Agata Ludera-Ruszel

This paper tackles the issue of the personal scope of the right to disconnect as the right of a worker to refrain from engaging in work-related tasks and not to participate in communication with employer for a work-related purpose, in particular communication via digital tools such as email and telephone. The reference point of the analysis undertaken will be the EU directive draft regulating the right of workers to disconnect contained in the European Parliament resolution adopted on 21 January 2021. The issue addressed is part of a broader discussion on the legal model of labour provision that has long accompanied the academic debate among Polish and foreign labour law scholars. The prevailing view among those working on this topic, which is correct in principle, is that the protection of employment law should be extended to self-employed workers. There are differences of opinion as to how such protection would be implemented and, in particular, to whom it would apply and to what extent it would apply.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

This paper was written as a part of the project “Pojęcie pracownika. Koniecznośćredefinicji granic stosunku pracy”[The concept of employee. The need for redefinition of the boundaries of the employment relationship], founded by the (Polish) National Science Centre on the basis of decision number DEC-2020/39/B/HS5/00037

The subject matter of this study are the limits of the superior’s authority to shaping the content of the official relationship and the corresponding obligation of the functionary’s flexibility on the basis of selected official pragmatics. The legal regulation governing changes in the employment relationship within the scope of the indicated official pragmatics is based on a similar regulatory formula, hence the conclusion is justified that the resulting legal situation of functionaries in the uniformed services in question is similar to each other. This regulation is dominated by public-law elements. At the same time, one can see the elements of obligation, which are manifested by the restrictions on the freedom of a service body to perform unilateral acts amending the content of the service relationship.

ASJC: 3308

JEL: K31

In view of the protective function of labour law the protection of employment relationship through criminal law appears to be justified. Due to the de facto imbalance between parties to an employment relationship the risk of abuse by the employer of its stronger position is much greater, in comparision with, the contractual relationships. At the same time, in the light of the principle of subsidiarity of criminal law only particularly grave employees rights violations entail the criminal liability. In this regards, the article is going to determine, whether the infringement of the employer's obligation of facilitate professional employee development, that is governed by the Article 17 and Article 96 section 6 of the Polish Labour Code, can be treated as a crime against the employee's right that stem from the employment relationship and is typified in the Article 218 § 1a of the Polish Criminal Code.

Increasing the number of economically active people is one of the key instrument to deal with an aging society, that Europe is facing at present. This applies in particular to women, which participation rate in the labour market is lower than that of men. One reason for women's lower professional activity is the difficulties in combining work with family responsibilities. Labour law and especially issues such as organisation of working time and child-care leaves, reamain one of the key areas in the actions for implementing the work-life balance strategy – to achieve the better balance between professional and private life of an employee. On 2 January 2016 the amendement to the Labour Code entered into force, which has been designed to constitute a further step towards the creation of consistent and coherent pro-famility policy, that allow economically active people for fulfilment of their parental aspirations. In this regard, this article is aimed at evaluation of the legal regulation concerning parental rights of employess as regards child-care leaves and organisation of working time, with a special focus on indicated legislative amendement, in terms of achieving the assumptions underlying the work-life balance strategy.

The competence of the European Union in the field of labour law is limited to the support, complementation and coordination of the activities of the Member States in the exhaustive areas of labour law. The diversity of national definition of legal concepts used in EU challenges the harmonisation of national legal orders and their gradual convergence. The lack of consistency between Member States in respect of determination of who qualifies as a “worker” in national legal orders lead to the differences between Member States, as regards the application of the minimum standards to the same category of persons performing a paid job. This can undermine the objectives pursued by directives and may jeopardise their effectiveness. A uniform concept of “worker” has not yet been developed at the EU level. The starting point for any discussion about the concept of “worker” in EU law is the definition of “worker” provided for the principle of free movement of workers enshrined in Art. 45 of TFEU. Given the non-discriminatory purpose of the concept of worker under the principle of free movement of workers, this article is going to consider whether this concept has the potential for broader protection of workers in the EU.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31