplace. Katarzyna’s most recent talks include:

• Co-panellist in the panel discussion: Remote working in the post-pandemic workplace – challenges and opportunities at the Annual Conference on EU Labour Law 2023 held by ERA - the Academy of European Law;
• Leading seminar on employers’ duties related to protection of whistleblowers organised by leading employers’ organisation in Poland (Konfederacja Lewiatan);
• Guest of a public radio broadcast on right to disconnect;
• Mentor at Legal Hackathon in 2022.

Katarzyna holds Masters of Law from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw. She was also an Erasmus student at the Faculty of Law of the University of Regensburg (Germany).

Katarzyna is an author or co-author of many publications on various aspects of labour and immigration laws. The most recent publications raised the topics of payment of salaries in crypto-currencies, using external workbench and staff outsourcing, as well as impact of metaverse on workplace.