"Length of Service" 2026 — New Rules Allowing Periods Other Than Employment to Count Towards Seniority

On 1 January 2026 the Act of 26 September 2025 amending the Labour Code and certain other acts entered into force. Under it, periods of professional activity other than employment under a contract of employment may be counted towards an employee’s length of service.

The new provisions apply:

• from 1 January 2026 — to employers that are public finance sector entities,
• from 1 May 2026 — to all other employers.

I. Which periods — other than employment under a contract of employment — may count towards length of service

Under the new provisions of the Labour Code, an employee may count towards their length of service periods:

1. for which they paid old-age and disability pension contributions, or accident insurance contributions, as a person conducting non-agricultural business activity or a person cooperating with such a person;
2. during which they were covered by old-age and disability pension insurance on the basis of:
   • performance of a mandate contract or another contract for the provision of services to which, under the Civil Code, the provisions on mandate apply,
   • performance of an agency contract,
   • cooperation with a person performing a mandate contract, another contract for the provision of services or an agency contract,
   • membership of an agricultural production cooperative,
   • membership of an agricultural circles cooperative;
3. during which they were not covered by old-age and disability pension insurance on the grounds listed in points 1 and 2 by virtue of separate provisions;
4. during which they were registered for health insurance as a person starting business activity and were not covered by old-age and disability pension insurance for the first 6 months of conducting that activity;
5. for which they paid old-age and disability pension or accident insurance contributions as a person cooperating with a person starting business activity;
6. for which old-age and disability pension contributions were financed on their behalf on account of providing personal care for a child during a period in which business activity was suspended;
7. for which old-age and disability pension contributions were financed on their behalf on account of providing personal care for a child as a cooperating person;
8. during which they performed gainful work abroad on a basis other than an employment relationship.

II. How is professional activity to be documented so it counts towards length of service?

1. A certificate from ZUS

The legislature identifies a certificate from the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), issued at the employee’s request, as the primary evidence of professional activity on which a period may be counted towards length of service. The certificate is obtained through eZUS/PUE, by logging in to the ZUS account and then completing and submitting the application.

ZUS produces and delivers both the certificates and other correspondence concerning their issue in electronic form, on the information profile made available by ZUS.

Importantly, ZUS will not issue certificates for periods in which the employee performed, for example, a mandate contract while holding the status of a pupil or student, since they were not covered by old-age and disability pension insurance at that time.

2. Documents from sources other than ZUS

a. Situations in which the act requires documented periods but does not identify ZUS as the sole route (for example, a documented period of gainful work abroad other than employment).

In these situations there is no closed list of documents that will serve as evidence of professional activity. In practice, HR departments regard the following as the most typical: contracts and amendments together with documents confirming their performance (such as acceptance protocols or reports), payment confirmations, invoices and bills, certificates from the counterparty or principal, and business registration documents.

b. Situations in which ZUS cannot issue a certificate or the data require clarification.

Where ZUS cannot issue a certificate, the employee is entitled to evidence their professional activity with their own documents. An analogous set of evidence to that described above applies — contracts, invoices, transfers, certificates. For the sake of consistency and good order, the employer should adopt uniform internal rules for assessing the documents submitted.

III. What employees gain from an additional period of service

A longer length of service affects employee entitlements, including:

• Annual leave entitlement — in particular crossing the 10-year threshold and moving from 20 to 26 days;
• The right to parental (childcare) leave — at least 6 months of employment is required;
• The notice period for a contract of employment — to the extent that it depends on the period of employment with the given employer, it may be extended;
• Severance pay on dismissal for reasons not attributable to the employee, the amount of which depends on service with the given employer:
  • one month’s pay — under 2 years,
  • two months’ pay — from 2 to 8 years,
  • three months’ pay — over 8 years;
• Death benefit, the amount of which depends on the period of employment with the given employer;
• Seniority-based benefits arising from internal rules or service regulations — long-service supplements, jubilee awards, additional leave or benefit entitlements — where the applicable basis of employment provides for them.

IV. How long does an employee have to document a period of professional activity?

An employee in employment on the date the act entered into force (public sector) or on 1 May 2026 (private sector) has 24 months to document periods of professional activity, that is:

• in the public sector — until 31 December 2027,
• in the private sector — until 30 April 2028.

Under the act, entitlements resulting from counting periods of professional activity apply from the date the right is acquired, but no earlier than the relevant cut-off date — 1 January 2026 for the public sector and 1 May 2026 for the private sector. For employees hired later, entitlements will apply from the moment that, after the additional service is counted, they satisfy the condition for the given entitlement.