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Leave in Poland
Maternity, paternity, and parental leave in Poland
Adoption leave in Poland
Other types of leave in Poland
Public holidays in Poland
Protect your employees and your business
Time off in Poland
Employees in every country are entitled to certain types of paid and unpaid leave from work. In Poland, work leave includes paid holidays, sick leave, parental leave, and more. The amount of time off employees must be granted is laid out in the Polish Labour Code. In some cases, collective bargaining agreements provider for additional leave. Employers in Poland can also choose to grant their employees extra time off by setting a generous leave policy or including these provisions in individual employment contracts.
In this section, we’ll cover everything you need to know about paid and unpaid time off in Poland, including how to calculate your employees’ annual leave entitlements, how maternity and parental leave works in Poland, and what other leave you should be aware of as an employer. By reading this section carefully, you can get an idea of the minimum entitlements you’ll need to grant your Polish employees to ensure compliance with local labour laws and regulations.
Leave in Poland
Employees in Poland are entitled to paid annual leave (or holiday leave) each year. The exact entitlement to annual leave depends on how long the employee has been working. The entitlements mentioned in this section are the statutory minimum, which all employers in Poland have to grant to their employees. Many employers choose to grant their employees more generous annual leave in order to better attract and retain talent.
Annual leave in Poland
In Poland, annual leave entitlement is based on the employee’s length of service. Employees are entitled to 20 days of leave per calendar year if they have worked for less than 10 years, and 26 days once they have worked for at least 10 years.
However, employers also have to count time spent in education towards the employee’s length of service. The amount that gets added to their time in work depends on the type of education:
- Basic vocational school or equivalent: 3 years
- Secondary vocational school: 5 years
- Secondary comprehensive school: 4 years
- Post-secondary school: 6 years
- Tertiary education institution: 8 years
Employees in their first year of employment accrue 1/12 of their annual leave entitlement each month during their first year. For example, an employee who started working on 1 January would have accrued 5 days of annual leave (25% of their full annual entitlement) by the end of March.
Employers must inform workers about their annual leave entitlement no more than seven days after employment, and whenever their entitlement changes.
Taking annual leave in Poland
In Poland, the general expectation is that employees take their annual leave all at once. However, it is possible to split it up into several periods of leave, as long as one period is at least 14 days.
If employees don’t use all of their annual leave during the calendar year, they can roll it over to the next year. They have to take their leave by 30 September in the next calendar year or lose the right to the leave. It’s not possible to ‘pay out’ annual leave in Poland unless the employee is leaving the company.
Sick leave and pay in Poland
Employees in Poland are entitled to 182 days of paid sick leave per year. Employers must pay their employees 80% of their normal wages for their first 33 days of sick leave. After this point, employees can receive the equivalent pay through the social security system. There are different rules for pregnant employees and those aged 50 or over.
Other common leave in Poland
Other common types of leave in Poland include:
- Carer’s leave
- Study leave
- Maternity and paternity leave
- Special event leave
- Adoption leave
We’ll talk about these in more detail in the sections below.
Maternity, paternity, and parental leave in Poland
Employees in Poland are entitled to maternity leave when they or their partner have a baby, and when they adopt a child. The specific amount of leave and pay that employees are entitled to depends on their situation. Read on to learn about the different types of parental leave in Poland.
How long is maternity leave in Poland?
Employees are entitled to maternity leave when they give birth to a child. This leave is paid for by the Social Security Institute at 100% of the employee’s normal salary. The amount of maternity leave an employee can take depends on how many children are born or adopted:
- 20 weeks for one child
- 31 weeks for two children
- 33 weeks for three children
- 35 weeks for four children
- 37 weeks for five or more children
Employees can start their maternity leave up to six weeks before their due date and must take at least 12 weeks of leave immediately following the birth. They can then choose to transfer some of their remaining leave to the child’s father.
Paternity leave in Poland
Employees in Poland can take up to two weeks of paid paternity leave when their partner gives birth. Again, this is paid for by the Social Security Institute, and employees receive 100% of their normal salary.
