On 15 October 2025, the President signed the Act amending the Labour Code and certain other laws drafted by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, which stipulates that periods of self-employment, work performed on the basis of a contract of mandate or an agency contract will be included in the length of service.
In the view of the authors of the law adopted, determining length of service solely on the basis of periods of employment under an employment relationship leads to unequal treatment in terms of acquiring employee rights, hence the need to introduce appropriate amendments to the existing regulations.
What periods will be counted towards length of service?
- conducting non-agricultural business activities by a natural person: self-employed, artists, creators, sole shareholders of a limited liability company and partners in a registered partnership, professional partnership, limited partnership; and periods of cooperation with a person conducting non-agricultural activities (e.g. a spouse assisting in the company);
- performance of a contract of mandate or a contract for the provision of services;
- performance of an agency contract;
- documented period of performing work other than employment abroad for a foreign employer;
- a period of suspension of business activity by a person conducting non-agricultural business activity in order to provide personal care for a child.
A contract for specific work will not be counted towards seniority.
How will the new regulation affect the employee rights?
The inclusion of additional years in the length of service will affect, among other things:
- longer holiday leave;
- higher seniority allowance;
- acquisition of the right to a jubilee award;
- access to a greater number of job offers requiring specific length of service;
- longer notice period for termination of employment contract;
- higher severance pay in the event of termination of employment contract.
Employees employed on the date of entry into force of the regulations will have 24 months to provide documents confirming previous periods of activity. Periods not documented within this time will not be taken into account by the employer.
How to document previous employment?
Periods of employment prior to the act coming into force will count towards length of service. This will be conditional upon them being properly documented. The employment history will be confirmed by a certificate issued by the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). In the case of persons who were not subject to insurance, the employees will have to provide proof of employment themselves, e.g. a contract.
When is the law supposed to come into force?
For private employers, the regulations will come into force on the first day of the month following the expiry of six months from the date of publication of the Act in the Journal of Laws. With regard to other entities, the Act shall enter into force on 1 January 2026.
A sufficiently long vacatio legis is necessary to give employers time to determine the length of service of individual employees in light of the new regulations, to make the relevant calculations, to introduce any changes to company regulations, and to secure funds to finance the new solutions.
For further information on this topic please contact Paweł Sikora at KKG Legal by telephone (+48 22 206 83 00) or email (pawel.sikora@kkg.pl).