New rules for calculating length of service

The regulations that the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has prepared extend the list of periods of professional activity that will be taken into account for calculating length of service. These include:

• periods of conducting non-agricultural business activity.

• periods of cooperation with a person conducting a business activity.

• the period during which non-agricultural business activity was suspended to provide personal childcare. • periods of performance of a contract of mandate, services agreement, agency agreement and assisting in the business.

• the period of affiliation to the farming cooperative and farmers cooperative association.

The above-mentioned periods will be confirmed by certificates issued by the Social Security Institution (ZUS). Periods of gainful work abroad other than employment will be confirmed under the general rules governing the burden of proof – the employee will have to prove the period of employment.

Purpose of the new legislation

The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy aims to ensure that employees – who often have not had a genuine chance to choose the form of employment (due to the employees’ behaviour) – shall be entitled to longer annual leave, jubilee awards or seniority allowance. The legislation being processed will become effective as of 1 January 2026.

Example of the application of the new legislation

After 1 January 2026, an employee with 7 years of service, after the inclusion of the additional 4 years of service on the basis of a contract of mandate, will be granted the annual leave of 26 days instead of 20 days.

Existing legislation

Under current legislation, the periods of employment on the basis of a contract of mandate and the period of self-employment do not count towards length of service. Under the existing law, a person employed on the basis of a contract of employment is entitled to 20 days of annual leave if their length of service is below 10 years and 26 days of annual leave if their length of service is of at least 10 years.