Dear Sir or Madam,
please be informed that on 24 June 2025 the Council of Ministers adopted and sent to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland a draft amendment to the Labour Code concerning the length of service which is due to come into effect in two stages: the first on 1 January 2026 and the second on 1 July 2026. The Council of Ministers adopted and sent to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland a draft amendment to the Labour Code concerning the length of service which is to enter into force partially on 1 January 2026 and partially on 1 July 2026.
It provides for the inclusion of periods of work performed on the basis of contracts of mandate or provision of services, concluded with the current employer, both to the general seniority and to the so-called company seniority. Additionally, it is proposed that the periods of non-agricultural economic activity may be counted towards seniority.
The amendment is pro-social in nature. It aims to equalise the rights of employees, who until now – despite performing work of a comparable nature – have not previously been able to enjoy the same privileges, such as longer leave or seniority allowance.
The new regulation is to be retroactive, meaning that seniority will also be calculated by taking earlier periods into account, including those before the amendment.
Seniority will include:
- performance of a contract of mandate or agency,
- the period during which non-agricultural economic activity was run and the period during which cooperation with the person running such activity took place, provided that retirement, disability and accident insurance contributions were paid for those periods,
- documented work abroad – regardless of its form,
- membership of agricultural cooperatives,
- suspension of business activity in order to care for a child, provided that contributions have been paid.
In this regard, we would like to clarify that under Article 8(6) of the Social Insurance System Act, persons conducting non-agricultural activity are considered to be, among others:
- natural persons conducting one-person business activity,
- partners in
– a one-person limited liability company,
– general partnership
– limited partnership
- partnerships,
- members of the liberal professions (e.g. doctors, lawyers),
- creators and artists,
- shareholders in a simple public limited liability company who have contributed work or services,
- general partners in a limited joint-stock partnership,
- persons running a school, kindergarten, educational institution (public or non-public) or a group thereof.
Due to the nature of the contract of specific work, there are currently no plans for it to count towards seniority. Non-registered activity, voluntary work and student internships will not count either. However, the counting of study time (studies, post-secondary school) towards seniority remains unchanged.
Employees will be able to confirm their seniority by means of:
- Social Security documents for periods for which contributions were paid,
- evidence (contracts, testimonies, certificates, etc.) – in the absence of ZUS contributions
The changes aim to eliminate inequalities between those working exclusively on civil law contracts, the self-employed or those working ‘full-time’, as they are intended to provide:
- higher annual leave (past length of service will affect current entitlement to annual leave and parental leave).
- longer notice periods and higher termination payments.
- entitlement to jubilee awards or seniority allowances in the public sector.
A period of vacatio legis has also been planned. The changes will take effect in the public sector on 1 January 2026 and in the private sector on 1 July 2026. This weill give employers time to amend their internal regulations and to raise funds for new solutions, if necessary. Hence, in view of the impact of the above changes on companies, employers should:
– analyse their employees’ documentation with regard to the new rules,
– update work and pay regulations,
– plan a budget – e.g. for seniority allowances or additional leave,
– implement procedures to verify documents confirming the traineeship (e.g. certificates from the Social Insurance Institution, certificates or business registration confirmations).
If you are interested in this topic, we encourage you to contact our law firm.