The paradigm of subordinate work already emerged in the early stages of the development of labour law and is still functioning to this day, which is widely accepted both in labour law doctrine and in judicial practice. The author assesses the timeliness of the traditional paradigm of subordinate work in conditions of development of new technologies and the spread of modern forms of work provision, doing so on the example of remote work. According to the author, despite working outside the workplace, while retaining much greater autonomy, in addition to the constant supervision of the employer, the remote worker is still subject to a multifaceted dependence on the employer. This means that the paradigm of subordinate work continues to apply and is strongly present also in atypical forms of work.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the working conditions of so-called platform workers that have faced the lack of labour and social protection deriving from their formal status of independent contractors. Seeking for protection, numerous claims have been filed by the riders and drivers of digital platforms that were asking for a recognition of the subordinate work. The aim of the present article is to give a critical and brief overview of the latest European jurisprudence regarding the legal status of platform workers. The article focuses on the methodology and criteria applied by the judges in order to examine the particularities of the new forms of work and new forms of surveillance as well. Special attention is paid to on-location work performance by low-skilled individuals conducting services for the digital platforms operating in food delivery and transportation sectors.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

Extended unpaid parental leave as the period of employment (not) favourable to parent employee. Conclusions de lege lata and de lege ferenda

Employees have different caring responsibilities at different stages of their life, some take care of the children, others of sick members of their family. For some years now, there have been attempts to find solutions how to resolve the key problem, which is the uneven participation of men and women in childcare, as well as in the care over other dependants. However, currently, an employee taking advantage of extended unpaid parental leave gets neither remuneration from the employment relationship nor maternity allowance, which results in the fact that most fathers still do not make use of their right to extended unpaid parental leave. Often, neither of the parents benefits from this entitlement, but they return to work right after the paid parental leave. The purpose of extended unpaid parental leave, just like in the case of other parent-related leaves of absence, is to take personal care of the child. Currently, there are a few solutions whose aim is to make it easier to the parents to combine their private and professional life. The possibility to undertake additional activities during the extended unpaid parental leave is one of them. According to the Labour Code regulations, an employee can undertake gainful employment or other activity at his/her existing or a new employer or can undertake some studying or training when he/she takes advantage of the extended unpaid parental leave on condition that it does not exclude the possibility to take personal care of the child (Art. 1862 § 1 of the Labour Code). Implementing the directive (UE) 2019/1158 into the national legal order might be an excellent opportunity to modify the already existing institution of the extended unpaid parental leave. The essential novum which the directive will introduce, and which is to encourage the fathers to take care of the children, is to entitle the working parents to two months of parental leave that is not transferrable to the other parent of the child. Certainly, financial aspects will be of significance to the parents. Therefore, it is essential that the state budget covers the two months of obligatory parental leave benefits which are solely dedicated to the fathers of the children.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

Performing gainful employment during the period of temporary incapacity for work due to sickness—new possible solutions in connection with COVID-19?

The Act of 2 March 2020 on special solutions related to the prevention, counteraction and combating of COVID‑19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them introduced some new regulations relating to the issue of the performance of gainful employment during the period of mandatory quarantine or isolation in house conditions. This article presents these new regulations and analyses whether some specific arrangements can guide any developments in the issue of temporary incapacity for work due to sickness

ASJC: 3308, JEL: H55, K31

Medical duty versus the code-based regulation of employee duty in the light of the non-national standards

Employee’s duty is one of the institutions of general labour law, regulated in the Labour Code. However, with regard to medical professionals employed in healthcare institutions, the legislator introduced special provisions in this respect, prior to the general code regulation. Employee’s duty has also been the subject of numerous considerations by the Court of Justice of the European Union. In Poland, only with regard to medical duty, the wording of national provisions has been adapted to EU law and the interpretation of the Court of Justice. The aim of this article is to analyse the legal nature of employee’s duty and medical duty in terms of non-national standards, especially the interpretation made by the Court of Justice in this respect.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

The article analyzes the issue of permanent incapacity to work, which is the premise for obligatory dismissal of police officers from service. The reflections are aimed at showing to what extent the statutory regulations in this area should be considered justified. Questions were raised as to whether the catalog of reasons for dismissing an officer from service is a closed catalog. The author referred to the above issue more broadly, indicating whether this catalog exhausts all situations that may constitute the basis for termination of the employment relationship of a police officer, making a distinction in this respect when the employment relationship ends as a result of an act performed by one of the parties to the employment relationship and cases where termination of employment occurs ex lege. The author referred to the nature of the personnel order which was the basis form dismissal from the service of a police officer due to the fulfillment of the condition of permanent incapacity for work confirmed by a medical certificate.

The article discusses in detail the issues related to dismissal from service, the admissibility and obligatory application of the consequences in the event of prerequisites, as well as the legitimacy of such a solution. The issues of finality and validity of the decision of the medical commission, which constitute the basis for issuing a personal order on dismissal from service, were also discussed.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31