This paper explores the legal and institutional controversies surrounding the recognition of sex work as a legitimate form of labour in Europe. Taking as its starting point the 2024 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of M.A. and Others v. France, which upheld the criminalisation of clients under the Nordic model, the author argues that such rulings reinforce a paternalistic framework of ‘protection’ at the expense of the autonomy, safety, and rights of sex workers. The paper examines the various regulatory models in Europe – from prohibition to full decriminalisation – and their symbolic and practical consequences. The focus is on the tensions between human rights protection, public interest, and the agency of sex workers themselves. Recognising sex work as work requires an institutional shift: moving from a logic of punishment towards one of protection, regulation, and representation. The analysis also addresses the role of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the limited access to collective representation, and the experience of trade unions and grassroots initiatives such as the UK’s Sex Workers’ Union (SWU) and Argentina’s AMMAR. The conclusion is clear: no framework can be complete or genuinely equitable without acknowledging the agency and voice of sex workers.

The EU Directive 2023/970 is intended as a remedy for the persistent pay inequalities between men and women. It contains a comprehensive set of pay transparency mechanisms that seek to address the information asymmetry regarding salaries between employers and employees. These measures will not only apply during employment, but also at the pre-contractual stage. This article discusses the pay transparency prior to employment mechanisms provided for in the Directive (obligation to disclose the salary range at an early stage of recruitment, prohibition of asking about previous earnings, and therequirement of neutral and non-discriminatory job advertisements) and compares them with the current standards in Poland. The issue of the Directive’s personal scope was also addressed. The aim was to determine the extent to which the Directive’s implementation will affect the national legal framework for the recruitment process, as well as to put forward proposals for the wording of the provisions implementing the solutions in question.