In search of lost time. Codification and recodification of labour law in Poland

Poland is among the European countries that have codified labour law. The Labour Code, enacted during the communist period (1974), although amended more than 100 times, has remained in force to this day. Despite the unique circumstances of its adoption, the Polish Labour Code is of interest in the debate over the merits and drawbacks of codification. The history of the Code – particularly since 1989 – also offers an important lesson on the factors that can either facilitate or hinder codification (recodification), including the nature and composition of the teams (committees) responsible for drafting the legislation. The author argues that the failure of the two codification committees (2002–2006 and 2016–2018) stemmed from a lack of broad social consensus on the proposed solutions, which would have significantly altered the labour law architecture.