The public information provided by the ministry on July 11 this year revealed the decision regarding the draft amendment to the assumptions of the Labor Code in Poland. Several significant changes will concern determining the length of seniority of employees.  

The presented program includes modification in the issue of calculating the seniority for people employed on the basis of mandate contracts or the provision of services whose length of service is not calculated on the basis of these forms of employment. After the amendment, these employees will have their working time being included in the general and corporate length of seniority. Moreover, the above-mentioned length of service includes running a non-agricultural business, practicing a free profession or being a partner in a sole proprietorship with limited liability, a general partnership, a limited partnership or a professional partnership. As a result, for a huge number of Polish people this project will influence the perception of their seniority, which is taken into account both in terms of promotions and retirement. 

How to understand seniority? 

It is worth bearing in mind that the Labor Code does not specify the rules for determining seniority; one might only distinguish two subtypes: 

• Corporate length of service – including only the period of work for a given employer in the worker’s employment period which results in appropriate rights (e.g. the length of the notice period and the amount of severance pay upon termination of the contract);
• General length of service – including periods of work for all employers with which the employee cooperated in the seniority which results in appropriate rights (e.g. the amount of annual leave).

The current provisions include the one according to which the period of running a business, working on commission and providing services is not included in the period of employment within the meaning of labor law provisions. 

What challenges do the current provisions of the Labor Code create? 

Current provisions regarding seniority result in unfair treatment of employees. A large number of active workers are deprived of a number of rights and benefits arising from the Labor Code which are currently reserved only for those employed under an employment contract. On the other hand, these people may have problems on the labor market when applying for a promotion or modifying their position because both processes take into account the seniority, which is not accrued to them.  As a result, ongoing discussions take place which aim is to introduce changes to the Labor Code as soon as possible in order to create a favorable environment where all employees have an equal opportunity to apply for a given job. Furthermore, they want to stop practices based on unequal treatment of people due to their professional activity. 

The modification will also be beneficial for employees who worked for the same employer first on a contract basis and later switched to an employment contract. Their length of service from the previous contract will be recognized which might result in an increase in the number of days of paid leave, a higher severance pay in the event of termination of cooperation or a higher seniority allowance, if the company offers such a component of the final remuneration. 

When new regulations might be expected? 

According to the information provided by the ministry, the new project assumes the introduction of the above-mentioned changes from January 1, 2026. The reason for this extended implementation period is the need to give entrepreneurs time to determine the length of service of individual employees in their company.  Moreover, employees will  be required to provide appropriate documents to determine their current seniority, however, the analysis of these documents may be time-consuming.