The ruling under review concerns the possibility of im­plementing internal regulations that stipulate specific requirements pertaining to the appearance of employ­ees categorised on the basis of sex. The Supreme Court correctly determined that the limit of interference in the appearance of employees is not only the obligation to respect their personal rights, but also the prohibition of discrimination in employment. Consequently, an employ­er is prohibited from imposing requirements that would unjustifiably differentiate between employees on the basis of the protected characteristics. The commentator asserts that the conclusions and arguments presented in the com­mented ruling merit approval, even though the Court did not issue a definitive ruling on the question of the com­plete differentiation of the rules concerning the appear­ance of female and male employees. The author contends that well-established cultural norms in this regard do not provide sufficient justification if internal regulations fail to meet the requirements of the principle of proportionality.

EU law requires Member States to introduce dissuasive sanctions for breaches of the prohibition of discrimination in employment to their national legal systems. The Court of Justice of the European Union makes a clear distinction between the deterrent function of sanctions and their compensatory function. The analysis of its case law leads to the conclusion that the deterrent function implies the possibility of applying punitive measures in order to dissuade an employer from future infringements of the prohibition of discrimination. However, there are doubts as to whether the preventive objective can be achieved by means of compensatory measures, the main purpose of which is to provide protection for the employee. Despite the limitations related to the nature of these measures, the Supreme Court seeks the possibility of giving a deterrent character to the compensation provided for in Article 183d of the Labour Code, in so far as it is intended to compensate for the non-material damage suffered by the employee.