Stosunek prawny jako podstawa wyłączenia pracownika w postępowaniu administracyjnym
Legal relationship as the ground for excluding an employee from administrative proceedings

Summary/Abstract: The article addresses the problem of excluding an employee of the public administration from participation in proceedings in a situation where there is a legal relationship between the employee and the party of such a nature that the outcome of the case may influence the rights and duties of the employee (Article 24 § 1 in fine of the Code of Administrative Proceedings). The exclusion then takes place ex lege and is justified by the need for the impartiality of the administrative body. The structure of the discussed premise is based on two elements. First, the exclusion under the indicated provision occurs only when the party and the employee have a legal relationship. Therefore, the analysed ground for exclusion does not occur when this relationship is only factual or, for example, when it existed in the past. Secondly, the outcome of the proceedings must have a special impact on the employee’s rights or obligations arising from the relationship. Justifying the exclusion of an employee on the basis of the discussed premise seems extremely difficult: both of the indicated premises must appear jointly, and they are of an evaluative nature. For this reason, the author proposes to remove the discussed ground from the Code of Administrative Procedure and to cover the cases regulated therein with exclusion upon request (Article 24 § 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure). This will be in line with the principles of speed of proceedings and of fostering the trust of participants in the proceedings in the public authority and legalism.

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