Social protection of trainees in Polish law. Considerations in the context of current and planned EU traineeship regulations

The Polish legal regulation of traineeships, similarly to that of most other EU countries, is not uniform. It covers many types of traineeships, resulting in differentiation of the legal status of persons undertaking them. Trainees may have the status of an employee – with full coverage by labour law. Alternatively, however, they may not be treated as employees, provided that they are guaranteed certain basic employee rights (e.g. the right to healthy and safe working conditions). For this latter group, the issue of the admissibility of unpaid traineeships, as well as the scope of other employee rights – especially in the area of social protection, which trainees should be covered by – remains controversial. The article examines to what extent the type of traineeship justifies the differentiation of the scope of social protection to which trainees are entitled. Is it justified to grant full social protection to trainees while depriving them of employee status? Does limiting social protection and other rights, such as the right to annual leave, encourage the treatment of trainees as unpaid (cheap) labour, an alternative to employing workers? In order to answer these research questions, the article analyses the Polish legal regulation of traineeships, taking into account both existing and planned EU regulations.