articles - Labour and employment law

Employment contract termination is one of the most important legal actions in relation to an employer – employee, as it terminates the legal relationship binding them. An employer must diligently prepare for termination of an employment contract. Any error on his part may result in the need to pay compensation to an employee or even to reinstate the employee at work on previous terms.  

At one time, a French court's ruling concerning an employee who died from a heart attack after having casual sex [during a business trip] aroused great interest in the Polish press. The controversy concerned the court's recognition of this incident as an accident at work, due to the fact that it took place during the employee's business trip. The court held that an employee is protected throughout the entire duration of a business trip, also when carrying out normal human activities, which include having sex, as well as taking a shower or eating a meal. Could a similar judgment be passed in...

Many employers believe that they have the right to require their employees to provide information on their disability. This is because employers have an obligation to ensure that employees with disabilities can exercise particular privileges. The Personal Data Protection Office ('PDPO') examined this issue in its position paper published on 24 August 2020, where it reminded that it is up to the employee to decide whether or not to provide such information.

The Act dated 31 March 2020, namely the so-called Anti-Crisis Shield 1.0, introduced a series of new provisions to the Act dated 2 March 2020 on specific solutions associated with the prevention and countering of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, other contagious diseases and the crisis situations they cause (hereafter the Special Law). Its main purpose was to primarily enable employers to retain work positions during suspension of activity or reduction of revenues. It also includes important provisions on extension of the validity of judgments regarding disability, degree of disability and inability to...

Faced with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of companies are being forced to reduce their workforce. Many employers are required to pay redundant employees severance pay, a one-off benefit to compensate them for the loss of their jobs. This seemingly simple issue raises many practical problems. Additional doubts have emerged with regard to the interpretation of the Anti-Crisis Shield 4.0 provision temporarily limiting the maximum amount of benefits related to employment termination, including severance pay.

In order for an incident to be considered an accident at work, it is necessary to establish its connection with work. In this respect, no serious doubt is raised with respect to an accident suffered by an employee in the performance of his or her duties. However, in some cases, the accident report refers to an accident that occurred in circumstances not directly related to the employee's performance of his or her work, for example during a staff social event. To properly classify such accident, it is necessary to determine whether the event was work-related.