{"id":3162,"date":"2026-08-24T14:50:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T12:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/?p=3162"},"modified":"2026-08-24T18:38:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:38:58","slug":"zus-800-belsrus-otkaz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/novosti\/zus-800-belsrus-otkaz\/","title":{"rendered":"\"I helped the state find a fraudster. The state denied my children benefits\": a Belarusian recounts how a company deprived him of \"800+\""},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From the editorial team: this is the story of our reader. The editorial team has verified the facts presented and examined the documents provided that confirm this story. If lawyers are willing to help our reader <\/em>\u2014 please contact us for the details <\/em>@trojmiasto_on<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vadim (name changed) left Belarus with his family in 2022. \u201cEven back in 2020, after the elections and mass protests, it became clear that I was not ready to continue living under Lukashenko. But at that time, I decided to stay and see how the situation would develop. After the start of the full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine, I could no longer remain on the sidelines and watch the chaos unfold. I support Ukraine and did not want to continue living in a country whose authorities support Russian aggression. That\u2019s why in 2022 we left, just like many Belarusians did in those years,\u201d he recalls.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to him, after moving, he primarily focused on legalizing his status, establishing work, and settling into life. In November 2025, his family paid for his studies to become a test automation engineer. Since then, he has had a set schedule: studying in the morning, working as a courier in the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He combined his courier work with two partners. The first is an agency that officially registers couriers for Pyszne.pl: a clear contract, transparent hourly rate, all contributions are paid as they should be. «I have no complaints about this part; I specifically keep it in my history as an example of how everything should look,» he emphasizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drugi partner \u2014 firma Eternis \u2014 jest zorganizowana inaczej. Nie jest ma\u0142ym po\u015brednikiem: wed\u0142ug danych firmy, przez ni\u0105 rozlicza si\u0119 ponad 18 000 kurier\u00f3w i kierowc\u00f3w w ca\u0142ej Polsce. Wsp\u00f3\u0142pracuje z Uberem, Uber Eats, Boltem, Glovo, Pysznym i Woltem, a jej siedziba znajduje si\u0119 w Warszawie, z oddzia\u0142ami w kilku miastach w kraju. \u201cOkazuje si\u0119, \u017ce wszystko by\u0142o tu zorganizowane inaczej. I to nie jest moja wina, nie cz\u0119\u015b\u0107 jakiego\u015b szarego schematu, w kt\u00f3rym uczestniczy\u0142em, to zosta\u0142o mi zrobione bez mojej wiedzy,\u201d m\u00f3wi Wadim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How he realized that something was wrong<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It all started with another application for «800+» \u2014 a child benefit that many families in Poland receive, including foreigners, if they are officially employed. He was denied: the contributions that Eternis paid for him to ZUS (the Polish equivalent of social insurance) turned out to be too small, even though in reality he worked almost every weekday, on average from 6:00 PM to 10:00\u201311:00 PM, sometimes even on weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started to investigate and saw things I hadn\u2019t noticed before,\u201d he says. In the payslip for one month, only about 200 zlotys of the amount paid to him was classified as \u201csalary under the contract,\u201d meaning the portion from which contributions are paid. The rest, which is more than 14 times that amount (a copy of the breakdown from Eternis for March is in the editor’s possession), was classified as \u201creimbursement for car usage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI work using my own car, but according to the terms of the Eternis contract, I am not entitled to any compensation for fuel or wear and tear on the vehicle; I bear all these costs myself, from my own salary. So there are no actual expenses that the company would be obligated to reimburse me for in the contract; there is simply nothing to compare the \u2018expense reimbursement\u2019 to. It\u2019s just another name for the same salary, so that the state receives contributions from pennies, not from actual earnings,\u201d explains Vadim. He also provided a copy of the contract to the editorial office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to him, if it weren’t for the denial of the benefit, he would never have known that Eternis had not been paying his contributions as required since the beginning of the contract, from the summer of 2025. «I had to start from scratch to understand what the ZUS personal account is, where to check the paid contributions, how to read the payslip from Eternis, and what the law actually says. I had no knowledge of this before and paid the price for that ignorance,» he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, one can say: it's my own fault, I should have read carefully what I was signing. But when I, while signing the contract, asked the company representative whether the formal entry \u20189 hours a month\u2019 would be a problem, I was told: don\u2019t worry, that\u2019s how it is, you will be considered as if you worked a full month, if you want to work, sign it,\u201d recalls Vadim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to him, the trust was also reinforced by the scale of the company: \u201cWhat was I, a foreigner, supposed to think? This is one of the largest operators in this field in Poland, thousands of people work with them, it seemed obvious that if such a large company does it this way, then it must be the right way. I must admit, I had a naive thought: \u2018It\u2019s Europe, they don\u2019t deceive here,\u2019 but it turned out to be just like everywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt still doesn\u2019t make sense how such a scheme could go unnoticed for so long,\u201d he says. He suspects that it would be difficult to avoid attention for so long without some connections or, as they say, a \u201croof,\u201d but, he emphasizes, this is his personal assumption that he cannot confirm in any way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What he did<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Vadim nie tylko za\u0142ama\u0142 r\u0119ce. Najpierw skontaktowa\u0142 si\u0119 bezpo\u015brednio z