Legal Disclaimer

§1. What this disclaimer is

This document is the full version of the legal disclaimer to which the banner displayed on the legal-and-administrative content pages of the Site refers — in particular the page /<lang>/living/work, which addresses employment law, statutory sickness and disability benefits, disability assessment, and commercial insurance from the perspective of a person diagnosed with eosinophilic fasciitis (ICD-10 M35.4 / Shulman syndrome).

The Site eosinophilic-fasciitis.org is operated by Damian “Kuljo” Kuliś (the “Operator”). This disclaimer applies to every page on which content concerning law, statutory entitlements, administrative procedure, taxation, social-insurance contributions, or commercial-insurance underwriting is presented.

Reading this disclaimer is recommended before relying on any such content from the Site. The disclaimer forms an integral part of the Operator’s contractual position toward users of the Site and is referenced from §7(6) of the Terms of Service.

§2. The character of legal and administrative content on the Site

All content published on the Site that addresses law, statutory entitlements, administrative procedure, taxation, social-insurance contributions, or commercial-insurance underwriting is informational and educational in character.

The content is not, and is not intended to constitute:

• legal advice in any individual matter, whether contentious or non-contentious;
• a legal opinion within the meaning of the Polish Act of 6 July 1982 on Legal Counsels or the Polish Act of 26 May 1982 — The Bar Law, or the equivalent enactments of any other jurisdiction;
• representation in proceedings before any court, administrative authority, social-insurance institution, or other body;
• tax advice within the meaning of the Polish Act of 5 July 1996 on Tax Advisory Services, or the equivalent enactments of any other jurisdiction;
• financial advice, investment advice, or insurance-distribution advice within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2016/97 on Insurance Distribution (IDD), of Regulation (EU) 2017/565 (MiFID II implementation), or of the equivalent enactments of any other jurisdiction;
• a substitute for the obtaining of legal, tax, financial, or insurance advice in respect of any individual user, patient, or other person;
• a tool for the autonomous making of decisions concerning employment, benefits, taxation, insurance, or any other regulatory matter affecting the rights or finances of a user or another person.

The content does not substitute for direct consultation with a qualified advocate (advocate / barrister / solicitor / radca prawny / adwokat), tax advisor (doradca podatkowy), insurance distributor (insurance broker / IFA / dystrybutor ubezpieczeń), or with another professional duly authorized under applicable law to provide advice on the matter in question.

§3. Who the author is, and who the author is not

The Operator is a person diagnosed with M35.4, that is to say a patient. The Operator is not a lawyer, not a tax advisor, not an insurance broker, and not a financial advisor. The Operator does not hold a licence to practise law (not on the roll of advocates within the meaning of the Polish Act of 26 May 1982 — The Bar Law, nor on the list of legal counsels within the meaning of the Polish Act of 6 July 1982 on Legal Counsels, nor in possession of any equivalent practising certificate under the law of any other jurisdiction). The Operator does not act as a legal-services provider, tax advisor, or insurance distributor and is not authorized to do so.

The content of the Site addressing legal, administrative, and insurance matters is the result of:

• the Operator’s personal experience of navigating Polish and selected foreign legal-and-administrative regimes as a patient with a rare chronic disease;
• review of publicly available primary legal sources (statutes, regulations, court judgments, administrative decisions, EU directives and regulations), with citations where practicable;
• review of public guidance issued by competent authorities (in the United Kingdom: HM Revenue & Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions, ACAS, the Equality and Human Rights Commission; in Poland: Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych, Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, Powiatowe Centra Pomocy Rodzinie, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Rzecznik Finansowy);
• contributions from patients, lawyers, social-insurance specialists, and HR practitioners who voluntarily share their experience and expertise under the cooperation procedure set out in §6 of the Terms of Service.

The content of the Site does not represent the position of any law firm, bar association, professional body of legal counsels, tax-advisory firm, insurance company, regulatory authority, or social-insurance institution, and is not produced under the editorial supervision of any such body.

