The Impact of European Law upon Regulations Governing Rights Related to Parenthood in Polish Labour Law

Abstract

Membership in the European Union has created for the Polish legislator the duty to adjust Polish law to European standards. As parenthood is an area of intensive legislative activity of the European legislator, it has also come within the ambit of the adjustment obligation. Relevant here are, first and foremost, Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding and Council Directive 2010/18/EU of 8 March 2010 implementing the revised Framework Agreement on parental leave. Adjustment of Polish laws to the EU standard of rights related to parenthood has not been of a revolutionary magnitude and scale. Primarily, it relied on supplementing or specifying solutions that had already been the law. The most major changes affected family leave, considered the equivalent of parental leave regulated in Directive 2010/18. It is worth noting, however, that EU provisions in this respect have been amended several times, which has prompted the Polish legislator to review domestic law on an ongoing basis. In some fields, like the ban of night work of breastfeeding women compliance with EU standards still has not been obtained.