Counting periods towards length of service

The length of service under an employment contract is important when determining certain employee entitlements. In October 2025, provisions were published (which entered into force on 1 January 2026) aimed at counting periods of work performed on a basis other than an employment relationship towards the overall length of service, or company length of service.

This means that, where employees performed work on another basis before concluding an employment contract, that period of work will be taken into account in the length of service on which certain employee rights depend.

Why length of service is significant

Labour law provides that length of service gained, either with a given employer or overall, may affect specific employee entitlements. For example:

1. overall length of service (gained with different employers) affects, for example, annual leave entitlement and the right to parental leave;
2. company length of service affects the length of the notice period, the amount of redundancy pay due to a position being eliminated and the amount of death-in-service benefit. It may also affect the amount of a long-service award, if such an award applies at the given employer.

Periods of work performed on a basis other than an employment contract will now be included in the length of service at a given company if, before being hired under an employment contract, the person provided services to the same employer, e.g. under a mandate contract or as a self-employed person. Where this work was performed for other entities, the current employer will count that service only towards the overall length of service.

Periods counted towards length of service

Under the new rules, length of service will include periods of individuals performing non-agricultural business activity and periods of cooperating with such a person by a family member , for which pension, disability or accident insurance contributions were paid.

Such activity may be performed as:

1. a person conducting non-agricultural business activity;
2. a creator or artist;
3. a person performing activity in a liberal profession:
   a) within the meaning of the rules on lump-sum income tax on certain revenues earned by individuals,
   b) where the revenues constitute business activity income under personal income tax rules;
4. the sole shareholder of a limited liability company or a partner in a general partnership, limited partnership or professional partnership;
5. a shareholder of a simple joint-stock company contributing work or services as an in-kind contribution;
6. a general partner in a limited joint-stock partnership;
7. a person running a public or non-public school, another form of pre-school education, an institution or a complex of such institutions under the Education Law of 14 December 2016.

Length of service will also include periods of:

1. performing a mandate contract or another services contract to which, under the Civil Code, provisions on mandate apply;
2. performing an agency contract;
3. being a family member cooperating with a person referred to in points 1 or 2;
4. being a member of an agricultural production cooperative;
5. being a member of a farmers’ machinery cooperative – where the individual was subject to pension and disability insurance.

Length of service will also include documented periods referred to above during which the person was not subject to pension and disability insurance under separate provisions. In practice, this will mainly concern pupils and students up to 26 years of age who, when working on the above bases, do not pay social security contributions. Length of service will also include periods of work performed by anyone conducting business activity who does not pay insurance contributions due to using the “start-up relief”, as well as anyone cooperating with such a person.

The new rules also require length of service to include periods when a person conducting non-agricultural business activity suspended their activity in order to personally care for a child, during which pension and disability insurance contributions were paid. This also applies to a family member cooperating with person conducting non-agricultural business, personally caring for a child, for whom such contributions were paid.

Counting periods of work performed abroad

Under the new rules, length of service will also include documented periods of paid work performed abroad on a basis other than an employment relationship.

Documenting periods of work

The periods listed above that are counted towards length of service will be taken into account by the employer on the basis of a certificate issued by the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). The certificate will confirm that social security contributions were paid in the relevant periods. The employee will apply for such a certificate themselves, by submitting an electronic request to ZUS. The certificate will also be made available electronically on the employee’s ZUS account.

Only in the case of students and pupils, who are not subject to mandatory social security contributions, and in the case of people performing work abroad, ZUS will not issue a certificate. In such cases, the length of service will have to be determined on the basis of other documents provided by the employee, e.g. contracts.

Entry into force

The provisions discussed apply from 1 January 2026 for employers in the public finance sector. For other employers, the new rules will apply from 1 May 2026.

Deadline for employees

Employees have a limited time in which to document their earlier work that is now counted towards length of service. Anyone employed by an employer on the date the act enters into force should document earlier periods of work within 24 months from the new rules coming into force. If they fail to do so within that 24-month period, the employer will not be obliged to include those periods in length of service.

Read more about Polish HR law – PRO HR Year Book 2025