Labour and Social Security Journal 12/2020

In the paper the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 24 October 2019 on the European sectoral social partners' agreement of 21 December 2015 "General framework for informing and consulting officials and employees of the central government administration" is discussed. The judgment is the result of a complaint by the European Federation of Public Service Trade Unions EPSU. This judgment and the future final ruling by the CJEU (following an appeal by EPSU) will be of key importance for the functioning of the European social dialogue mechanisms. These rulings allow us to pose questions about the role of the European Commission in this process.

Balancing work and family responsibilities is a prominent issue for modern society. The relation of subordination and dependence of a worker that characterizes the employment relationship, and makes it different from other work relations, puts an employee in a vulnerable position in terms of control over his or her own working life and balancing it with private life. Participation in paid activity often implies the need to sacrifice private life of the employee, which makes an exchange between the parties to an employment relationship no longer a fair one. Family life is most seriously exposed to a work-life conflict. This is becoming a critical challenge for many employees, especially women with family responsibilities. This contribution aims at offering an analysis of the recent European Union legislative intervention in the work-life conflict — the Work-Life Balance Directive and the position of Poland within this picture. The analysis reveals some limitations of the existing legislation as regards the conditions for people with caring responsibilities to reconcile their working and family duties.

This paper aims to analyse legal regulations concerning self-employment in Italy and Spain. Given that both countries are characterised by a dualism between selfemployment and subordinate work, the author pays particular attention to legal figures, which do not fit easily into this division, namely economically dependent selfemployed workers (the Spanish case), collaborations organised by client and coordinated collaborations, organised by the independent contractor (the Italian case). The author tries to answer the question whether the Polish legislator can draw a lesson from foreign regulations.

The aim of the report is to present the course of the Polish Nationwide Conference "Young employees on the labour market — opportunities, problems and threats" which took place on 20th October 2020. The event was organised by the University of Silesia in Katowice — Legal Science Institute, the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) and "Opus per laborem" Scientific Circle. The interdisciplinary conference was a chance to discuss a current, important issue — young people's employment.

The article deals with the interpretation of Article 31 of the Labour Code regulating the issue of employer's representation in the scope of performing activities within the scope of labour law. The considerations relate to the meaning of the concept of activities within the scope of labour law, the concept of a person and a managing body, the manner of appointing another person to carry out the aforementioned activities, as well as the consequences of a subjective deficiency on the part of the employer in carrying out legal activities in the sphere of individual employment relationships.

The foregoing article aims at evaluating the amendment of the regulations governing employment certificates. The main objective of the changes introduced in 2019 was to adopt solutions that will make it easier for employees to exercise their rights to obtain an employment certificate from their employer. The author shall pay particular attention to the modification of the time limit for issuing such document and the additional claims which the legislature has granted to the employee making it possible to file a formal request in the labour court regarding obtaining an employment certificate. The first concerns the employer's obligation to issue an employment certificate in the event of failure to issue such document, and the second concerns the determination of entitlement to an employment certificate in cases where the employer does not exist or for other reasons it is impossible to bring an action against him impelling him to issue the employment certificate. As a consequence of the amendments made to the Labour Code, the amendment of the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure introduced into the legal order non-procedural proceedings in matters of labour law.

The author raises the issue of the protection of workers' rights in global supply chains. It discusses the impact of business on human and employee rights, which is more complex for international companies. An important element is the question of liability for the infringements caused in the State of the parent company. International, European and national regulations and the latest judicial case-law are supported.

The Court of Justice of the EU on 11 November 2020 issued a judgement in case C-300/19, UQ vs. Marclean Technologies SLU, concerning the method of calculating the 30 or 90 days period, which should be taken into account to determine whether the dismissal is a part of "collective redundanciec" within the meaning of Article 1(1)(a) of Directive 98/59. According to the ruling this Article must be interpreted as referring to any period of 30 or 90 consecutive days which includes the dismissal of the worker at issue.

The subject of the study is the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court linted to the nature of legal norms regulating working time limits for disabled people.