Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reflections on the Protection of Employment Relationship of Trade Unionists under the Amended Trade Unions Act

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
New Forms of Employment

  • 526 Accesses

Abstract

The Trade Unions Act, amended in July 2018, brought about significant changes in the model of protection of employment of trade unionists. This protection can neither unreasonably favour trade unionists as compared with other employed persons, nor create special immunities. Trade union activities cannot be a pretext for granting unjustified privileges to an employee in a sphere that is not related to his or her function. The amended article 32 Trade Unions Act is a broad and casuistic provision, but—just like the provision previously in force—unfortunately it still does not directly associate the protection granted by the Act with the performed function (trade union activity). As compared with the previously applicable regulation, the scope of protection is significantly extended, as it covers not only trade unionists—employees. The legislature granted the protection to civil law employment, self-employment and administrative employment. Guarantees of protection of employment have also been ensured for three persons engaged in gainful employment, which were indicated by the resolution of the founding committee of a company trade union organisation. The mechanisms for protection of employment relationship apply also to persons in gainful employment who perform an elected trade union function outside of the company trade union organisation and relate to all trade union levels (regional, nationwide and sectoral). The amended Act did not bring any changes as regards the period of protection of trade unionists, which includes two periods, i.e. the time of actually holding the mandate of a given function and the specified time after its expiration. The mechanisms to protect the stability of employment of trade unionists function only if the company trade union organisation does not consent to termination or transformation of the employment relationship. An important change adopted by the amended Trade Unions Act is the introduction of a time limit for the management board of the trade union organisation to grant or refuse to grant consent. Under the previously applicable regulations, as well as according to the laws currently in force, the special protection of employment of trade unionists involves the need to obtain consent of the management board of the company trade union organisation. The legislature still does not define the trade union’s consent, nor does it define its legal nature. A new mechanism introduced by the amended Act is the catalogue of claims granted to non-employee trade unionists in the event of a breach by the employer of the conditions related to termination or change of the legal relationship of a trade unionist referred to in article 32 (1) of the act on trade unions which include three basic claims: for compensation, for damages (for material or financial damage), for redress (for non-material damage). The amendment of the Trade Unions Act was unavoidable, and the revolutionary nature of changes in our legal order, which directly translates into the personal, material and temporal sphere of the mechanisms of protection of the employment relationship, undoubtedly needs time to adapt to the prevailing standards and its functioning will be evaluated by labour law theorists and the judicature.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Trade Unions Act of 23 May 1991 (ustawa o związkach zawodowych) (Journal of Laws [Dz.U.] 2015.1881, consolidated text) amended by the Act of 5 July 2018 amending the trade unions act and certain other acts (Journal of Laws Dz.U. 2018.16008).

  2. 2.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 23 November 2016, II PK 311/15, M.P.Pr. 2017/3/158-160.

  3. 3.

    See the judgment of the Supreme Court of 14 October 2014, II PK 293/13, Monitor Prawa Pracy 2015, no. 39, p. 150 ff.; judgment of the Supreme Court of 3 August 2018, I PK 227/15, LEX 2135803.

  4. 4.

    See: K. Rączka, Szczególna ochrona trwałości stosunku pracy działacza związkowego [Special protection of employment of a trade unionist] [in:] A. Wypych – Żywicka, M. Tomaszewska, J. Stelina (eds.), Zbiorowe prawo pracy w XXI wieku, praca zbiorowa [Collective Labour Law in the 21st century, collective study], Gdańsk 2010, p. 199.

  5. 5.

    The International Labour Organization Convention was ratified by Poland on 12 May 1977, Journal of Laws [Dz.U.] 1977, no. 39, item 178.

  6. 6.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 26 November 2003, I PK 616/02, Prawo Pracy 2004/6/34.

  7. 7.

    K.W. Baran, Z problematyki ochrony stosunku zatrudnienia działaczy związkowych na poziomie zakładowym po nowelizacji ustawy związkowej z 5 lipca Baran 2018r. [Protection of employment of trade unionists at the company level after the amendment of 5 July 2018 to the act on trade unions] PiZS 2018a, no. 10, p. 21 ff.

  8. 8.

    A. Dral, Ochrona trwałości stosunku pracy działaczy związkowych w świetle nowej ustawy o związkach zawodowych [Protection of employment relationship stability of trade union members in view of the amendment to the Trade Unions Act], Studia z Zakresu Prawa Pracy i Polityki Społecznej, K.W. Baran (ed.), Krakow 2018, 25, no. 3, p. 251.

  9. 9.

    A. Dral, Ochrona, op.cit., p. 252.

  10. 10.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 12 January 2012 II, PK 83/11, OSNP 2012, no. 23–24, item 283.

  11. 11.