Eternis, prosz\u0105c ich o poprawienie raport\u00f3w. Firma wielokrotnie odm\u00f3wi\u0142a. Nast\u0119pnie napisa\u0142 oficjalny list, powo\u0142uj\u0105c si\u0119 na artyku\u0142 742 Kodeksu cywilnego, kt\u00f3ry stwierdza, \u017ce "zwrot koszt\u00f3w" mo\u017ce obejmowa\u0107 jedynie rzeczywi\u015bcie poniesione wydatki i nie mo\u017ce by\u0107 u\u017cywany jako spos\u00f3b na obni\u017cenie wynagrodzenia podlegaj\u0105cego sk\u0142adkom, i za\u017c\u0105da\u0142, aby deklaracje ZUS zosta\u0142y poprawione w ci\u0105gu tygodnia. W przeciwnym razie zagrozi\u0142, \u017ce skontaktuje si\u0119 z inspekcj\u0105 pracy i ZUS za po\u015brednictwem prawnika. Kopi\u0119 korespondencji przekaza\u0142 redakcji. Po tym li\u015bcie Eternis przesta\u0142 odpowiada\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he filed a complaint with the Pa\u0144stwowa Inspekcja Pracy, directing it to the Gda\u0144sk branch, but it was redirected to Warsaw. He also provided a copy of the complaint to the editorial office. At the same time, he submitted an odwo\u0142anie to ZUS, where he described the scheme in detail, attached documents, and requested not to rely solely on the data provided by the company, but to conduct an independent investigation. \u201cBy law, ZUS has the right to do so,\u201d he notes. A copy of the odwo\u0142anie is also available at the editorial office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is wrong with the refusal itself<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Odpowied\u017a przysz\u0142a po pewnym czasie, i to nie od firmy, lecz od ZUS. Odmowa zosta\u0142a podtrzymana. \u201cAle nie tylko podtrzymana, wydaje si\u0119, \u017ce decyzja zosta\u0142a posk\u0142adana w po\u015bpiechu, \u2018na kolanie,\u2019\u201d m\u00f3wi Wadim. \u201cAni jego dowody, ani wniosek o przeprowadzenie inspekcji, ani fakt, \u017ce jednocze\u015bnie z\u0142o\u017cy\u0142 skarg\u0119 do inspektoratu pracy, nic z tego nie zosta\u0142o wspomniane w tre\u015bci decyzji, jakby ta cz\u0119\u015b\u0107 odwo\u0142ania w og\u00f3le nie zosta\u0142a otwarta.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The negligence in preparing the decision is also indicated by obvious typos: somewhere in the text, it addresses "Pani," although it should be "Pan," and the start date of cooperation with Eternis is stated as 2026, while in fact, the contract was signed a year earlier, in 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not the only refusal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While he was dealing with ZUS, he was also working on another matter: an application for the Karta Polaka (a document confirming Polish roots). He received rejections in both cases. «Whether it’s a coincidence or not, I can’t say for sure. But after these two rejections, I have a strong feeling: wherever you go, it’s currently not easy for a foreigner in Poland to receive any support from the government,» he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s next<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to ZUS, Vadim is determined to go all the way: he intends to file a complaint with the administrative court. The company, according to him, continues to operate as it did before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For him, what matters more is not the amount itself, but understanding why the contributions during his time at Eternis were calculated in that way and why, after his inquiries, the situation did not receive a thorough investigation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt may seem like this is a story about money, but it’s about a small amount. For me, first and foremost, this is a story about what happens when you honestly point out a violation of the law to the government, and instead of investigating, it simply closes the case without even reviewing your evidence. I don\u2019t expect any politician to suddenly take my case under their wing, although anything can happen. I just want one simple thing for myself: that those who honestly point out violations to the government are treated as seriously as the government demands to be treated,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vadim nie czeka tak bardzo na konkretny wynik dotycz\u0105cy swojej sprawy po opublikowaniu swojej historii, ale raczej ma nadziej\u0119, \u017ce mo\u017ce to by\u0107 przydatne dla kogo\u015b. "Mo\u017ce prawnicy, kt\u00f3rzy rozumiej\u0105 takie sprawy, odpowiedz\u0105, mo\u017ce ludzie, kt\u00f3rzy do\u015bwiadczyli czego\u015b podobnego, ale milczeli. Albo mo\u017ce kto\u015b po prostu zasugeruje, co robi\u0107 dalej," ma nadziej\u0119.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have worked for this company and encountered similar problems or believe you have been harmed by its actions, share your story with the editorial team.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vadim (name changed) left Belarus with his family in 2022. \u201cBack in 2020, when mass protests began after the elections, it became clear that I was not ready to live under Lukashenko any longer, but at that time I decided to stay and see how the situation would develop. When it became absolutely clear that nothing good would come of it, we left, just like many other Belarusians during those years,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_tm_exclude_from_home":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,128,160,464],"tags":[2419,4288,4279,4274,4281,4283,4278,4275,1081,4287,1547,274,4292,4277,4285,159,4282,4273,4286,14,4280,1078,4289,3416,4291,1372,4284,1410,4276,4290],"class_list":["post-3162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-novosti","category-zakonodatelstvo","category-inostranczy","category-polsha","tag-2419","tag-800-v-polshe","tag-800-dlya-inostranczev","tag-eternis","tag-eternis-zus","tag-eternis-kurery","tag-eternis-polsha","tag-panstwowa-inspekcja-pracy","tag-zus","tag-zus-dlya-inostranczev-v-polshe","tag-belarus","tag-belorusy-v-polshe","tag-belorusy-v-polshe-2026","tag-vznosy-zus-kureram","tag-zarplata-kurera-v-polshe","tag-inostranczy-v-polshe","tag-kurer-iz-belarusi-v-polshe","tag-kurery-v-polshe","tag-otkaz-v-800","tag-polsha","tag-posobie-800-plyus","tag-posobiya-v-polshe","tag-prava-kurerov-v-polshe","tag-prava-rabotnikov","tag-problemy-s-zus-v-polshe","tag-rabota-v-polshe","tag-rabota-kurerom-v-polshe","tag-soczialnye-vyplaty","tag-trudovye-otnosheniya","tag-trudovye-prava-inostranczev-v-polshe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3162"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3193,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3162\/revisions\/3193"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trojmiasto.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}