Normalisation of ‟junk contracts”. Public policies towards civil law employment in Poland

“Junk contracts”, i.e. civil law contracts used to regulate relations similar to employment relationship, have become extremely widespread after the economic crisis in Poland. The paper explains the reasons and the effects of this, and subsequently describes public policies towards civil law employment, implemented between 2014 and 2019 by the governments formed by Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska, PO)—Polish People’s Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL), and by the United Right (that includes Law and Justice [Prawo i Sprawiedliwość] party). The public policies were relatively coherent and aimed to extend some of protective provisions characteristic for labour code contracts on civil law contracts. This lead to “normalisation” and quasi-acceptance of civil law employment as an alternative to labour code-based employment. The paper claims that the chosen trajectory was a result of the failures of plans to deeply reform the labour law and labour market, and can be dangerous, as it may result in prolonged stabilisation of a situation where non-standard forms of employment are abused.