Labour and Social Security Journal 06/2023

Abstract The article deals with the admissibility of qualifying civil law contracts as compulsory social insurance titles with the use of abuse clauses or circumvention of social insurance law. The subject of the article is also to examine whether the legal relations of civil law, labour law, commercial law can be verified by applying social security law, in particular with legal effect for these branches of law. The article also refers to the possibility of violating social security law by applying civil law institutions (e.g. contracts of mandate), commercial law (e.g. company form) or labour law, which were applied on the basis of these branch of law in a lawful manner.

Abstract The aim of the paper is to discuss the legal notion of the unemployed person in the context of the draft of Act on vocational activity. Therefore a characterisation of selected and important changes in the legal notion of unemployed person has been carried out, taking into account both positive and negative conditions for this legal status. The analysis makes it possible to evaluate the proposed amendments, in respect of current views of doctrine and court jurisprudence and in the consequence to formulate de lege ferenda comments, following the scientific discourse on the appropriateness of the proposed regulation, initiated in previous issues of this journal (Włodarczyk, 2023, Staszewska, 2023).

Older people are particularly exposed to multiple discrimination and mobbing in the work environment. The retirement age itself, together with the acquisition of pension rights, should not be an independent reason justifying termination of employment, but it should be related to the work performed (specific psychophysical and intellectual capacity) or the employer's situation. Age as a prohibited criterion of discrimination is, for example, listed in Art. 113 of the Criminal Code and Art. 183a § 1 of the Penal Code. Age is also a criterion explicitly mentioned in the framework directive 2000/78/EC. Age discrimination is generally distinguished as direct and indirect. The application of an unlawful criterion will not, however, in every case constitute a breach of the prohibition of discrimination, as different treatment of persons due to a specific criterion may, in a given case, be justified by important objective reasons. There are numerous shortcomings in the legal regulation of the protection of older people, including the definition of older people and the scope of their protection in the labor market. Effective counteracting age discrimination requires the implementation of new protection instruments at all stages of employment more effective in eliminating discrimination.

The subject of the article is an analysis of changes in the regulations setting out the rules of application of atypical forms of employment, i.e. fixed-term and parttime employment contracts. In the author's view, the assessment of the rules of application of these agreements must be made both from the point of view of the interests of employees (safety) and employers (flexibility). Therefore, bearing in mind the last changes in the Labor Code, in the author's opinion, fixed-term employment contracts are regulated in a correct way, preventing their misuse. On the other hand, as regards to part-time contracts, changes in the regulations are necessary, which in particular would limit the possibility of unlimited assignments of work beyond the working time specified in the contract.

Violence in the workplace has a number of negative consequences for both employees and employers. Depending on its nature, these can be physical, psychological, health harms. These may affect not only the victim of violence but also his family. From the employer's point of view, violence can cause material and image damage. One of the key elements of protection against violence is to provide an effective avenue for complaints and to guarantee the safety of complainants. Among other measures, the obligation to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of employees' identities in the workplace violence complaint procedure also serves this purpose.

The article presents a multi-threaded analysis of the principle of promoting the work-life balance for parents and carers, which enjoys a relatively strong normative foundation in national, international and European legal instruments. First, the complex nature of the concept of work-life balance is outlined. The hypothesis according to which – from the theoretical and legal point of view – the concept of supporting the balance between work and private life can be perceived as a principle of labour law, is discussed further. Then, the influence of European law on the development of WLB programs in the field of labour law is demonstrated. In this section, particular attention is paid to Directive 2019/1158. In the last part of the analysis, the previous observations and conclusions are linked and compared with the current realities of the Polish labour market and the evolving legal system.

The study discusses the judgment of the Supreme Court assessing the correctness of the proceedings of the pension authorities suspending the payment of social pensions to persons who received this benefit in respect a certificate of moderate or severe disability, and not in respect a certificate of total incapacity for work. This judgment is extremely important for a wide range of people affected by disabilities also because it touches on the sensitive issue, how courts process cases in a situation where a disabled person seeking judicial protection is clumsy due to a disability resulting from mental retardation.