At a glance
- Proposals have been made to include periods of work performed under civil law contracts when assessing the length of service on which employee rights depend.
- If adopted, the change would equalise opportunities for access to benefits irrespective of the how workers are engaged.
On 1 January 2026, significant changes amending the provisions of the Labour Code on calculating length of service are planned to take effect. According to the proposals, periods of work performed under civil law contracts (such as contracts of mandate or contracts for the provision of services), agency contracts, and B2B contracts will also be included in the length of service on which employee rights depend.
Until now, these types of legal relationships have not been taken into account when determining length of service, resulting in unequal treatment of individuals in terms of access to employee benefits. The objective of the amendments is to harmonise the situation of individuals performing work irrespective of the form of engagement, which in practice means equalising opportunities for access to benefits such as longer holiday leave, higher severance pay, and long-service awards.
However, it should be noted that the exercise of these employee rights will be contingent upon the existence of an employment contract at the time of wishing to exercise them. The bill does not extend the rights to leave, severance pay, or long-service awards beyond the employment relationship. The proposed amendments specify that previous periods of professional activity in other circumstances will be included in a person's length of service, and that they will be taken into account when calculating the length of service under an employment contract, provided that social security contributions were paid for those periods. This will be confirmed by certificates issued by the Social Security Agency (ZUS).
While the Ministry of Labour is in favour of the proposed changes and is awaiting further developments, it should be noted that the relevant bill has not yet been submitted to the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish Parliament). This makes it difficult to predict the next steps in the process.
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