In order to “legally” pay Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda compensation under a non-compete clause, the Pomeranian Voivodeship Board urgently amended a resolution that had been in force for more than eight years. The change was made just 10 days before she assumed the office of Minister of Health, and the document took effect… two weeks before it was formally adopted.
A member of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Board whom we spoke to was unable to explain why this happened, saying he needed to “refresh his memory.” To this day, the exact amount of the compensation remains difficult to determine.
Minister explains
In the asset declaration submitted on July 24, 2025, upon taking office as Minister of Health, Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda reported income of PLN 321,000, including PLN 166,000 from Pomeranian Hospitals and PLN 155,000 from civil-law contracts.
However, her asset declaration covering the entire year of 2025 shows approximately PLN 725,000 under the category “other income received.” It is precisely this amount that has raised numerous questions.
In response to media reports, on July 1 the minister stated that she had submitted an asset declaration for 2025 despite not being legally required to do so. She reminded the public that she had been appointed Minister of Health on July 24 of the previous year, while “the declaration covers the entire year of 2025.”
She explained that the amount listed in the declaration as “other income received” in 2025 includes, among other things, “the fixed portion of remuneration for 2025, the variable portion of remuneration for 2024, and compensation under the non-compete clause resulting from the managerial contract concluded with Pomeranian Hospitals.”
Resolution amended at the last minute
The resolution of the Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of Pomeranian Hospitals Ltd., which had been in force for the previous eight years (since March 31, 2017) and regulated the remuneration of Management Board members, contained no non-compete provision.
The change was introduced 10 days before Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda assumed the office of Minister of Health on July 14 of last year. It was then that a provision was added stating that “a Management Board member shall be subject to a non-compete obligation during the term of office.”
Interestingly, Section 10 of the resolution states:
“This resolution shall enter into force on the date of its adoption, with legal effect from July 1, 2025.”
In other words, it became effective two weeks before it was actually adopted.
The resolution was adopted by the Shareholders’ Meeting of Pomeranian Hospitals Ltd., the company’s highest decision-making body overseeing hospitals, among others, in Gdynia, Wejherowo, and Kościerzyna. The body represents the owners—primarily the Pomeranian regional government—and makes key decisions regarding finances, strategy, and appointments to the Management Board.
The Shareholders’ Meeting consists solely of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Board, which represents 100 percent of the shares owned by the regional government. In practice, these powers are exercised directly by Pomeranian Marshal Mieczysław Struk or by a member of the Voivodeship Board designated by him.
“I need to refresh my memory”
Niezależna.pl attempted to contact Pomeranian Marshal Mieczysław Struk of the Civic Coalition regarding the matter, but without success. We did, however, reach Adam Gawrylik of the Polish People’s Party (PSL), a member of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Board.
We asked him what circumstances had led to the amendment of the resolution governing the remuneration of Pomeranian Hospitals’ Management Board members.
“I would direct you to the press spokesperson on this matter,” he replied.
When we insisted that, as a member of the regional authorities who had co-decided on the amendment introducing the non-compete clause, he explain the matter himself, Gawrylik asked that the questions be sent by email.
“I need to refresh my memory thoroughly,” he said, declaring that he would respond “when I return to the office.”
He never did.
Instead, we received a message from an office employee stating only that our correspondence “had been forwarded to the Press Office of the Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.”
Compensation for public service
Exactly how much compensation Sobierańska-Grenda received from Pomeranian Hospitals under the non-compete clause remains unknown.
Gazeta Wyborcza estimates the amount at PLN 134,000, while the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Gdańska estimates it may have reached as much as PLN 191,000. In addition to this amount, approximately PLN 12,000 for unused vacation leave and nearly PLN 11,000 in a car allowance should be added.
“They agreed that after eight years, just before her departure—essentially a last-minute offer—a six-month non-compete clause worth 100 percent of Ms. Sobierańska-Grenda’s fixed salary would be added,” editor Marek Formela said on Republika television.
“The Pomeranian Voivodeship Board amended the resolution on the remuneration of the Pomeranian Hospitals Management Board in order to legally pay the PLN 191,000 that has caused such outrage, because the non-compete clause applies to hospitals but does not apply to public service in the Polish government.”
“So if this is part of the contract—a kind of compensation for dedicating oneself to public service—then all Poles should know about it,” he emphasized.
“They started manipulating the dates”
Dr. Piotr Kusznieruk, Rector of the Warsaw Medical University of Applied Sciences, told Niezależna.pl that it should be examined “whether this decision was made during negotiations and whether the resolution was adopted in bad faith.”
“The dates are too close together, and the mechanism is somewhat surprising because the resolution was adopted with retroactive effect. In my opinion, if the resolution constitutes local law, then that law cannot operate retroactively. This violates a fundamental principle of the Polish legal system,” he said.
“In my opinion, all of these circumstances should be thoroughly investigated. Someone clearly started manipulating the dates to distance the effective date of the resolution from the date of the minister’s appointment. Everything happening around this lady and this hospital is unusual,” he added.
According to Kusznieruk, law enforcement authorities “such as the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) should clearly examine the matter.”
“There are too many ambiguities here, and public money is involved. It should also be verified whether making such decisions constituted a breach of public finance discipline and whether similar cases had occurred previously,” Dr. Piotr Kusznieruk said.
“In the case of public hospitals, there is no competition for the market because there is only one payer. There is also no competition between owners because there is usually only one monopolistic owner. Therefore, signing this kind of non-compete agreement is, in my opinion, a fiction. It is a distortion or abuse of the law,” he concluded.