Labour and Social Security Journal 04/2023

The article aims to present the reasons for the proclamation of the International Labour Organization Convention No. 190 and portraits an entirely new approach to the definition of violence and harassment in the work environment. Due to the subject matter of the article, all source materials based on which specific theses and conclusions are formulated are based on reports and analyses carried out within the International Labour Organization, although – of course – these are not the only studies on this issue. It is primarily about the approximation of the factors that influenced the specific solutions adopted in the described Convention because the source materials later shape the way of interpreting and applying the provisions of the Convention. In the conventions of the International Labour Organization adopted so far, violence and harassment were regulated by two categories of rights, i.e. the right to decent working conditions, the right to equal and non-discriminatory treatment, and the right to safe and hygienic working conditions. The above dichotomy of the legal classification of harassment and harassment resulted in the activation of a set of different rights and protection measures based on different legal grounds. The article illustrates a totally different approach to these phenomena, which are dangerous for right-wing conditions, such as violence and harassment. Arguments are delivered for the thesis of adopting an autonomous and uniform definition in the ILO Convention No. 190, which allows both categories of violations, i.e. violence and harassment, not to be treated as elements of other rights, such as the prohibition of discrimination or the category of occupational risk.

The conclusions also include the benefits that may result from the adoption of the definition proposed in the ILO Convention No. 190, for example for the use of the institution of mobbing regulated in the Labour Code. The applicable regulations assume the need to distinguish between harassment, considered a category of discrimination, and mobbing, considered a form of psychological and physical violence, which differs in terms of criteria only in terms of duration.

The purpose of this article is to answer the question of whether the prerequisite of an employer's liability for damages for discrimination, under the Polish Labour Code, is the failure to perform or improperly perform the duty to prevent discrimination, respectively, whether the prerequisite of an employer's liability for damages for bulling, under the Polish Labour Code, is the failure to perform or improperly perform the duty to prevent bulling. 

The first part of the publication presents the legal and social background for the adoption of the Act of 19 July 2019 on ensuring accessibility to people with specific needs (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1062, as amended), pointing to its special role and addressing disability issues. The second part focuses on the objective and subjective scope of the Act. The Act is not the first act of accessibility law in Poland. In the diagnosis of accessibility, the project implementer of the Act noted that the provisions of law in this respect are, however, dispersed and insufficiently effective. They came to the conclusion that accessibility should be a horizontal principle in the implementation of all public policies. One of the instruments for the implementation of the principle of accessibility was to be an act which broadly defined measures to ensure various aspects of accessibility for people with specific needs and the obligations of public entities in this respect. The goal is to be achieved through the use of universal design and reasonable accommodation in three areas of accessibility and to the extent resulting from at least the minimum requirements. Public entities also have obligations to take into account the needs of people with specific needs in planning activities, removing and preventing the emergence of barriers.

The main purpose of this article is to determine whether a person with the status of an unemployed person (including the right to unemployment benefits) fulfills the 17 Section 1 of the Act of 23 November 2003 on Family Benefits, the premise of resignation from employment or other paid work in order to take care of a disabled person and presentation of the interpretation presented by administrative authorities and administrative courts in this regard. The basic thesis is that the provisions of the Act do not exclude the right to a nursing benefit due to the registration of a person taking care of a disabled family member as an unemployed person at the employment office. The premise for granting the benefit is the finding by the welfare authorities that the care giver did not take up employment or other paid work in the period for which the benefit is claimed, precisely because of the need to perform personal work.

The pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) is an innovative solution of the European Parliament and the Council, which is to be a response to the demographic processes taking place in the EU Member States. The creation of a new supranational pension product is intended to contribute to the growth of Europeans' long-term savings and strengthen the EU capital markets. The article assumed by the authors aims to present the most important issues related to PEPP and its implementation into the national legal system, taking into account the regulatory and economic perspectives. The main thesis is the possibility of improving satisfaction with pension products in comparison with the existing product, which is the Individual Retirement Account (IKE). The article consists of 3 parts. The first presents the most important aspects of the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council No. 2019/1238 of 20/06/2019 on a pan-European Personal Pension Product, Dz.U.UE.L.2019.198.1. Then, the draft act on the pan-European individual pension product was discussed and compared with the functioning act on individual retirement accounts and individual retirement security accounts. The last part of the publication is the results of a pioneering, original study of IKE holders.

Due to the ageing of the population and the consequent changes in care models for dependent older people, it is becoming necessary to highlight the economic (including pensions) security problems faced by informal carers. In many cases, people caring for a dependent family member are forced to leave employment. Such a decision is not only associated with economic or emotional problems, but also results in a reduction of the carer's future pension benefit. This article aims to discuss and evaluate the security system for carers of dependent older people who, due to the need to support and care for an elderly family member, have decided to leave the labour market. Particular attention will be paid to the analysis of the role of the nursing benefit in the system of carers' security and the problems related to both the decision granting and refusing to grant this benefit.

The study collects and organizes problematic issues related to the definition of mobbing adopted in Polish labor law (Article 94(3) of the Labour Code). The author describes the behaviors and effects of those behaviors that bear the features of mobbing against the background of the judicature of the Supreme Court, including in the judgment, in which it was clearly emphasized that the employer is responsible for the effects of mobbing also when its perpetrator acted unintentionally and his responsibility for the actions of the mobber, which is another employee is also conditioned by incurring personal risk, which includes, among others, responsibility for the effects of actions taken by individual employees (especially in managerial positions).

On the occasion of the Jubilee of Prof. Małgorzata Gersdorf's academic work, a National Academic Conference entitled "Constitutional principles, human rights and the EU principles vs. the model of the employment relationship" was held on 14 October 2022 at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw. The conference was organised by the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw (Department of Labour Law and Social Policy).