Labour and Social Security Journal 01/2022

Since 1 January 2022, numerous changes to the Polish tax system and social insurance came into force. Their implementation is a part of the government program "Polish Deal", the aim of which is to rebuild the Polish economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. Insurancewise, the biggest changes concern the contribution calculation basis of health insurance. The basis depends on the form of taxation of the contribution payer. The article describes the current rules of health insurance obligation and contribution calculation basis of that insurance for persons running non-agricultural activity, as well as cooperating persons. The examples were given concerning situation of persons, for whom that activity is the only source of income, as well as cases of coincidence of multiple obligations of insurance.

The article addresses a problem of a lower retirement age for women reintroduced in Poland in 2017. The Authors make an attempt to answer a question if this unequal treatment of men and women constitutes temporary special measures or affirmative action as interpreted in international human rights system, or if it constitutes discrimination on the ground of gender. The legal analysis is conducted from the perspective of constitutional norms and the case-law of Polish Constitutional Court, as well as on the basis of international human rights standards developed by, inter alia, CEDAW and ECtHR. The article thus complements the existing vast scholarship that is concentrated on analyzing the topical problem form the angle of labour law and social security law. The Authors conclude that a lower retirement age for women is an example of a direct discrimination de iure, because such difference in treatment based on gender cannot be rationally justified and is not proportional, which makes it discriminatory.

To counteract the spread of COVID-19 with the Act of 2nd March 2020 on specific solutions related to the prevention, counteraction and eradication of COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them, the Polish legislator has introduced the possibility for the employers to instruct employees to work remotely without the prior consent of the employee. For the first time in the Polish legislation remote work has been defined in a legal act, but some practical questions regarding working conditions have not been regulated, giving to the employers a high level of autonomy in their interpretation. At the same time, other measures have been introduced to counteract the pandemic that included the closure of schools and nurseries, forcing employees to personally take care of children. Combining home office and care responsibilities has put significantly higher pressure on female workers, as the statistical reports demonstrate, increasing also the levels of unpaid womens' work. This research aims to analyze how the legal response of the Polish legislator affected the gender inequalities related to the work life balance, with special attention to remote work provisions and its implications on women. The analysis of statistical data and reports of the International Labour Organisation, with comparison to the Polish anti-crisis regulations, lead to some critical remarks on the impact of these regulations on further gender discrimination. The author concludes by formulating some proposals to deal with growing gender inequalities that have to be taken into consideration in the following legal response to the after-pandemic world of work.

The constitution determines the special importance of the civil service for the functioning of the state. More precisely, the legislator defined the goals and tasks of the civil service corps, based on the correct assumption that the quality of the functioning of any organization (including the state) is largely determined by its cadres. Undoubtedly, one of the elements determining their quality are the broadly understood employment conditions, which, on the one hand, may determine the attractiveness of taking up a given job, and, on the other hand, enable employing and retaining the best people. The article focuses on one of the elements of shaping the terms of employment in the civil service, i.e. temporary employment, and the aim is to analyze whether the current statutory provisions effectively implement the assumptions of the constitution.

The aim of the article is to analyze the role played by a fixed-term employment contract in the civil service. Due to the lack of understanding of the role of a fixedterm employment contract, it occurs to enter into an employment relationship with civil service employees on a basis other than those provided for by law, i.e. concluding a fixed-term employment contract in a situation where an employment contract for an indefinite period should be concluded. This article, through the analysis of the provisions of the Act of 21 November 2008 on the civil service regarding the conclusion of an employment contract and an axiological analysis of employment in the civil service, in particular in the light of Article 153 para. 1 of the Polish Constitution, arranges the existing state of affairs by delimiting the situation in which a fixed-term employment contract may be used as the basis for establishing an employment relationship in the civil service. Moreover, according to the Author, concluding contracts for employment in the civil service is subject to the rules of competence, the breach of which results in the possibility of submitting an action for establishing the existence of an employment relationship by a civil service employee.

The author presents the position of the Supreme Court referring to the significant, from the point of view of practice, problem related to establishing the normative effects of "expiration of validity of the medical certificate" in connection with the fact that the insured prevented examination of the correctness of the certificate of incapacity for work due to illness by a certifying doctor of the Social Insurance Institution (SII), and what hence by, with the range assessment correctness of the SII's decision on the lack of the right to sickness allowance by the court.