Janusz Żołyński

Human labour has an economic and social dimension. Social, because the person doing the work does not do it alone, individually. The social act of labour creation occurs. The economic dimension is the result of the fact that the work is undertaken for the sole purpose of earning money, as the activity is paid and therefore economic. For this reason, labour law in its economic dimension should be analysed both as a normative phenomenon and as a concept. Furthermore, it should be considered integrally in the praxeological field, as the law is adopted to be effective through its solutions and not merely showy, satisfying in a given period of history the particular political needs of those currently in power.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

The process of researching labor law should be dynamic. This is conditioned by the fact that labor law, unlike many other branches of law, is a typical “law of life.”This is because it regulates a particular form of social relations, which are labor relations. Consequently, it requires the exploration of new scientific perspectives. One such research space is the realm of legal ideas, specifically those related exclusively to the domains of labor and the study of labor law. This work aims to offer a fresh perspective, constructively invigorating the research process in labor law and introducing a new cognitive quality. It also serves as a call to researchers in the field of labor law, emphasizing the need to engage in discussions on topics worthy of scholarly exploration.

Resolving any social conflicts, including collective labour disputes, requires preservation of human dignity, having regard to vital interests of the State being its citizen’s community. Therefore, social conflicts are to be resolved in a responsible way. This is reflected in a responsible society clause embracing an imperative of reasonableness and decency as well.

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

Labour law is in fact a part of the public law. Although, genetically and to a certain extent normatively, it is related to private law it is heterogeneous in nature. Despite the fact that the essence of labour law is tantamount to free contractual relationships, it is becoming more and more public (statutory) law as the process of limiting the employment contract by the legislator is still increasing. The nature of labour law as the public one is confirmed by the contents of the employment contract which contains the features characteristic for an administrative contract. Moreover, a number of labour law institutions is characterised by orders and prohibitions aiming at enforcing specific employer’s behaviour. This is particularly apparent in the parenthood protection where more and more new obligations towards the employees are imposed on the employers which are completely inappropriate to the equivalence in terms of employment relationship. Thus, legal acts regarding labour law are in fact becoming rather more purely political acts or social policy ones than the exponents of the needs in the law-making process.

The right to political (general, universal) strike is undoubtedly polycentric in nature, since in order to properly decode and interpret it, it is necessary to refer to both axiology, philosophy and national and international law, including EU law. Moreover, a political strike is in fact not only a result of axiological assumptions, accepted philosophical or doctrinal and political considerations. It manifests the state of the State and the level of democracy in terms of the struggle for the improvement of working and remuneration conditions, social sphere or public sphere.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31