How much autonomy in autonomous work? – legal status and social protection of ‘freelancers’ in Poland

Abstract

One of the main problems of freelancers in Poland underlined by the pandemic is the fact that they have been faced with the lack of legal measures adequate to guarantee their social protection. The question that naturally arises is – how to guarantee fundamental social rights to the self-employed and protect their autonomy at the same time? In this paper, the author deals with this question, by analyzing the answers given by the Polish government in the latest reform of the collective labour law – an introduction of a new category of “persons performing paid work” that gave right of association also to workers whose work performance is not based on labour law contracts. The analysis leads to the question of the boundaries between protection of social rights and guarantee of autonomy on the other hand.