§4. Decisions belong to qualified professionals

Decisions concerning the legal or administrative situation of any user of the Site, any patient, or any other person — including but not limited to:

• decisions to commence, settle, or discontinue any legal proceedings;
• decisions concerning the wording or filing of any application, statement, or notification before any court, social-insurance institution, tax authority, or other body;
• decisions to accept, contest, or appeal any administrative decision, in particular: a decision of Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych on sickness benefit, rehabilitation benefit, or pension; an orzeczenie of a Powiatowy or Wojewódzki Zespół do Spraw Orzekania o Niepełnosprawności; a decision of the Department for Work and Pensions on Statutory Sick Pay, Employment and Support Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, or Access to Work; or an equivalent decision in any other jurisdiction;
• decisions concerning the conclusion, modification, or termination of any contract of employment, civil-law contract, or service contract;
• decisions concerning the request for, acceptance of, or refusal of any reasonable adjustment within the meaning of section 20 of the Equality Act 2010, of Article 5 of Directive 2000/78/EC, or of any equivalent provision of any other jurisdiction;
• decisions concerning the purchase, modification, or cancellation of any contract of insurance, including life cover, critical-illness cover, income-protection cover, private medical insurance, and the equivalent products of any other jurisdiction;
• decisions concerning disclosure of medical information to a prospective insurer, employer, or other counterparty;
• decisions concerning taxation, allowances, reliefs, or social-insurance contributions;

belong exclusively to the person concerned, made — where the matter is of any material weight — on the basis of advice obtained from a qualified professional duly authorized under applicable law to advise on that matter, in possession of the person’s full factual situation, and in accordance with the standards of practice applicable to that professional under the law of their jurisdiction.

A user of the Site is encouraged to bring information sourced from the Site to the attention of a qualified professional for discussion. A user of the Site is discouraged from acting independently on information sourced from the Site, in matters of material weight, without prior consultation with a qualified professional.

§5. Limitations of accuracy and jurisdictional scope

The Operator endeavors to ensure that legal and administrative content on the Site is accurate, current, and supported by primary sources. The Operator applies the editorial principles declared on the “About this site” page, including the requirement that every assertion regarding the content of the law, of a regulatory practice, or of a statutory entitlement be supported by a citation to a primary or authoritative secondary source.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Operator does not guarantee:

• the completeness of content in respect of any legal regime, statutory entitlement, or administrative procedure addressed;
• the absolute accuracy of content in respect of the current state of the law — statutes, regulations, monetary thresholds, benefit rates, indexation parameters, and administrative practice are subject to frequent amendment, in particular: in the United Kingdom, annual revaluation of Statutory Sick Pay, Employment and Support Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, and the Access to Work cap; in Poland, annual indexation of sickness-benefit and rehabilitation-benefit calculation bases and of orzecznictwo thresholds; in both, periodic substantive amendment of the underlying statutes;
• the applicability of content to the individual situation of any specific person, in particular as concerns the user’s country of residence, citizenship, employment status, social-insurance history, or the law applicable to a specific contract;
• the applicability of content to legal regimes other than those expressly addressed; the Site addresses, in particular, the legal regimes of the United Kingdom and of Poland, and references provisions of European Union law where directly relevant; the Site does not purport to address the legal regimes of jurisdictions not so referenced;
• freedom from error, omission, typographical mistake, translation inaccuracy in any of the six locale versions of the Site, or factual obsolescence resulting from publication of new legislation, case law, or administrative guidance after a given page was last updated.

The “Last updated” date displayed on each legal-and-administrative page indicates the date of the last substantive review of that page by the Operator. A user of the Site is encouraged to verify, in respect of any matter material to that user, that the Site’s content has not been overtaken by more recent legislation, case law, or guidance.

§6. How to escalate legal, administrative, and insurance questions

If a user of the Site has a question concerning their own legal situation, the legal situation of a person under their care, or a regulatory matter requiring a decision, the user is encouraged to follow this escalation path, in the order indicated:

1. For free or low-cost legal information in the United Kingdom — consult Citizens Advice (citizensadvice.org.uk), the Equality and Human Rights Commission helpline, or LawWorks for pro-bono referrals; for disability-specific advice, contact Disability Rights UK or Scope’s free helpline; many local authorities and CABx maintain dedicated welfare-rights teams.

