On 26 September 2025, the President of Poland signed a significant amendment to the Labour Code (Kodeks pracy), introducing new rules regarding the calculation of employment seniority (staż pracy).
The reform aims to modernize the Polish employment system and ensure equal treatment of various forms of professional activity.
Key changes introduced by the amendment
- Broader recognition of professional experience
From now on, not only traditional employment contracts (umowa o pracę), but also other types of professional activity will count towards an employee’s total length of service.
This includes:
- Service contracts (umowa zlecenia),
- Agency contracts (umowa agencyjna),
- Periods of self-employment or sole proprietorship (działalność gospodarcza), provided that social insurance contributions were paid,
- Periods of documented work abroad,
- Cooperative or agricultural cooperative membership (if contributions were made),
- Certain public service positions, including Customs and Treasury Service and Marshal’s Guard (Straż Marszałkowska).
- Inclusion of non-working periods
Temporary suspension of business activities (for example, due to childcare responsibilities) may also be recognized as part of the seniority period if covered by insurance.
- Documentation requirements
Individuals will be able to request official confirmation of their qualifying periods from institutions such as the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) to include them in their employment record.
- Implementation timeline
The new rules will enter into force on 1 January 2026 for public sector employers.
For private employers, the amendment will take effect six months after its publication in the Journal of Laws.
Purpose of the reform
The new legislation seeks to promote fairer recognition of diverse work experiences, especially for professionals who have worked under civil law contracts or operated their own businesses.
It ensures that employees with non-standard work histories are not disadvantaged in areas such as annual leave entitlement, length-of-service bonuses, or severance pay.
