Auto-Enrollment Pension in Poland: Impact on HRM Strategies and Pension Participation Rates

The study aims a critical analysis and preliminary assessment of chosen effects of the implementation of a new type of occupational pension schemes with automatic enrollment: the Employee Capital Plans (PPKs), successively has introduced in Poland since 2019.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Sustainable Pensions: Do Sustainable Pensions Require Sustainable Investments?

This Special Issue addresses the concept of sustainability in pension systems from a wide range of perspectives. It examines the central questions raised about sustainable, socially responsible investments and other associated concepts by opening up a comprehensive discussion with an interdisciplinary approach. Normative trends and international cases are analysed in some detail concerning the situation of specific European Member States. Also, the concept of sustainability in European occupational pension schemes is questioned as an efficient vehicle able to assure adequate pension entitlements to all workers to avoid old-age poverty.

Equality without improvement? A case study of the impact of the Belgian unified status among blue-collar and white-collar workers on their occupational pensions

The long-standing EU acquis of equal pay between male and female workers still proves to be a source of inspiration in the fight against discrimination, even in matters beyond the EU’s competence. This article deals with differences in status between blue- and white-collar workers, which have been haunting many Member States even as technological progress erodes its justification. Although this ground was never protected by EU law, a case study of the Belgian unified status with regard to occupational pensions (the second pension pillar), clearly shows the impact of the jurisprudence of the CJEU. In line with this EU case law, there is no requirement to grant the most beneficial pension scheme to all employees, which could lead to equal, but nevertheless very modest occupational pensions. Based on the preliminary results, we can predict that the Belgian unified status will have a positive effect on the number of blue- and white-collar workers affiliated to a pension scheme. It is, however, unlikely that the high level of benefits of the most generous pension schemes will be retained after harmonisation, considering the financial impact on the employer. It is therefore to be expected that the unified status will indeed lead to equal occupational pension schemes between blue- and white-collar workers, but fail to act as a lever to improve the quality of the second pension pillar in Belgium.

Environmentally friendly and socially responsible investment in and by occupational pension funds in the USA and in the EU

Worldwide pension funds, in their capacity as large institutional investors, are under increasing pressure to take social and environmental considerations into account in their investment decision-making process. The concepts Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) are indeed ubiquitous in the current investment and pension community. This article aims to provide some insight into the conceptual relationship between SRI and ESG and its legal implications for the investment behaviour of private pension funds in the USA and the EU. Hence, the first part of the article gives some background to the distinct concepts of SRI and ESG. This leads to the finding that SRI goes one step further than ESG by prioritising moral or ethical considerations that may not be material to an investment’s financial performance, whereas ESG functions as a guideline to enhance financial performance. The second part analyses the legal possibilities and constraints for responsible investment in American occupational pensions and the third part does the same for European occupational pensions. The article concludes with a summary and comparative overview of the American and European lessons.

Staff Representation Rights Related to The Creation Of Employee Capital Plans (PPK)

The article presents the role of the staff representation under the Act of 4 October 2018 on Employee Capital Plans. Employee Capital Plans (PPK) are the part of third pillar of polish pension system. By creating the PPK, the legislature placed the staff representation and the employer under an obligation to co-decide on the form of the created capital plan. The method of identifying the staff representation, as defined in the Act on Employee Capital Plans, is modelled on the regulation contained in the Act on Occupational Pension Schemes. The Act on Employee Capital Plans states, that an occupational trade union organisation operating within the premises of the company excludes the competence of representation of employees. The legitimacy of the primacy of the trade union over the non-union representation of the staff stems, first of all, from the possibility of guaranteeing the employees’ effective participation in the selection of the financial institution.

Demography and provisions for retirement: the pension composition, a behavioral approach

Pensions may be provided for in a modern society by a mix of several methods, namely by voluntary individual savings, mandatory fully-funded occupational pension systems, mandatory social security financed by pay-as-you-go, and old-fashioned hoarding in cash. We call a specific mixture of the four systems a pension composition. We assume that individual workers decide on their own individual savings, that the fully-funded occupational system is decided upon by the age cohort of the median worker, and that social security is decided upon by the median voter. We assume that individual and collective pension savings are the only sources of capital supply. When capital supply equals demand from industry, there is equilibrium in the capital market with a corresponding equilibrium interest rate and pension composition. In this paper, we assume a demography with one hundred age brackets and we investigate how changes in the birth rates, survival rates, and the retirement age affect the pension composition and the capital market equilibrium. Our conclusion is that for a given technology, the pension composition and the interest rate are determined by the demography and cannot be modified at will as a long-term political instrument.

Employment Rights and Duties, Statutory Office Holders, and Volunteers

This chapter examines Part 5 of the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination, harassment, and victimization in employment and analogous situations. It contains provisions regarding those who are not strictly employees but who are also protected from discrimination in the course of performing their duties such as police officers, partners, barristers and advocates, and other office holders. Part 5 also contains the Occupational Pension Schemes provisions. Meanwhile, Chapter 3 of Part 5 contains the provisions relating to equal pay, pregnancy and maternity pay, restrictions on pay discussions, and gender pay gap information. The Act consolidates and replaces the previous anti-discrimination legislation which is largely replicated in the Act, with some notable amendments. These amendments are intended to unify the level of protection across all of the protected characteristics and to resolve any anomalies, for example around disability-related discrimination.

Equality of Terms

This chapter explores Part 5, Chapter 3 of the Equality Act 2010, which deals with equality in contractual terms and conditions of employment and occupational pension scheme rules. It deals with all aspects of equal pay law, i.e. the rules requiring that men and women doing equal work should have equal contractual and pension benefits. The chapter begins by briefly setting these provisions in context, addressing their relationship with discrimination law and EU law. It then looks at the sex equality clause (contract terms) and sex equality rule (pensions). Finally, the chapter concludes with a consideration of the maternity equality clause and maternity equality rule.