    K.W. Baran, O ochronie trwałości stosunku zatrudnienia związkowców na poziomie zakładowym – uwagi de lege ferenda [Protection of employment of trade unionists - de lege ferenda], Monitor Prawa Pracy 2018b, no. 4, p. 6.

  12. 12.

    See more about the non-labour law (non-employee) bases of gainful employment: K.W. Baran [in:] K.W. Baran (ed.) System prawa pracy, t. VII. Zatrudnienie niepracownicze [The system of labour law, volume VII, non-labour law employment], Warsaw 2015, p. 22 ff.

  13. 13.

    See: A. Dral, Konfliktogenność funkcji społecznych i obywatelskich jako przesłanka szczególnej ochrony trwałości stosunku pracy [Conflictogenic nature of social and civic functions as a condition for special protection of employment], 1997/1998.

  14. 14.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 15 September 2011, II PK 54/11, LEX 1128326.

  15. 15.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 19 April 2017, I PK 221/16, LEX 2300172; Resolution of the Supreme Court of 17 December 1992, I PZP 69/92, OSNC 1993/5/82.

  16. 16.

    K.W. Baran, Komentarz do art. 32 ustawy o związkach zawodowych [Commentary on article 32 of the Trade Unions Act] [in:] K.W. Baran, Zbiorowe prawo pracy. Komentarz [Collective Labour Law. Commentary], Warsaw 2010, p. 288 ff.

  17. 17.

    See the judgment of the Supreme Court of 16 January 1996, I PRN 85/95, OSNP 1997/1/9.

  18. 18.

    See the judgment of the Supreme Court of 23 February 2005, II PK 201/04, OSNP 2005/21/333.

  19. 19.

    M. Latos-Miłkowska, Szczególna ochrona trwałości stosunku pracy a ochrona interesu pracodawcy [Special protection of stability of the employment relationship and protection of employer’s interest] [in:] G. Goździewicz (ed.), Ochrona trwałości stosunku pracy w społecznej gospodarce rynkowej [Protection of stability of employment in the social market economy], Warsaw 2010, p. 247.

  20. 20.

    A. Dral, Szczególna ochrona umownego stosunku pracy [Special protection of a contractual employment relationship] [in:] G. Goździewicz (ed.), System prawa pracy, t. II. Indywidualne prawo pracy. Część ogólna [The System of Labour Law. Volume II. Individual Labour Law. The General Part], Warsaw 2017, pp. 741–742.

  21. 21.

    See the judgment of the Supreme Court of 23 February 2005, III PK 77/04, OSNP 2005/21/331.

  22. 22.

    See the judgment of the Supreme Court of 3 October 2008, II PK 53/08, LEX 565067.

  23. 23.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 3 August 2016, I PK 227/15, LEX 2135803.

  24. 24.

    See the judgment of the Supreme Court of 20 September 2005, II PK 21/05, OSNP 2006/15-16/231.

  25. 25.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 6 March 2008, II PK 192/07, OSNP 2009/11-12/141.

  26. 26.

    See the judgment of the Supreme Court of 7 June 1994, I PRN 29/94, OSNP 1994/12/189.

  27. 27.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 14 December 1999, I PKN 447/99, OSNP 2001/10/336.

  28. 28.

    See the judgment of the Supreme Court of 10 April 1997, I PKN 88/99, OSNP 1998/1/10.

  29. 29.

    See: B. Cudowski, Zgoda na rozwiązanie stosunku pracy z działaczem związkowym [Consent to terminate an employment relationship with a trade unionist], Przegląd Sądowy 1998, no. 7–8, p. 159; Judgment of the Supreme Court of 11 January 2016, MPP 2006, no. 2, p. 62.

  30. 30.

    See the judgment of the Supreme Court of 23 January 2004, I PK 208/83, OSNP 2004, no. 23, item 401, and the judgment of the Supreme Court of 6 April 2002, I PK 473/03, OSNP/2005/2/18.

  31. 31.

    K.W. Baran, Komentarz, op. cit., p. 302.

  32. 32.

    K.W. Baran, Z problematyki, op. cit., p. 24.

  33. 33.

    More about the classification of consent in labour law studies, see: A. Dral, Ochrona, op. cit., pp. 257–278; Judgment of the Supreme Court of 20 September 1994, I PRN 58/94, OSNP 1995/2/17.

  34. 34.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 17 May 2012, I PK 176/11, LEX 1148380.

  35. 35.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 2 October 2002, I PKN 549/01, Prawo Pracy 2003/5/31-33.

  36. 36.

    J. Żołyński, Komentarz do ustawy o związkach zawodowych [Commentary on the Trade Unions Act], Warsaw 2014, p. 96 ff.

  37. 37.

    K.W. Baran, Komentarz, op. cit., p. 301; Judgment of the Supreme Court of 20 September 1994, I PRN 58/94, OSNP 1995/2/16.

  38. 38.

