In all EU Member States the status of people employed on job platforms is not fully legally regulated. It is necessary to consider the sources of the contemporary phenomenon of electronic employment, which is not amenable to legal regulation in the Union constituting an “area of freedom, security and justice with respect for fundamental rights” (Art. 67 (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). The right to work in decent conditions, with adequate remuneration, belongs to this category of rights. In the discussion on employment platforms state authorities are more inclined to consider issues related to new technologies, processes and changes caused by the development and application of modern digital technologies (digitization) in almost all areas. The headquarters of trade unions mainly discuss the legal position of employees and the role of employment platforms in employment relations in the post-industrial era. Entrepreneurs and their organizations, including private institutions and employment platforms, are interested in equal treatment by national legislators in local labour markets. They are afraid of the breach of the balance favorable to their own economic interests, caused by the public interest in the possibility of using employment in atypical forms of employment. Services consisting in employment provided under employment platforms are incomparably cheaper than identical work performed by employees employed under employment contracts.

GDPR as statutory source of labour law within the meaning of Art. 9 of the Labour Code

This study shows that certain EU regulations, like GDPR which was directly implemented into the Polish legal system, are to be considered the source of labour law. Therefore, the collective agreements concluded on their basis must be considered the “peculiar” source of labour law. As a consequence, the collective agreements concluded on the basis of GDPR become the source of labour law in force in Poland, and thus are normative in nature.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

Personal data revealing trade union membership as special categories of personal data

Personal data revealing trade union membership are qualified as special categories of personal data because of the importance of this information and its significant impact on the situation of a natural person. It is worth mentioning in particular that trade union membership may be a  premise for unequal treatment of workers. Ensuring an adequate level of protection of this information is therefore of fundamental importance.

ASCJ: 3308, JEL: K31

Trade union as a data controller: Selected issues

The study covers the issues of identifying trade union structures as data controllers at the level of collective employment relations. Considering the specific nature of the subject matter of trade unions’ activity, the issue of processing personal data accompanies them in the performance of their tasks, often causing interpretation problems. The article also focuses on the characteristics of a trade union organization as a  data controller. The analysis also covers the grounds for data processing, with particular emphasis on the legality of data processing subject to special legal protection.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

One hallmark of Polish unemployment regulations introduced gradually from the early 1990s is that apart from protective actions i.e. unemployment benefits they make provision for instruments supporting professional activation of the unemployed. Throughout time the regulations concerning this matter evolved and new forms of support for the unemployed were introduced, taking into account the needs of the changing labour market. The necessity of tackling the challenges of the labour market in post-industrial economy, especially in terms of increasing employment flexibility, led to development and rise in significance of atypical employment forms. Such solutions are also used in encouraging professional activation of the unemployed. This study comprises analysis of three atypical employment practises: part-time employment, telework and temporary employment which apply to the unemployed in accordance with the rules of the Act of 20 April 2004 on employment promotion and on labour market institutions, regulations about job market instruments.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

In spite of its obligation-based nature, the contractual employment relationship of university teachers still has some properties that make it similar to the structure of a public law service relationship. Here, the specificity of the employment of university teachers is determined by the elements of content of their employment relationship that are closely linked to the realisation of the government’s duties related to science and higher education. The different employment status of university teachers is in fact a heterogeneous solution, where the obligation-based nature of the employment relationship is complemented with elements that are characteristic for public law service relationships.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

“Optimization” of employment costs in government administration

The purpose of this article is to analyze the planned optimalization of employment costs in government administration. The reason foar introducing these actions is the threat to public finances related to coronavirus. The Act provides for two forms of reduction of employment costs. The first is collective redundancies and the second is the suspension of employees’ rights. The author recognize the legitimacy of actions aimed at reducing the public finance deficyt. However, he critically refers to the detailed provisions contained in the Act. This applies primarily to the way of dismissing employees from work, which deprives them of any protection and support for both trade unions and employment administration.

ASJC: 1410, JEL: J5

Rights and obligations of parties to an employment relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic

The article discusses the most important regulations regarding the rights and obligations of employers and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, both for employees performing remote work and employees who, due to the nature of their work, must perform it at the workplace. In order to counteract COVID-19, the employer may instruct the employee to perform, for a fixed period, work specified in the employment contract, outside the place of its permanent performance (remote work). In the current situation, in principle, the employer may, whenever an employee performs remote work, order it for 180 days from the date of the Act’s entry into force. There appear a number of problems in the field of labour law when working remotely, including how to comply with OSH regulations, how to proceed in the event of an accident at work or control of working time. An employer may commission remote work to only part of the employees, e.g. those who have children. Yet, this should be justified by objective circumstances. The employer should take all available precautions, such as ordering remote work or even temporary closure of an enterprise, if his employees are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in order to enable State Sanitary Inspection or physicians or himself to take action. During the epidemic, the employer also has the right to carry out preventive checks of employees’ temperature. There is no legal basis for employers to send their employees to quarantine themselves. The employer may also not allow an employee to work without a preliminary and control examination. The last part of the article deals with the so-called crisis agreements concluded with employee representatives.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

The employee’s remuneration for the period of non-performance of work because of force majeure

The paper presents the issue of the employee’s right to remuneration for the period of nonperformance of work because of force majeure. The Author analyzes if the employee has the right to receive the remuneration in this case, and if the answer for this question is positive—what its legal nature is (is it a contractual remuneration for work or a social benefit to the employee within the employment relationship). The Author underlines the lack of clear regulations in these matters in Polish law, with the exception of the specific regulations concerning the periods of interruption caused by adverse weather conditions.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31