Ochrona krajowych standardów uczestnictwa pracowników w organach spółek europejskich i spółek utworzonych w wyniku przekształcenia transgranicznego

The freedom of establishment guaranteed within the European Union entails the legal possibility for companies with their registered office in the territory of a Member State to form European Companies (SE) and to carry out cross-border operations, including conversions. EU legislation supplementing company law with rules on board-level employee participation in companies, namely Directive 2001/86 and Directive 2017/1132, protect employees of converted companies from losing their previously acquired participation rights. The purpose of this article is to examine the existing EU rules in this field and the case law of the Court of Justice interpreting them, and to evaluate the effectiveness of these provisions for safeguarding employee rights to board-level participation guaranteed to them under national law as well as their relevance for broadening the scale of participation in companies operating in Poland and for employees of Polish workplaces.