    Judgment of the Supreme Court of 2 December 1997, I PKN 324/97, OSNP 1998, no. 19, item 570; Judgment of the Supreme Court of 14 October 1997, I PKN 228/97, OSNP 1998, no. 19, item 561 with a commentary of H. Szewczyk OSP 1999, vol. 12, p. 583 ff.

  39. 39.

    K.W. Baran, Z problematyki, op. cit., p. 19; K.W. Baran, O potrzebie nowelizacji prawa związkowego [The need to amend trade union laws], Monitor Prawa Pracy 2013, no. 11, p. 570; according to the previous wording of article 32 TUA, the prevailing opinion was that the consent must be explicit, expressed directly, including in the per facta concludentia form, and cannot be implied; see: K.W. Baran, Komentarz, op. cit. p. 246.

  40. 40.

    A. Dral, Ochrona, op. cit., p. 259.

  41. 41.

    Published by the President of the Central Statistical Office in the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland “Monitor Polski” on the basis of article 5 (7) of the act of 4 March 1994 on the Company Social Benefits Fund (Journal of Laws Dz.U. of 2018, item 1316).

  42. 42.

    See: J. Stelina, Przywrócenie do pracy chronionego działacza związkowego w orzecznictwie Sądu Najwyższego [Reinstatement of a protected trade unionist in the case-law of the Supreme Court], PiZS 2005, no. 1, p. 30. Z. Niedbała, Z problematyki szczególnej ochrony trwałości stosunku pracy [Special protection of an employment relationship] [in:] Stosunki zatrudnienia w dwudziestoleciu społecznej gospodarki rynkowej. Księga pamiątkowa z okazji jubileuszu 40-lecia pracy naukowej Profesor Barbary Wagner [Employment relations during twenty years of social market economy. Memorial book for the 40th anniversary of academic work of Professor Barbara Wagner], Warsaw 2010, p. 352 ff.

  43. 43.

