The Worker’s Employment Contract—the Legal Regulations of Interwar Poland

Abstract

In independent Poland, the foundations for a new area of law, that is, labour law were laid, abandoning the previously crucial principle of freedom of contract underlying the contractual relationship between an employee and the employer. On March 16, 1928, the President of the Republic of Poland issued an ordinance on labour contracts, defining mutual obligations of employees and their employers under an employment contract based on which the employee undertook to perform work for the employer against remuneration. The legislator permitted the conclusion of employment contracts in writing, orally or in any other customary form accepted in a given workplace. In exchange for the work performed, the employer was obliged to pay appropriate contractual remuneration, as specified in the employment agreement.

Importantly, this ordinance contained a number of protective regulations that were designed to protect the worker and make his position towards the employer more equal. They included regulations concerning remuneration protection or the employer’s obligation to specify work rules. Most importantly, however, the ordinance protected the worker from immediate and unjustified dismissal.