2. For free or low-cost legal information in Poland — consult the network of free legal aid points (nieodpłatna pomoc prawna) maintained by powiats under the Act of 5 August 2015; consult Rzecznik Finansowy (rf.gov.pl) on commercial-insurance and consumer-finance matters; consult Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy on employment-law matters; consult the social-affairs offices of patient organisations for disability and benefits navigation.

3. For matters of material legal or financial weight in any jurisdiction — engage a qualified advocate, solicitor, barrister, radca prawny, adwokat, or the local equivalent, instructed on the specific facts of the matter; engage a chartered tax advisor or doradca podatkowy for tax matters; engage an authorized insurance broker, IFA, or insurance distributor regulated under the Insurance Distribution Directive for insurance-purchase decisions.

4. For administrative-appeal matters — observe the statutory time-limits for appeal applicable to the decision in question (in the United Kingdom: typically one month for DWP mandatory reconsideration and tribunal-appeal time-limits; in Poland: typically 14 to 30 days depending on the decision under review). The Site does not extend, suspend, or interrupt any statutory appeal period.

5. In the case of a suspected breach of disability or anti-discrimination law — in the United Kingdom, contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission; in Poland, contact Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich (Ombudsperson); in either case, consider engaging counsel before commencing proceedings.

The Operator does not provide telephone or written consultation in individual legal, administrative, tax, or insurance matters and is not authorized to do so.

§7. No warranty; limitation of liability

The content of the Site is provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including without limitation any warranty of legal accuracy, completeness, fitness for any particular purpose, freedom from error, or non-infringement of the rights of third parties.

The Operator’s liability for damages arising in connection with the use of the Site is excluded to the maximum extent permitted by mandatory provisions of applicable law. The exclusion does not apply to:

• damages caused intentionally or by gross negligence on the part of the Operator, in accordance with Article 473 §2 of the Polish Civil Code, which liability may not be excluded;
• liability that may not be excluded toward a consumer under mandatory consumer-protection provisions of the law applicable to that consumer pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 (Rome I);
• any other liability the exclusion of which would be contrary to mandatory provisions of applicable law.

The Operator and the Site are not, in particular, liable for:

• any decision made by a user, employer, insurer, social-insurance institution, court, administrative authority, or any other person on the basis of content from the Site;
• the consequences of any such decision, including without limitation refusal of a benefit, dismissal from employment, refusal of an insurance claim, rescission of a contract of insurance for non-disclosure, financial loss, missed appeal deadlines, or adverse decision on an administrative appeal;
• the accuracy or currency of content of third-party sources cited or linked from the Site, including primary legislation, case law, administrative guidance, and academic commentary referenced on legal-and-administrative pages;
• changes in legislation, case law, administrative practice, monetary thresholds, or benefit rates after a given page was last updated.

§8. Relationship to the Terms of Service

This Legal Disclaimer is referenced from §7(6) of the Terms of Service and forms an integral part of the contractual relationship between the Operator and users of the Site as defined therein. In case of discrepancy between this Disclaimer and §7 of the Terms of Service, the more protective provision in respect of the user prevails.

The exclusion of liability set out in §7 above is subject to the limitations in respect of consumers set out in §9(5) of the Terms of Service.

This Disclaimer does not affect, and is read in parallel with, the Medical Disclaimer published at /<lang>/medical-disclaimer. Where a single page on the Site addresses both medical and legal content (in particular /<lang>/living/work), both disclaimers apply.

§9. Changes to this disclaimer

The Operator may amend this Legal Disclaimer. Amendments shall be announced through:

a) update of the effective date and version number visible at the top of this document;

b) maintenance of the history of changes in the publicly accessible source-code repository of the Site;

c) in the case of substantive amendments, a site-wide notice published on the Site for a period of 14 days before the amendments enter into force.

§10. Contact

Questions concerning this Legal Disclaimer may be addressed to:

• Damian “Kuljo” Kuliś
• ul. Jarosława Dąbrowskiego 18/6, 02-561 Warszawa, Poland
• telephone: +48 600 130 255
• email for general matters: contact@eosinophilic-fasciitis.org
• email for data-protection matters: rodo@eosinophilic-fasciitis.org

The Operator does not provide legal, tax, or insurance consultation in response to inquiries concerning individual situations.