Work-life balance the Polish way – key thoughts after the 2023 amendment

The article concerns the method and effects of implementing Directive 2019/1158 in the field of work-life balance. The author refers to the most important thematic areas of amendments, i.e. mainly parental rights, and places them in the context of work-life balance and working time. The author indicates the most important problems regarding the implementation of the so-called work-life balance directive in this context. There are still many unsolved issues and most impor-tantly the question of whether all changes were equally necessary. The author also raises the issue of working time as a key element in the interpretation of changes in the labor law system.

Amendment to the Labor Code implementing Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union – assessment and analysis of the regulation

The article aims to analyze the changes introduced on April 26, 2023, to the Polish Labor Code, adapting its regulations to the Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 20, 2019, on transparent and predictable working conditions in the Euro- pean Union. The objective scope of the article includes the obligation to provide information by the employer, parallel employment, the rules for concluding an employment contract for a probationary period, the request for a form of employment with more predictable and secure working conditions, and the requirements for terminating employment contracts. An attempt is also made to assess new regulations in terms of their compliance, accuracy and purposefulness with the recommendations of the Directive 2019/1152. In addition, attention was paid to the need for the introduction of an additional change in Polish regulations.

New regulations on termination of fixed-term employment contracts

The article is devoted to the issue of recent changes in the Polish Labor law regarding the termination of fixed-term employment contracts. After the 2015 amendment, this is another major change in this area. How this issue has been normalized has raised many doubts in the science of labor law for years. It requires taking into account and balancing several important issues: the essence and purpose of the fixed-term employment contract in labor law, the equal treatment of employees on fixed-term and indefinite contracts, and the potential impact of the regulation on the labor market. The article aims to show the background to the amendment of the provisions on the termination of fixed-term contracts and its potential effects while taking into account the jurisprudence of courts and views presented in this regard by representatives of the labor law doctrine.

Remote work after changes in the Polish Labor Code

One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the introduction of a remote work system for those employees who could work outside of the workplace. The adoption of such a solution was made possible by the Act of March 2, 2020, on special solutions related to the prevention, counteracting and combating of COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crises caused by them, the Polish Journal Of Laws from 2020, item 374, as amended, commonly referred to as anti-COVID, or anti-crisis, shield. A temporary solution designed to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 has become, over time, a regular form of work. Therefore, there was a need to regulate the rules of remote work. The Marshal of the Sejm received the draft of the act amending the Polish Labor Code and certain other acts (print no. 2335) concerning precisely remote work. The purpose of this publication is to present the aforementioned draft of the act concerning remote work, as well as an analysis of the provisions introduced in the Polish Labor Code.

Remuneration at hourly rates – guidelines for attorneys-at-law providing legal assistance to consumers on the basis of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of January 12, 2023 (case file no. C-395/21)

The article addresses the issue of the legal qualification of various defects in contractual provisions concerning remuneration for the provision of legal assistance to consumers. The impetus for bringing this issue closer is the recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of January 12, 2023, (case file no. C-395/21) which took interest in the area of rules for the exercise of legal professional activity. This is because, from the perspective of the EU law, it contains an assessment of the legal consequences of the lack of transparency of provisions shaping contractual remuneration based on hourly rates for services provided to consumers by the Lithuanian attorneys. The purpose of this article is not only to present the assumptions of this ruling, but also, taking them into account, to formulate conclusions that, in light of the Polish law, should be addressed at attorneys-at-law and other Polish service providers, both operating in the regulated and unregulated legal services market.

Exemption from professional secrecy under article 180 § 2 of the Polish Code of Criminal Procedure and the professional independence of an attorney-at-law. Polemical remarks

The subject of this publication is the professional independence of an attorney-at-law and its normative sources. The work attempts to answer the question to what extent the aforementioned independence is influenced by the professional secrecy and whether the exemption from this secrecy in the manner provided by separate regulations, including by the article 180 § 2 of the Polish Code of Criminal Procedure, decreases the professional independence of an attorney-at-law. The text is polemical in nature.

