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This chapter discusses the different procedures involved whenever a dismissal is tested for its fairness. The discussion also shows how the different procedural stages interact with each other. One of the main focuses in this chapter is the conciliation stage, because its emphasis on the monetary settlements rather than strict procedural regularity seems calculated to undermine any legal support for the idea that employers should be required to adopt fair disciplinary procedures. The discussion also looks at an examination of the interpretation placed by Industrial Tribunals on the concept of fair dismissal procedures.

This chapter considers how and when external or additional sources become incorporated into the contract of employment. The focus is on three main sources: collective agreements made through trade unions, company or staff handbooks, and disciplinary and grievance procedures. The chapter presents the standard ‘general’ judicial two-stage approach to incorporation: intention to incorporate or methods of incorporation, and aptness. However, the contribution of the chapter is to observe that judges appear to be applying this general approach differently depending on the source. The argument is that this de facto hierarchy of sources is misplaced. A relaxed approach should similarly be taken to the incorporation of terms from collective agreements or, if anything, the terms of a collective agreement ought to be more easily incorporated than terms from either a company handbook or an employer’s disciplinary procedure.

After transforming the Constitutional Tribunal (CT) into an active ally of the government, the Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS)) party in Poland embarked upon the comprehensive subjection of the entire judicial system to the executive, and in particular to the president of the Republic and the minister of justice/prosecutor general (MJ/PG). This chapter discusses how, for this purpose, the National Council of Judiciary (Krajowa Rada Sądownictwa (KRS)) was packed with the party faithful thanks to a changed system for selecting members of the KRS (they are now directly elected by Parliament, rather than by judges). It also deals with how the effect of the new law on the Supreme Court was a brand new court composition with a pro-PiS majority: this was created by combining early retirement for incumbent judges and increasing the number of seats on the Court. The chief justice’s constitutionally guaranteed term of office has been extinguished. It also looks at another statute, on the common courts, that has strengthened the power of the MJ to control court presidents, and hold judges accountable for their verdicts through a new disciplinary procedure. Finally, the chapter looks at how the prosecutorial system (prokuratura) was merged with that of the MJ, with the MJ becoming the ex officio PG, producing a deeply politicized system of public prosecution.

In the aftermath of the Dow sit-in, the university became bogged down in bureaucracy as it attempted to adapt its disciplinary procedures to the acts committed: students worked first to ensure their complicity and then to avoid punishment; law faculty leaped to their defense; the public, legislature, and newspapers rushed to share their opinions. Five graduate students and fifteen undergrads were brought before two separate committees, which announced contradictory light sentences for the grads and expulsion for the undergrads. Hundreds rallied on the quad to protest the expulsions, which were rescinded within days, with equal light punishment meted for all. Forty-seven others eventually received the same.