Labour and Social Security Journal 06/2026

The confluence of norms and claims is a controversial topic in civil law, which has not been developed from the perspective of labour law relations. In this study, which focuses on the confluence of claims, attention is drawn to the need for a precise definition of this concept, which will allow it to be distinguished from other, similar sets of claims. It is also argued that the concepts of civil law should be used to analyze this institution in the branch of labour law. However, there are factors that particularly influence the shape of the confluence of claims in labor law. These include the coexistence of employment law and civil law sources (grounds) of claims, which may concern the same performance. Another circumstance is the ten­dency of some representatives of labour law doctrine, as well as of judicial decisions, to give a uniform character to the compensation for material or non-material damage suffered by the employee or the employer. This constitutes a means of overcoming the duality of claims derived from contractual and tort liability regimes.

The aim of this article is to analyze the changes introduced by the Act on Collective Bargaining Agreements and Collective Agreements from the perspective of the regu­lation’s objective: to revive collective bargaining and ex­pand its scope. The authors discuss new legal solutions and seek to answer whether they represent a paradigm shift in shaping collective relations and whether they may directly increase the scope of collective bargaining.

Public administration reform often involves personnel turnover. Legislators have created a special mechanism for this purpose: the so-called “termination of employment relationships.” This mechanism terminates the employ­ment of employees of a public administration organiza­tional unit if they do not receive or accept a new employ­ment offer. The aim of this article is to examine whether the so-called “termination of employment relationships” as part of the public administration restructuring can be considered a genuine termination of employment rela­tionships, or whether it is merely a disguised termination of employment. The regulations analysed may prove to be a false construct, as they more closely resemble amend­ment notices or collective layoffs than a true termination of employment. In practice, the legal solutions discussed serve state authorities to exercise discretion in the area of employment. Termination provisions are a political tool that allows governments to bypass labour protection mech­anisms. As a result, these provisions are used to replace administrative personnel rather than to neutrally regulate employment relationships. Therefore, the legal construct of the so-called termination of employment relationships does not meet the criteria for termination in the legal sense and should be replaced with transparent rules for terminat­ing employment relationships.

This study examines factors associated with openness to un­declared and under-declared work among dependent em­ployees in the European Union, focusing on individuals who have not reported recent engagement in informal employ­ment. Using Special Eurobarometer 92.1 microdata and logistic regression models, it adopts a preventive perspec­tive on potential vulnerability to informality. The analysis shows that openness is associated with socio-demographic characteristics, including age, gender, household composi­tion and social class, as well as employment context, prior exposure to informal practices, tax morale, perceived detec­tion risk and expected sanctions. The results also indicate that fully undeclared and under-declared work should not be treated as interchangeable, as they are associated with partly distinct individual, household and enforcement-re­lated patterns. In addition, item nonresponse suggests possible concealed familiarity with informality, although robustness checks indicate that alternative codings do not materially change the results. While pension outcomes are not directly estimated, the findings are relevant to debates on social protection, as openness to informal employment may indicate vulnerability to future contribution gaps if it translates into actual undeclared or under-declared work. By highlighting factors associated with early-stage openness to informality, the study contributes to discussions on la­bour market formalisation and preventive policy interven­tions aimed at supporting formal employment and long-term income security.

Where a voluntary health insurance agreement has ex­pired, a natural person is covered by voluntary health insurance again from the date specified in the newly con­cluded agreement. Under the applicable legal framework, this date is the date on which the first health insurance contribution is paid. The effective date of renewed insur­ance coverage may therefore precede the date on which the terms of the agreement are confirmed in writing.

The right to a pension for work as a miner, and in particu­lar for work in opencast mines, has received virtually no at­tention in the literature. This article provides an overview of this subject, including from a practical perspective. It discusses the changes brought about by legislative amend­ments concerning the definition of opencast mining and the energy transition in relation to the issue of the right to a miner’s pension.

The article concerns the legal classification, for the purpos­es of social security law, of contracts for the preparation of press materials in the publishing sector. Its aim is to ad­dress two questions: first, whether the preparation of press material may constitute the subject matter of a contract for specific work; and second, to what extent the Social In­surance Institution is entitled to verify such a classification. The authors argue that the preparation of a specific press item may be classified as the performance of a contract for specific work where the subject matter of the obligation has been sufficiently individualized, the result is capable of verification, and remuneration remains linked to the deliv­ery of the specified material. Neither the repetitive nature of the cooperation nor the use of a framework agreement excludes such a classification. A different assessment is justified only where the relationship between the parties amounts to the author’s continuing availability, the ongo­ing performance of non-specific editorial tasks, or a lasting integration into the organizational structure of the edito­rial office. Consequently, review by the Social Insurance Institution should not be abstract in nature or based solely on the fact of repeated cooperation, but should in each case require an assessment of the content of the specific obligation and the characteristics of the result.

This paper discusses the latest ruling by the Supreme Court concerning the issue of employer representation when un­dertaking actions relating to labour law. This judgment, which relates directly to the representation of an employ­er – a limited liability company – is presented against the background of previous rulings by the Supreme Court ad­dressing this issue.

On 14 April 2026, at the initiative of Prof. Magdalena Paluszkiewicz and Dr. Ewa Staszewska-Kozłowska, a na­tionwide academic conference entitled “Labour Market Reform in Poland in Light of the New Act on the Labour Market and Employment Services” was held online. The conference was organized by the Department of Labour Law, Social Insurance and Social Policy of the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Lodz. The event was held under the patronage of the Rector of the Univer­sity of Lodz, the National Labour Inspectorate – Regional Labour Inspectorate in Lodz, Wolters Kluwer, the legal portal Prawo.pl, and the Polish Network of Labour Law and Social Security Cooperante. The conference attracted considerable interest, with more than 200 participants at­tending the event.