Termination of non-competition agreements during the COVID-19 pandemic – some remarks on the constitutionality of anti-crisis regulations

In 2020, the act commonly referred to as the „shield 4.0” introduced to the Polish legal system a provision which stipulates that during the period of the epidemic threat or epidemic state announced due to COVID-19, a party to a non-competition agreement, in favor of which it has been established, may terminate the agreement within seven days. This right is unilateral, granted only to the employer, who may use it regardless of whether the introduced state of epidemic has actually caused the deterioration of his economic situation or not. The aim of the article is not to assess the rationality or accuracy of the introduced solutions, but only to assess their constitutionality from the point of view of a number of constitutional principles, such as the principle of individual trust in the state, the principle of legal security, the principle of equality of parties to private-law relations, the principle of protection of acquired rights and protection of interests in progress, as well as constitutionally protected rights and freedoms, including freedom of contract or property rights.