The subject of this article is the problem of implementation of Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2024/2831 of 23 October 2024 on improving working conditions in platform work1 (hereinafter: Platform Directive 2024/2831) into the Polish legal order in the context of the adoption of two regulatory areas that will be relevant not only to the platform sector, but also to the labour law as such and to all employment relations that are the subject of its regulation. The former is the introduction of measures to facilitate the determination of the correct employment status of those performing platform work (presumption of employment relationship), the latter being the promotion of transparency, fairness, human oversight, safety and accountability in algorithmic management with regard to platform work. The relevance and universal nature of the two objectives adopted in Platform Directive 2024/2831 determines that the Polish legislator, when implementing these provisions into the national legal order, will have to consider regulating them with respect to all employment relations operating in our labour market. In the beginning, the author summarises the 6th national scientific conference in the series “Atypical Employment Relations”, organised on 7 December 2023 by the Centre for Atypical Employment Relations at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Lodz (cnsz@wpia.uni.lodz.pl) on the subject of The development of modern technologies on labour and social security law – challenges for the future, which is the culmination of this volume of the journal “Z Problematyki Prawa Pracy i Polityki Socjalnej”.

This article summarises key issues related to digital platforms and their impact on the labour market. It first discusses the concept and spread of digital platforms, which can exacerbate labour market inequalities and worsen working conditions. It then looks at the European directives that address non-standard workers, particularly platform workers, focusing on the personal scope of application and the rebuttable presumption of an employment relationship. These directives have a significant impact on the coverage of digital platform workers, but raise questions about their adoption at the national level. The article also examines Polish regulations on employment relationships and the possible incorporation of a rebuttable presumption into Polish law in the context of the protective function of labour law.

In the case of the Polish labour market, the employment model for platform workers, particularly in the food delivery sector, differs from the traditional employment relationship and usually involves a formal civil law relationship between the platform worker, the logistics partner and the platform. In this model, it is not uncommon for a platform worker to be subordinated to two entities, which has significant organisational implications and raises legitimate classification dilemmas. The purpose of the analysis is to attempt to legally classify the employment model of platform worker in the food delivery sector and to critically assess the presumption of an employment relationship, as proposed in the EU Directive on improving working conditions in platform work.

The paper discusses the effectiveness of introducing criminal sanctions for violations of provisions implementing the Directive on improving working conditions in platform work. The analysis includes the obligation to establish “effective, proportionate, and dissuasive” penalties, provided in this and other labour law directives and the possibility to choose criminal sanctions to this end. The paper also examines the current practice of implementing criminal sanctions in Poland, highlighting such issues as low fines and limited deterrence. Challenges related to the place of committing a crime and the criminal liability of AI in algorithmic management systems are dis[1]cussed. The conclusion suggests that the perspective of introducing criminal liability for breaches of the Platform Directive is a complex issue, requiring a comprehensive discussion on the system of criminal labour law in Poland.

The author presents the conditions for the development of Artificial Intelligence in the European Union, directly related to work performed by humans together with “learning” automatic devices, and discusses legal issues regulating the functioning of this intelligence under direct human supervision.

Modern technology and artificial intelligence are increasingly being used in labour relations. Technological solutions support employers in managing the organisation, reduce the cost of supervising the work process, and enable easier and faster control of employees’ work. However, the use of technology, especially without sufficient human supervision, raises risks in the area of employees’ right to privacy and data protection. Not only can it risk violating data protection laws and lead to violations of employee privacy, discrimination or even dehumanising working conditions. The article aims to identify the potential risks to the protection of employees’ personal data in connection with the use of high-tech solutions and artificial intelligence in labour relations, and the obligations of the employer of data processing, in accordance with the principles set forth by the RODO.

The authors present how the directive on the right to be offline will be formulated by the European Parliament and the Council. They analyse the subject and scope of minimum requirements enabling employees to use digital tools in professional matters without disturbing the balance between offline work and rest. They discuss means of implementing the right to be offline and provide protection against unfavourable treatment of leisure by employers. The authors focus on the analysis of the right to be offline in the context of a task-based working time system, including practical problems of employing academic staff.

Employees’ problems with maintaining a balance between personal and professional life, resulting from the increasing popularity of remote work, are the starting point for the need for clear separation between working time and free time. The purpose of this study is to refer to the so-called right to disconnect to the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the provisions of the Labour Code, and to assess the need to introduce detailed regulations in this regard.

This article evaluates the necessity of incorporating provisions regarding the right to be offline into the Polish Labour Code, particularly focusing on the aspect of employees’ availability for communication outside of official working hours. The author underscores that the employer’s expectation of communication availability from employees outside of designated working hours stems from the employee’s duty of care for the welfare of the workplace. However, the current legal framework does not afford employees the necessary protection to counteract this expectation with the right to be unavailable (offline) under the Code. The article presents a proposal for regulating this new law, drawing insights from the 2021 resolution of the European Parliament and the framework agreements established by social partners in 2020 and 2022.

Legal regulation of remote work was introduced to the Polish Labour Code by the Act of 1 December 2022 amending the Labour Code and certain other acts, which entered into force on 7 April 2023. The new legislation includes a legal definition of remote work. Remote work is a broader concept than the previously existing definitions of telework and teleworker. The essence of remote work is that it is carried out at a place indicated
by the employee and agreed in each case with the employer, this place being outside the employer’s premises.

The issue of the limits of acceptable criticism of an employer by an employee has been considered in case law and literature for a long time. However, with the widespread access to the internet, in particular to social media, there are new challenges in this area. The paper addresses the problem of permitted criticism of an employer posted by employees on the internet. The author seeks an answer to the question of whether the existing criteria developed in the doctrine and jurisprudence, which are used to determine the limits of criticism, are also appropriate in the case of an employee’s statements published in a virtual space, which is characterised by its public nature, the lack of control over the audience and the persistence of the content.