Employees can choose to split their paternity leave into two blocks of one week, or to take it all at once.
Parental leave in Poland
Parents in Poland are also entitled to up to 41 weeks of paid parental leave, to be shared between the two parents. They can use any time before their child’s sixth birthday. One parent can take all of this leave, or they can split it between them. It can be taken all at once or taken in up to four blocks of at least eight weeks. Parental leave in Poland is paid for by the social security system.
Adoption leave in Poland
Adoption leave in Poland works very similarly to maternity leave. When a couple adopts a child aged seven years old or younger, both parents are entitled to paid time off. However, only one parent at a time can take adoption leave under the conditions outlined in the maternity leave section above.
Parental leave for adopting parents in Poland
Like birth parents, parents who adopt a child in Poland can also take paid parental leave after they adopt a child. They can take:
- 32 weeks if they adopt one child
- 34 weeks if they adopt multiple children
- 29 weeks if the child they adopt is between 6–7 years old
Other types of leave in Poland
Employees in Poland are also entitled to various other types of leave. Collective bargaining agreements and individual employment contracts may also provide additional entitlements. Read on to learn about some of the different types of leave in Poland that you should be aware of as an employer.
Carer’s leave in Poland
A new law passed in 2023 gives employees the right to up to five days’ carer’s leave each year to take care of a child or a dependent who lives with them. This leave is unpaid. Employees may also take up to three years of unpaid leave to care for their children, as long as:
- They have worked for at least six months
- Their child is under five years of age (or 18 years if the child is disabled)
Study leave in Poland
Employees are also entitled to various types of study leave if they are in an education program initiated by their employer, or if their employer agrees. The amount of leave an employee gets depends on the type of education. For example, they are entitled to:
- 6 days for extramural exams
- 6 days for professional qualifications
- 21 days for diploma dissertation and examination
Special event leave in Poland
Employees are also entitled to two paid days off work for their family members’ life events, including weddings, births, and funerals. There are also special regulations covering time off for things like mandatory medical examinations, giving blood, and making court appearances.
Unpaid leave in Poland
Unpaid leave is another type of leave In Poland, which employees can request for any reason (although employers don’t have to allow it). Also, if a period of unpaid leave lasts longer than three months, the employer can ask their employee to return to work.
Public holidays in Poland
In Poland, there are 13 public holidays per year. Employees are entitled to paid time off on these days, in addition to their statutory holiday entitlement. The only exception is when a public holiday falls on a Sunday. In this case, employees don’t get extra pay unless they are scheduled to work that day.
In some countries, public holidays are moved to the next working day if they fall on a weekend, but this is not the case in Poland. However, if a public holiday falls on an employee’s scheduled day off, they are entitled to an additional day off in the future. That means that, if a public holiday fell on a Saturday, an employee who usually doesn’t work Saturdays would be entitled to take an additional paid day off at another time.
Employers can ask employees to work on public holidays in Poland. However, they usually have to grant them an additional paid day off in lieu at a later time. Alternatively, they can pay the employee an additional 100% of their wages for the hours they worked on the public holiday (so the employee receives double their normal hourly wages).
Public holidays in 2024
Here are the public holidays in Poland observed in 2024:
1 January
New Year’s Day
6 January
Epiphany
31 March
Easter Sunday
1 April
Easter Monday
1 May
Labour Day
3 May
Constitution Day
19 May
Whit Sunday (Pentecost)
30 May
Corpus Christi
15 August
Assumption Day and Polish Armed Forces Day
1 November
All Saints’ Day
11 November
Independence Day
25 December
Christmas Day
26 December
Second Day of Christmas
Protect your employees and your business
As an employer in Poland, you need to understand your employees’ rights and entitlements. But keeping up with them can be a lot of work.
When you hire workers with CXC, we’ll ensure your engagements are in line with all local, national and international employment regulations. That way, your workers will get their benefits they’re entitled to, and your business will be protected from risk.
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