Proposed changes to public holidays in Poland and the latest labour law case law

Are more public holidays coming?

Recently, a petition has been submitted to the Polish Parliament which may bring significant changes to the Polish Labour Code. The document addresses an issue of great importance to all employees, namely the annual working time and potential new days off.

The main proposal included in the petition is the introduction of a mechanism that would allow employees to receive an additional day off when a statutory public holiday in Poland falls on a Sunday.

It is worth recalling how the current Polish regulations operate: the Labour Code reduces working time by 8 hours for each public holiday, provided that it falls on a day other than Sunday. In practice, this means that the employer is obliged to designate another day off for a public holiday falling on a non-working day resulting from the working time schedule in an average five-day working week (with a standard Monday-to-Friday schedule, this is usually Saturday).

The petition seeks to change these rules so that an additional day of rest would also be granted to employees when a public holiday falls on a Sunday.

The authors of the petition argue that such a solution would ensure that employees maintain a fixed and unchanged number of days off in each calendar year in Poland, regardless of how the calendar is arranged and on which days of the week public holidays fall.

The potential adoption of the proposed solutions would clearly affect the position of Poland compared to other EU countries. If the changes described in the petition come into force, Poland would join the leading group of EU Member States with the highest number of public holidays and statutory days off throughout the year.

An employee does not choose the days they come to work

A non-final judgment of the District Court in Świdnica (decision of 9 December 2025, case no. IV P 426/24) provides guidance in cases concerning the determination of the existence of an employment relationship under Polish law. The case concerned a “worker” who filed a claim seeking recognition of an employment relationship and payment of over PLN 30,000 in outstanding remuneration. The claimant argued that for nearly a year he had worked on removing trees and vegetation interfering with power lines, performing duties on days and at times imposed by the defendant.

However, the defendant demonstrated before the court that the parties were bound only by an oral civil law contract. According to its terms, the claimant was to perform tasks depending on the company’s needs and his own availability.

The court ultimately dismissed the claim based on the evidence gathered. It was proven that the claimant came to work whenever it suited him (sometimes appearing only one day per week). In its reasoning, the court clearly stated that the claimant’s absences were not subject to any obligation to be justified, which is a requirement inherent in an employment relationship. When the claimant needed time off, it was enough to communicate this, and in his testimony he himself admitted that he had no intention of concluding an employment contract.

This judgment is worth noting, as it clearly indicates the criteria that exclude recognising a given relationship as an employment relationship under Polish law. Full freedom in choosing working days, the lack of a formal requirement to justify sick leave absences, and the absence of a clear intention to enter into an employment contract may effectively undermine the chances of establishing the existence of an employment relationship before a court.

Supreme Court decision – entitlement to severance pay in collective redundancies in Poland

The case concerned a former hospital employee who filed a claim seeking payment of over PLN 38,000 in outstanding severance. The employer had issued a notice changing the terms and conditions of employment, introducing less favourable rules for settling medical on-call duties, citing, among other things, its difficult financial situation. The employee refused to accept the new conditions, as a result of which her employment relationship was terminated.

The hospital did not pay the employee severance, despite having no objections to her work, and at a similar time 148 medical staff employed at the facility received comparable notices. The defendant employer argued that severance under the Polish Act on collective redundancies does not apply to employees who were offered continued employment but refused it.

The common courts upheld the claim, and the Supreme Court ultimately refused to accept the hospital’s cassation complaint for examination, thereby maintaining the favourable ruling for the employee. In its reasoning, the court clearly indicated that the proposed conditions were objectively unfavourable for the doctor and that there were rational grounds to refuse them. Since the change notice was driven solely by economic reasons on the employer’s side, there were no grounds to shift responsibility for the termination of employment onto the employee.

This ruling therefore provides an important lesson: a rational and justified refusal to accept objectively unfavourable working conditions should not deprive an employee of the right to severance pay.

Source: The article was created in collaboration with our cooperation partner – sdzlegal Schindhelm Law Office

If you have any further questions or require additional information, please contact your business relationship person or use the enquiry form on the HLB Poland website.

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