Legal aspects of “neighborhood” nuisance – Part Three (criminal liability)

The study concerns the legal aspects of a nuisance to which a person may be exposed at their place of residence. The authors analyze the provisions specifying offences and petty offences described in the Polish Criminal Code, the Polish Code of Petty Offences, and the Act of April 27, 2001 on the environmental protection law, which may be applicable in counteracting nuisance “neighborhood” noise.

Gloss to the resolution of the Polish Supreme Court of October 6, 2022, case file no. III CZP 112/22

The thesis of the voted resolution reads: An in-court decision is a non-existent decision when the signature has been placed only under the entire document comprising the sentence and the principal reasons for the decision (Article 357 § 5 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

The article is an approving gloss to the Supreme Court resolution of October 6, 2022, case file no. III CZP 112/22, which once again analyses the problem of non-existent judgements (sententia non existens). The discussed resolution, although its sentence is a part of the established and grounded line of rulings of the Supreme Court, in its grounds undertakes consideration of a new issue, so far very rarely discussed in the civil procedural law literature and not analyzed in the jurisprudence. In fact, it focuses on the institution of “fundamental reasons for decision” referred to in Article 357 § 5 of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure, and in particular on the impact of the method of its use on the existence of the issued judgment.

In the grounds for the resolution commented upon, it was correctly pointed out that the abovementioned institution constitutes a separate procedural activity from the drafting of the sentence and grounds for the decision. At the same time, it was noticed that it has not been, in fact, precisely regulated, which, on the one hand, may create difficulties in its practical use by courts, and, on the other hand, it does not allow for applying to it per analogiam regulations regarding the drafting of justifications. The above considerations have led the Polish Supreme Court to two important conclusions.

The first point is that if the principal reasons for a judgment are formulated in writing by the court giving the judgment in question as a separate element of the judgment – linguistically and graphically distinct from the sentence – then the signatures of both the sentence and the principal reasons are required. The absence of both of these signatures, as stated in the resolution, results in the judgment not existing (sententia non existens). This conclusion, as rightly pointed out, follows directly from the language of the regulations of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure which regulates both the drafting of judgments and the performance of litigation actions.

The second important conclusion formulated by the Polish Supreme Court in the commented resolution comes from the conclusion that both the provisions regulating the content of the sentence and the provision of Article 357 § 5 of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure, which refers to the ‘principal reasons for the decision’, do not exclude the possibility of both elements forming a compact whole. Therefore, the Court assumed that if the sentence of the judgment is connected, combined with the fundamental reasons for its issuance into a single complete unit, including linguistically and graphically, these actions, as it were, “unite” in such a way that the judge’s signature at the end of such a document does not render it non-existent. The judgment issued in such a way complies with all the requirements set out in the regulations, it is an existing judgment.

The resolution commented upon deserves full approbation. However, a certain dissatisfaction is left by the fact that the essence of the correct considerations of the Polish Supreme Court contained in its justification was not reflected in the operative part of the resolution, as a result of which its influence on the jurisprudence practice may turn out to be insignificant.

Overview of the decisions of the Polish Supreme Court

The resolution of the panel of seven judges of the Polish Supreme Court of June 21, 2023 (case file no. III CZP 94/22) is of utmost importance for legal practice. In the resolution, the Polish Supreme Court assumed that Article 2 of the Act of July 6, 2001 on preserving the national character of the country’s strategic natural resources does not exclude the possibility of usucaption of real estate constituting a state forest. Another important resolution of the Polish Supreme Court is the resolution of the panel of seven judges of June 14, 2023 (case file no. III CZP 84/22). As indicated by the Supreme Court, declaring the debtor’s bankruptcy does not cause the creditor’s loss of legitimacy to bring an action to declare the debtor’s legal act ineffective under Art. 527 of the Civil Code.