The right to the Labour Code or necessity of possession of the Labour Code

The necessity of the functioning of the Labour Code stems from the existence of both universal and separate models of employing employees in Poland. Regulating employment relationships in a different way would undermine the principles of legislative technique. A major role played  by the Labour Code in regulating the legal status of all employees makes the legislator regulate the subjective and objective scope of the Code in a thoughtful way, also when it comes to deciding whether it should cover salaried workers.
 

In this paper, the author focuses her attention on the situation of workers in the on-demand economy. Firstly, she deals with problems of terminological nature. Secondly, she presents the justification for protection for some categories of workers. Thirdly, the analysis of the status of on-demand workers is conducted from different points of view: proposal to introduce the intermediate category between employee and independent contractor, proposal to introduce an employment relationship as the default classification, a functional concept of the employer, the judgment of Employment Tribunal (London) in Aslam and Farrar and others, and A European agenda for the collaborative economy. Finally, the author considers the usefulness (in the on-demand economy) of some of the instruments introduced by the General Data Protection Regulation of 27 April 2016.
 

The employer’s liability on account of unjustified or unlawful termination of a contract of employment for a fixed term – conclusions de lege lata and de lege ferenda

The aim of this article is to present comments and suggestions regarding currently existing solutions in terms of incorrectness of termination or dissolution of a fixed-term employment contract.
Due to recent legislative changes, the issue of possibility to terminate or dissolve fixed-term employment contracts became actual more than ever before.
In this article there are raised concerns regarding the admissibility of analysis of justification of termination of fixed-term employment contracts, claims of employees’ granted them on the basis of incorrect  termination of a fixed-term employment contract, including restitution claim with a special attention paid to the legal status of employees encompassed with special protection of employment status.
Further subjected to the analysis were the rights of employee that arise from unlawful termination of employment contract without a notice by employer and legal character of compensation for incorrect termination or dissolution of a fixed-term employment contract.
Mentioned considerations were supported by the analysis of judicature and state of doctrine with particular emphasis on suggested recommendations on changing currently applicable solutions.
In the summary, Author presented clear vision of direction, which should be followed by the legislator in order to secure coherence of legal system and improvement of position currently occupied by subjects particularly affected by issues connected with adopted regulations in terms of incorrectness of termination or dissolution of a fixed-term employment contract.

Decision-making resulting from article 30 § 4 of the Labour Code

The author discusses difficulties concerning the employer’s obligation to indicate the reasons for termination of the contract of employment. Firstly, the author analyses stages of decisions – making and possible interpretative patterns, as well as interpreting difficulties. Then, the article presents relations between article 30 § 4 of the Labour Code and article 45 § 1 of the Labour Code. Finally, the author describes time aspect of the termination of the contract from the point of its reasons.
 

Obligation of the employer to cooperate with the competent public authority on collective redundancy as a means of social protection of workplaces (employment)

This article discusses the issue of the employer’s obligation to cooperate with public authorities in the case of collective redundancies, which is a means of social protection of employment relationships. The author first explains the concept of social protection of workplaces, pointing out that one of its instruments is the obligation to notify the competent employment authorities of the intended collective redundancy. Furthermore, the paper analyses the regulations of abovementioned employer’s obligation under ILO Law (Convention No. 158) and the European Union Law (Directive 98/59/EC). Thereafter, the author discusses the relevant regulations contained in the Act of March 13, 2013 on specific terms and conditions for terminating employment relationships with employees for reasons not related to the employees, subjecting above mentioned regulations to critical analysis and examining whether the adopted manner of regulating this obligation allows it to be an effective, proactive means of social protection of employment.
 

The amendment to the Labour Code of 25 June 2015, has introduced a number of changes in the contractual employment relationship. They took aim at a/o limiting the unjustified use of fixed-term employment contracts in respect of their abuse in the labour market. Despite the changes, which came into force on 22 February 2016, the legal status of law in respect of a contract of employment for a specified period of time requires further intervention of the legislator which has been called for long by significant part of the representatives of doctrine. The amendment, in fact, has not so much strengthened the situation of people employed on the basis of the fixed term agreement, it has even weakened it, the change was therefore illusory and seemingly beneficial.