    A. Dral, Ochrona, op. cit., p. 265.

Bibliography

  • Baran, K.W. 2010. Komentarz do art. 32 ustawy o związkach zawodowych [Commentary on article 32 of the Trade Unions Act]. In Zbiorowe prawo pracy. Komentarz [Collective Labour Law. Commentary], ed. K.W. Baran, 288 ff. Warsaw: Wolters Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baran, K.W. 2013. O potrzebie nowelizacji prawa związkowego [The need to amend trade union laws]. Monitor Prawa Pracy 11: 570.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baran, K.W., ed. 2015. System prawa pracy, t. VII. Zatrudnienie niepracownicze [The system of labour law, volume VII, non-labour law employment], 22 ff. Warsaw: Wolters Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baran, K.W. 2018a. Z problematyki ochrony stosunku zatrudnienia działaczy związkowych na poziomie zakładowym po nowelizacji ustawy związkowej z 5 lipca 2018r. [Protection of employment of trade unionists at the company level after the amendment of 5 July 2018 to the act on trade unions]. PiZS 10: 21 ff.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baran, K.W. 2018b. O ochronie trwałości stosunku zatrudnienia związkowców na poziomie zakładowym – uwagi de lege ferenda [Protection of employment of trade unionists - de lege ferenda]. Monitor Prawa Pracy 4: 6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cudowski, B. 1998. Zgoda na rozwiązanie stosunku pracy z działaczem związkowym [Consent to terminate an employment relationship with a trade unionist], Przegląd Sądowy, no. 7–8, p. 159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dral, A. 1997/1998. Konfliktogenności funkcji społecznych i obywatelskich jako przesłanka szczególnej ochrony trwałości stosunku pracy, Studia z Zakresu Prawa Pracy i Polityki Społecznej, A. Świątkowski (red.), Kraków: Uniwersytet Jagielloński (First publication 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dral, A. 2017. Szczególna ochrona umownego stosunku pracy [Special protection of a contractual employment relationship]. In System prawa pracy, t. II. Indywidualne prawo pracy. Część ogólna [The System of Labour Law. Volume II. Individual Labour Law. The General Part], ed. G. Goździewicz, 741–742. Warsaw: Wolters Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dral, A. 2018. Ochrona trwałości stosunku pracy działaczy związkowych w świetle nowej ustawy o związkach zawodowych [Protection of employment relationship stability of trade union members in view of the amendment to the Trade Unions Act]. In Studia z Zakresu Prawa Pracy i Polityki Społecznej, 34, ed. K.W. Baran, no. 3, p. 251. Krakow: Uniwersytet Jagielloński.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 23 November 2016, II PK 311/15, M.P.Pr. 2017/3/158–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 14 October 2014, II PK 293/13, Monitor Prawa Pracy 2015, no. 39, p. 150 ff.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 3 August 2018, I PK 227/15, LEX 2135803.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 26 November 2003, I PK 616/02, Prawo Pracy 2004/6/34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 12 January 2012 II, PK 83/11, OSNP 2012, no. 23–24, item 283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 16 January 1996, I PRN 85/95, OSNP 1997/1/9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 23 February 2005, II PK 201/04, OSNP 2005/21/333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment Supreme Court of 15 September 2011, II PK 54/11, LEX 1128326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 19 April 2017, I PK 221/16, LEX 2300172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment Supreme Court of 17 December 1992, I PZP 69/92, OSNC 1993/5/82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 23 February 2005, III PK 77/04, OSNP 2005/21/331.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 3 October 2008, II PK 53/08, LEX 565067.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 3 August 2016, I PK 227/15, LEX 2135803.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 20 September 2005, II PK 21/05, OSNP 2006/15-16/231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 6 March 2008, II PK 192/07, OSNP 2009/11-12/141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 7 June 1994, I PRN 29/94, OSNP 1994/12/189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 14 December 1999, I PKN 447/99, OSNP 2001/10/336.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 10 April 1997, I PKN 88/99, OSNP 1998/1/10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 11 January 2016, MPP 2006, no. 2, p. 62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 23 January 2004, I PK 208/83, OSNP 2004, no. 23, item Judgment of the Supreme Court of 6 April 2002, I PK 473/03, OSNP/2005/2/18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 20 September 1994, I PRN 58/94, OSNP 1995/2/17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 17 May 2012, I PK 176/11, LEX 1148380.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 2 October 2002, I PKN 549/01, Prawo Pracy 2003/5/31-33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 20 September 1994, I PRN 58/94, OSNP 1995/2/16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judgment of the Supreme Court of 2 December 1997, I PKN 324/97, OSNP 1998, no. 19, item 570; Judgment of the Supreme Court of 14 October 1997, I PKN 228/97, OSNP 1998, no. 19, item 561 with a commentary of H. Szewczyk OSP 1999, vol. 12, p. 583 ff.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latos-Miłkowska, M. 2010. Szczególna ochrona trwałości stosunku pracy a ochrona interesu pracodawcy [Special protection of stability of the employment relationship and protection of employer’s interest]. In Ochrona trwałości stosunku pracy w społecznej gospodarce rynkowej [Protection of stability of employment in the social market economy], ed. G. Goździewicz, 247. Warsaw: Wolters Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niedbała, Z. 2010. Z problematyki szczególnej ochrony trwałości stosunku pracy [Special protection of an employment relationship]. In Stosunki zatrudnienia w dwudziestoleciu społecznej gospodarki rynkowej. Księga pamiątkowa z okazji jubileuszu 40-lecia pracy naukowej Profesor Barbary Wagner [Employment relations during twenty years of social market economy. Memorial book for the 40th anniversary of academic work of Professor Barbara Wagner], 352 ff., Warsaw: Wolters Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rączka, K. 2010. Szczególna ochrona trwałości stosunku pracy działacza związkowego [Special protection of employment of a trade unionist]. In Zbiorowe prawo pracy w XXI wieku, praca zbiorowa [Collective Labour Law in the 21st century, collective study] eds. A. Wypych-Żywicka, M. Tomaszewska, and J. Stelina, 199. Gdańsk: Fundacja Rozwoju Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stelina, J. 2005. Przywrócenie do pracy chronionego działacza związkowego w orzecznictwie Sądu Najwyższego [Reinstatement of a protected trade unionist in the case-law of the Supreme Court]. PiZS 1: 30.

    Google Scholar 

  • The International Labour Organization Convention was ratified by Poland on 12 May 1977, Journal of Laws [Dz.U.] 1977, no. 39, item 178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trade Unions Act of 23 May 1991 (ustawa o związkach zawodowych) (Journal of Laws [Dz.U.] 2015.1881, consolidated text) amended by the Act of 5 July 2018 amending the trade unions act and certain other acts (Journal of Laws Dz.U. 2018.16008).

    Google Scholar 

  • Żołyński, J. 2014. Komentarz do ustawy o związkach zawodowych [Commentary on the Trade Unions Act], 96 ff. Warsaw: Wolters Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Labour Law and Social Security, The Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

    Krzysztof Baran & Justyna Czerniak-Swędzioł

Authors
  1. Krzysztof Baran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Justyna Czerniak-Swędzioł
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland

    Jerzy Wratny

  2. University of Rzeszow, Rzeszów, Poland

    Agata Ludera-Ruszel

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Baran, K., Czerniak-Swędzioł, J. (2020). Reflections on the Protection of Employment Relationship of Trade Unionists under the Amended Trade Unions Act. In: Wratny, J., Ludera-Ruszel, A. (eds) New Forms of Employment. Prekarisierung und soziale Entkopplung – transdisziplinäre Studien. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28511-1_19

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28511-1_19

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-28510-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-28511-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation