Seniority: new rules of calculating employment length

This article answers the following questions:

• What is credited to seniority?
• How does seniority affect annual leave entitlement?
• How to document seniority?

1 January 2026 is the planned date when new rules of calculating seniority in Poland take effect! Thanks to the proposed solutions and regulations, which offer a fairer approach to recognising various forms of employment, the situation of many workers will improve, for example by eliminating problems with retiring or entitling employees to more days of annual leave in a shorter period of employment. What is the new definition of seniority and how may crediting professional activity under non-employment contracts to seniority affect workers' rights? In this article, we will take a closer look at the key concepts and planned changes in the Polish Labour Code.

The definition of seniority

Seniority is a crucial element of Polish labour law, directly impacting a number of employees' rights.

Even though seniority is not explicitly defined in the Labour Code, according to legal practice, it is a total of all documented periods of employment of an individual. Importantly, it does not matter if the work has been performed on a full-time basis or not. Seniority also includes certain non-employment periods—e.g. maternity leave or sick leave—and other specific periods, such as education time (where specified numbers of years credited to seniority on the basis of the degree earned are set out in the regulations).

If a person has had more jobs than one and under more than one employment basis at the same time, only one of such activities is credited to seniority.

What is credited to seniority?

In accordance with the current legal status, seniority includes periods of employment on the basis of an:

• employment contract,
• appointment,
• nomination,
• election,
• cooperative employment contract.

In addition, human resources and payroll specialists must take into account and appropriately include:

• education level,
• periods of receiving unemployment benefits,
• periods of running an agricultural holding or working at the spouse's holding,
• periods of military service,
• periods of police service,
• periods of unpaid leave (provided that it was related to upskilling) and training leave,
• periods of employment with a foreign employer,
• doctoral studies (provided that a doctoral degree was awarded).

The amendments taking effect as of 1 January 2026 will expand the above list to include the following periods in seniority:

• periods of conducting a non-agricultural business activity and periods of cooperating on the basis of such an activity (for example a B2B contract),
• periods of performing work under a mandate contract (Polish: umowa zlecenie) or another contract for the provision of services,
• periods of performing work under an agency contract,
• periods of cooperating with a person who works under a mandate or agency contract,
• periods of being a member of an agricultural production cooperative,
• periods of being a member of a farmer circles' cooperative,
• periods of employment with a foreign employer (on a different basis than an employment contract),
• periods of paid work performed by a convicted person (on a different basis than an employment contract or contract to produce a work (Polish: umowa o dzieło)).

An important fact is that the new regulations will apply retroactively which means that it will be possible to credit all backdated documented periods to seniority from 2026 (provided that the new criteria are met).

What are the rules of crediting education to seniority?

We have mentioned before that in accordance with Polish labour law, an additional number of years is included in seniority on the basis of the degree earned. This mechanism aims to ensure a level playing field among people with different educational backgrounds.

However, the number of years credited to seniority on the basis of the degree earned is not equivalent to the actual number of years spent on studying and is as follows:

• 3 years for finishing a basic vocational school,
• 5 years for finishing a secondary vocational school,
• 4 years for finishing a general secondary school,
• 6 years for finishing a post-secondary school,
• 8 years for obtaining a university degree.

An important fact is that only one—the most advantageous—stage of education is included in seniority. It means that a person with a university degree is credited 8 years to seniority and not the total length of the education levels attained by that person.

Impact of seniority on employees' rights

Now that it is clear what exactly is credited to seniority, let us explain why it is so important. Employees in Poland must remember that seniority has direct impact on their key rights, the most important of which are:

• Longer annual leave – Employees with less than 10 years of seniority are entitled to only 20 days of annual leave, while those with at least 10 years of seniority are given 26 days of annual leave.
• Pension eligibility – The minimum length of seniority making a person eligible for pension is 20 years for women and 25 years for men. If an employee fails to meet this requirement, it might be problematic for them to receive full pension rights.
• Longer notice period and higher severance pay – Total seniority itself does not affect an employee's notice period or the amount of their severance payment, but including additional contracts (e.g. mandate contracts) may extend seniority with one employer, thus giving rise to a longer notice period if the employment contract is terminated and a higher severance payment in the event of a redundancy.
• Higher anniversary awards – Seniority has an impact on anniversary awards in the public sector and their amount (and frequency) depends on the number of years worked.

Documenting seniority under the new system

Starting from 2026, the Polish Social Insurance Institution (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych – ZUS) will have a greater role in documenting seniority, thus facilitating the entire process.

The said authority will issue certificates confirming seniority on the basis of the recorded information in its system showing the periods in which an employee was covered by social security. The Social Insurance Institution stores data from 1 January 1999, covering the majority of contemporary employment periods.

Documenting employment periods from before the year 1999

Employment periods covering the years before 1999 and work not reported to ZUS will require an employee to submit additional documents, such as:

• bank transfers and statements confirming the receipt of salary,
• invoices for rendered services,
• freelance contracts and agreements,
• declarations issued by foreign employers.

In accordance with the new regulations, non-documented periods will not be credited to seniority.

Practical implications of the new method of calculating seniority for employers and employees

Employees' duties

Employees will be given 24 months for documenting additional periods of seniority and informing their employers about these periods. This period will start running from:

• 1 January 2026 – for the employees of the public finance sector,
• the first day of the month following six months from the publication of the law – for the remaining employees.

Challenges for human resources and payroll departments

Employers will have to prepare for verification of a substantial number of documents pertaining to their employees' seniority. Some of the obligations might include:

• updating the human resources software,
• providing training to the HR staff on the new regulations,
• establishing procedures for verification of additional seniority periods,
• recalculating employees' benefits.

It is important to have your finger on the pulse of the changes in the Labour Code

The upcoming changes in the regulations on seniority constitute a historic opportunity for millions of Poles to have their work experience fairly recognised. To take full advantage of the new possibilities, consider performing the following actions now:

• collecting documents confirming all the periods of employment or business activity,
• applying to the Social Insurance Institution for a declaration of employment history,
• preparing documents pertaining to foreign employment,
• consulting your HR department or a labour law specialist on the impact of the changes on your individual entitlements.

If you need an expert's support, feel free to contact us—we are happy to answer all your questions and assist in resolving all issues regarding labour law as well as improve your company's HR processes.