The rapid and unrestrained growth of the shared economy segment surprised the legislators, theorists and scientists in labour law. The enormous development of the shared economy and digital platforms surprised many areas of social science that were unable to respond proactively and provide reliable solutions to emerging problems, that arise from the absence of basic rules and at least in partial regulation of the modern economy. There is no quality psychological and sociological research that would pave the way for legislation. Available psychological studies of the behaviour of the upcoming generation of “millennials” suggest some incentives for change, but not as much as the solution to the problems would require. In the article I will try to outline the social and health aspects of the shared economy that entails the philosophy of not owning, but borrowing. We will also focus our attention on the criminal aspects of undeclared work, possible tax evasion and unbalanced competition as a result of the organic development of the shared economy and digital platforms.

The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic outbreak in the Slovak Republic in March 2020 required rapid legal response to protect lives and health of inhabitants and new complex challenges emerged. The objective of this paper is an analysis and critical assessment of measures adopted in the field of health law. As most significant problem fields in Slovakia arose: 1/ Legality and hierarchy of measures limiting everyday life and exercise of citizen rights and freedoms; 2/ the scope, proportionality, extent and duration of measures; 3/ adherence to the measures by the public and law enforcement issues. The pandemic unraveled need to innovate the legal framework of contagious diseases control, for example, constitutional emergency regimen, or powers of the Public Health Authority. Established rule of law framework served to safeguarding against some disproportionate or unwanted effects of anti-pandemic measures, however, future development of more sophisticated legal tools to control the pandemic is needed.

The paper focuses on the social assumptions of effectiveness and legitimacy of law and its current threats, which became more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The right to health is a fundamental human right. The protection of population health is one of the tasks and obligations of the state, arising from several international treaties. Law is currently one of the important regulatory mechanisms for the conduct of natural and legal persons. It is one of the important public health instruments that regulates activities that are or may be dangerous to human health, but also to control health behaviour, for example indirectly by taxing cigarettes or directly – by banning the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors. COVID-19 has caused a global pandemic with many casualties. Due to the mode of transmission and the high level of contagion, many countries have taken strict and unpopular restrictive measures that interfere with other human rights, in an effort to reduce mortality. COVID-19 appeared in Slovakia in social conditions, which according to current research are characterized by low trust in the judicial and legal system and state institutions, not a negligible degree of anomie and the tendency of the population to share and adopt conspiracy theories. Exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression together with informatization of society enables not only the effective dissemination of quality and professional information from experts and public bodies, but also health disinformation or hoaxes about the COVID-19 disease, which undermines the legitimacy of the adopted legislative measures and can play a negative role in efforts to protect right to health.

Public health laws designed to protect the life and health of people have an impact on working conditions as a significant social determinant of health. Laws designed to reduce the spreading of COVID-19 also had an impact on the organization of work. Legal research methods were used to analyse the regulatory framework for occupational health in Slovakia since the COVID-19 pandemics outbreak on March 6th, 2020, and to analyse how the obligations and rights of employers and employees have changed. This paper also examines emerging issues, such as employees’ privacy and it explores the role of the external environment in safety management and leadership. New regulations passed to control spreading at workplaces strengthened the position of employers in surveillance of anti-pandemic measures. Pandemics mainstreamed the role of law as a public health tool. Sharing experiences across sectors of the economy and countries can be helpful to define good practices and their implementation into legislation.