ODPOWIEDZIALNOŚĆ PRACODAWCY ZA SZKODĘ SPOWODOWANĄ WYPADKIEM PRZY PRACY
EMPLOYER’S LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY WORK ACCIDENT

Summary/Abstract: This text presents the employer’s responsibility for work accidents under Polish law against a background of its historical evolution and regulations adopted by other European countries. The article discusses the impact of such phenomena as globalization, dynamic technological changes and flexible forms of the organization of work (such as shift work, night work, fixed-term contracts, or part-time employment) on the process of work and the employee’s situation in the field of health and safety. As the beneficiaries of the ongoing changes that have been indicated to be entrepreneurs, as well as the entire society which profits from the new forms of work and economic growth. The analysis leads, first of all, to the conclusion that it is the employer who should ensure working conditions respecting employee’s health, safety and dignity and consequently it is the employer who should bear the risk of work accidents. On the other hand, it becomes clear that the efficient protection of the concerned employees is impossible purely within the relationship existing between the parties to the employment contract, even if the employer’s liability is based on business risk principle: „Collective risks required a more depersonalized responsibility and generalized social protection...” As a consequence, the system of compensation for damage caused by work accidents must at least be supported by insurance institutions. Under Polish law the social security system guarantees the injured employees the main body of services: compensation, sickness allowances (from the first day of disability), long-term payments (disability pensions) and – to some extent – services in kind. The social security system ensures a simple and fast way of the realising of the services of lump-sum character. Work accidents insurance in Poland constitutes a separate part of the social security system with contributions, diversified due to the level of risk, and paid exclusively by the employers. It does not exclude, however, the additional employer’s responsibility. According to the Labour Code the employer is obliged to pay compensation for employee’s belongings damaged or destroyed during the accident. Besides, it is the employer’s duty to provide the employee with work appropriate to his current situation caused by the damage. The most important question concerns the additional employer’s liability, based on civil law regulations – rents and other services compensating all aspects of the suffered damage. The paper analyses advantages and disadvantages of both of the possible solutions, leading to the conclusion that from the point of view of equality and justice it is unacceptable to exclude the injured employees from the scope of civil law regulations, ensuring the complex compensation and support in recovering. On the other hand, to protect employers it would be reasonable to establish a special fond supporting entrepreneurs, or an additional insurance

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