Praca i Zabezpieczenie Społeczne 02/2025

The aim of the article is to characterize selected issues concerning employment in the era of climate change. The research thesis was adopted that performing work in the era of climate change constitutes, on the one hand, a threat to employees, and on the other – a challenge to the governments of individual countries and employers. The issue of whether climate change and the actions taken in this regard will lead, on the one hand, to the destruction of some jobs and, on the other hand, to the creation of new jobs requires emphasis. The article first analyzes the terms "work" and "climate", then characterizes the sources of law concerning the title issue in the international, EU and national dimension, and also synthesizes the organizational system for administering employment matters in the era of climate change. Finally, an assessment of the currently functioning Polish legal regulations in the area of health and safety in the context of climate transformations was made. To achieve the above-mentioned scientific effects, two methods of studying law were used in the work, i.e. dogmatic-legal and sociological.

The aim of the data presented was to empirically verify the social context of the three work models (remote, hybrid and on-site) in the form of an assessment of the degree to which selected social needs and motives are satisfied. A group of 117 people, of whom 38 respondents worked on-site, 50 remotely and 29 hybrid, were surveyed using the Needs Assessment Questionnaire and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. The results indicate that people working in different work models have similar levels of satisfaction of the need for achievement, affiliation and dominance, and social support. The only differentiating need is autonomy. Hybrid and remote workers experience significantly more autonomy than those who perform their duties on-site. Gender further modifies the differences considered. The results obtained may provide an important voice in the discussion on the social perspective of different work models.

Traineeships are an important instrument for acquiring practical work skills and work experience. They are perceived as a bridge between education or temporary unemployment-related deactivation and permanent employment. Due to the far-reaching differentiation of the legal regulation of this institution, recently, especially at the level of EU law, attention has been drawn to the necessity of taking measures to improve the working conditions of trainees (including decent remuneration) and raising the quality of traineeships. This article presents the latest legislative trends in this area at the level of EU law, against their background, the Polish standards of legal regulation of traineeships.

The study addresses the issue of the existence of a recalculation of women's pension upon reaching the age of 65. This paper characterises in detail the mechanism of recalculation and its impact on the benefit. The factors influencing the enormous scale of the benefit of recalculation in many situations are described in detail. It also identifies an exceptional situation where the recalculation will disadvantage the beneficiary and could lead to the disregard of pension contributions made by the beneficiary to the scheme after retirement. The latter situation was identified as constitutionally impermissible. This section concludes that the mechanism contradicts the fundamental values on which the system is based, being the most significant incentive to retire quickly. In the conclusions, demands are made to reduce the randomness inherent in the current pension formula. The next article will consider the rationale for the application of the described mechanism, which will lead to an allegation of discrimination against some insured persons by omitting them from the recalculation of the pension.

The main objective of the article is to analyze two problems presented in the ruling of administrative courts concerning the admissibility of granting care benefits to Ukrainian citizens residing on the territory of the Republic of Poland, whose stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland is recognized as legal under Article 2, Clause 1 of the Act on Assistance to Ukrainian Citizens in Connection with the Armed Conflict in the Territory of that Country. The first issue focuses on the interpretation of the provision of Article 26, Clause 1 of the aforementioned Act in the aspect of the possibility of granting care benefits for adults as well as in connection with the care for adults to Ukrainian citizens. The second concerns the interpretation of the provision of Article 26, Clause 3 of the Act on Assistance to Ukrainian Citizens in relation to the basis for determining the starting date for granting care benefits to Ukrainian citizens. The fundamental thesis states that the provision of Article 26, Clause 1, Point 1 of the Act of 2022 on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine in Connection with the Armed Conflict on the Territory of that Country does not exclude the granting of care benefits for adults, as well as in connection with the care of adults, while the legal basis for this decision is the provision of Article 26, Clause 3 of the Act on Assistance to Ukrainian Citizens and not Article 24 Clause 2a of the Act on Family Benefits. 

One of the key legislative changes in 2024 was undoubtedly the entry into force of provisions on the protection of whistleblowers, which were implemented into the Polish legal system Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of persons reporting violations of EU law. The adopted regulations are intended to encourage reporting of law violations and, therefore, provide those who report them with protection against retaliation. This article will present the issue of the employer's obligations related to the security of the personal rights of an employee indicated in the statement as the perpetrator of a violation of the law. Although rarely discussed, this topic is as important as the protection of whistleblowers themselves due to the risk of submitting statements based on false information. The main purpose of the article is to analyze the risks associated with such statements, as well as the actions that the employer should take to prevent the violation of the personal rights of a person unfairly accused of a violation.

The judgment under review concerns the issue of termination of an employment contract by mutual consent. Its thesis assumes that the conclusion of an agreement to terminate an employment contract may occur as a result of an offer made by one party and accepted by the other party. If the offer to terminate the employment contract by the employee has not been made in direct contact with the employer, the offer ceases to be binding at the end of the time during which the employee could, in the ordinary course of business, have received a reply sent without undue delay. In the opinion of the glossator, both the thesis of the judgment and the legal reasoning cited to justify it deserve approval.

In practice, there are still many difficulties in correctly applying the conditions for acquiring the right to a social pension. This particularly concerns the correct understanding of the condition of total incapacity for work in Article 4 of the Social Pension Act. The author presents in detail the latest case law of the Supreme Court in this area. She explains the correct under standing of the concept of disability, sets out the criteria according to which the fulfilment of the condition of total disability should be properly assessed in the context of the right to a social pension, and summarises the case law to date on this important issue.