Uprawnienia związane z rodzicielstwem osób samozatrudnionych – uwagi de lege lata i de lege ferenda

The subject of the article is the self-employed rights related to parenthood. The legislator admitted to self-employed persons – the insured (mother of the child) and the insured (father of the child or other immediate family member) the right to maternity benefit for the period corresponding to the period of maternity leave and parental leave. The author positively assesses the very concept of including self-employed protection in the field of parenthood. Its correctness is determined both by the need to adapt Polish labor legislation to international and EU standards, as well as constitutional norms, as well as the growing scale of self-employment in the market economy, which is increasingly displacing the classic employment relationship. Unfortunately, the manner of regulating by our legislator mechanisms introducing protection of self-employed in the scope of parenthood raises far-reaching doubts. De lege lata, the scope of protection of parenthood dedicated to self-employed is not sufficient in comparison to the situation of employees, which according to the author violates the constitutional principle of equality before the law. This leads to a situation in which the regulation of parental rights ceases to fulfill the main assumptions underlying its introduction. The Polish legislator as of today does not ensure effective care of a child immediately after its birth and full exchangeability of parental privileges between parents, with the support of members of the immediate family, and also does not create the material and financial conditions optimal for this care. To make matters worse, the regulations do not sufficiently protect the health and lives of the self-employed mothers and their children, before birth and immediately afterwards. The author presents numerous de lege lata and de lege ferenda comments on the regulation of parental rights for self-employed workers.