The changes are expected to take effect from January.
Labour Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk said earlier this month that the new rules will be applied retroactively.
The proposal, drawn up by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, aims to level the playing field in access to work-related benefits tied to length of service. These include longer paid vacation, jubilee bonuses and eligibility for roles that require proven professional experience.
Under current law, only time worked under a standard employment contract counts toward seniority. This means that someone who spent several years working on contract or running their own business is treated, for legal purposes, as having less seniority than someone employed full-time for just a year.
“This is an important change—needed, expected, and above all fair," government spokesman Adam Szłapka told reporters after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The bill lays out specific categories of work to be included in calculating seniority. These will encompass periods of self-employment, contract work (including service and agency contracts), professional cooperation with a business owner, time spent caring for a child during a formal business suspension, and documented paid work abroad outside of formal employment.
Time spent as a member of a farming cooperative will also count.
Most qualifying periods will need to be certified by Poland’s social insurance agency ZUS. Other periods, such as non-ZUS-registered foreign work, will be assessed based on general evidentiary rules and supporting documentation.
For example, a worker with seven years of formal employment who can document four additional years of contract work will, from 2026, qualify for 26 days of annual leave—up from the current 20.
Under Polish law, workers are entitled to 20 days of leave if their total seniority is under 10 years, and 26 days once it exceeds a decade.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP