Željko Potočnjak has been affiliated with the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, since 1982, initially as an Assistant, and subsequently as an Associate Professor and an Associate Professor with tenure; in 2003 he was appointed Full Professor, and in 2009 he was granted the title of Full Professor with tenure. In June 2023, upon the initiative of the Department and the recommendation of the Faculty of Law, the Senate of the University of Zagreb conferred on him the honorary title of Professor Emeritus.
He obtained his Master’s degree in 1984 with a thesis entitled “The Employment Relationship of Trainees”, and his Doctorate in 1992 with a dissertation entitled “The Right to Strike”. In the 1987/88 academic year, he undertook scientific training at Indiana University Bloomington, USA, and in late 1993 and early 1994 at the Faculty of Law of J. W. Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He also pursued professional development through several seminars organised by prestigious institutions such as Harvard University, KU Leuven, the World Bank, and the European Law Academy. He has participated in approximately forty international and a comparable number of domestic congresses and legal consultations, and has been an invited speaker at several international events and at a larger number of domestic consultations and conferences.
In 1989 and 1990, he worked on the preparation of the Labour Relations Act of 1990 (in force until the end of 1995). From 1992 to 1995, he was a member of the working group preparing the Labour Act and, in this context, co-led, together with Prof. Manfred Weiss, the project “Labour Law” within the Croatian-German project “Reshaping the Croatian Legal System”. The outcomes of this project included, inter alia, the draft proposal of the first Labour Act harmonised with the 1990 Constitution, which was adopted in 1995 and entered into force on 1 January 1996. From 1995 to 2013, he participated in the preparation of several amendments to the Labour Act aimed at harmonisation with European Union law, as well as in the preparation of other laws (the Employment Act, the Employment of Foreigners Act, and the Act on Pension Increases to eliminate disparities in pension levels accrued in different periods).
From 1997 to 1998, he was a member of the Croatian Government Working Group for examining the compliance of Croatian legislation with the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and Chair of the Working Group for examining the compliance of Croatian legislation with the European Social Charter. He represented the Government of the Republic of Croatia at the sessions of the International Labour Organization’s General Conference in 1993 and 1998. During 1998 and 1999, he was a member of the Government of the Republic of Croatia’s Pension Reform Commission and led the expert working group preparing the Pension Insurance Act, which reformed the first component of the pension system (pay-as-you-go and generational solidarity) and provided for the establishment of capital-funded components (the second and third pillars) of the Croatian pension system. From 1998 to 2001, he served as Chair of the Administrative Council of the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute and represented the Government of the Republic of Croatia on the Council of Europe’s Social Cohesion Committee. During 2000 and 2001, he led the working group responsible for drafting the strategy for the long-term development of the Croatian pension system.
From April 2001 to April 2009, he served as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia. In the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 academic years, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Law in Zagreb.
He is the author of 129 scientific and professional publications. He is President of the Croatian Association for Labour and Social Law and a member of the Executive Board of the International Society for Labour Law and Social Security Law. From 26 January 2010 to 20 October 2021, he was a member of the National Competitiveness Council. From 10 December 2014 to 10 December 2018, he was a member of the Administrative Council of the Ruđer Bošković Institute. From 22 February 2012 to 4 April 2023, he served as a member of the Accreditation Council of the Agency for Science and Higher Education.
