More than 50 days off. That is how long you may stay away from work

Under the Labour Code alone, an employee on an employment contract accumulates up to 35 days off per year: 26 days of annual leave, 5 days of carer's leave, 2 days of force majeure leave and 2 days of childcare leave. Beyond the Code there are also compassionate leave and blood donation — an honorary blood donor is free on the day of donation and on the following day, and a man may donate whole blood up to 6 times a year. In a record, though realistic, combination of events this exceeds 50 days. A foreigner working in Poland under a civil-law contract (umowa zlecenia), a contract for specific work (umowa o dzieło) or their own business activity gets none of this — these entitlements belong to employees only. The difference concerns more than rest: the type of contract is written into the single permit decision, so changing it can become a legalisation matter, not merely an HR one.

1. Where "more than 26 days" came from

The scope of annual leave itself has not changed for years. What has expanded is the catalogue of other days off. The 2023 amendment to the Labour Code, implementing the EU directives on transparent and predictable working conditions and on work-life balance, added carer's leave (art. 173¹ k.p.) and leave due to force majeure (art. 148¹ k.p.). Together with the earlier childcare leave (art. 188 k.p.), this gives an employee with at least ten years of seniority a pool of up to 35 days per calendar year.

This is not, however, a single pool. Each of these entitlements has its own scope, its own application procedure, its own pay rules and its own fate at the end of the year. Confusing them is the most common mistake — on both sides.

2. Annual leave — 20 or 26 days

Leave amounts to 20 days for seniority shorter than 10 years and 26 days for seniority of at least ten years (art. 154 § 1 k.p.). For part-time work the entitlement is set proportionally, and an incomplete day is rounded up (art. 154 § 2 k.p.).

Within the same pool there are at most 4 days of leave on demand, notified at the latest on the day it begins (art. 167² k.p.). Leave on demand is not an addition to the 20 or 26 days — it is part of them.

3. Carer's leave — 5 days, but unpaid

An employee is entitled to 5 days of carer's leave per calendar year in order to provide personal care or support to a person who requires it for serious medical reasons (art. 173¹ § 1 k.p.). The Code regards a son, daughter, mother, father or spouse as a family member (§ 2). The entitlement also covers a person sharing the employee's household — including someone outside the family.

The application is submitted in paper or electronic form, at the latest one day before the leave begins; it must state the name of the person requiring care, the reason and the degree of kinship or — for a person who is not a family member — their address of residence (§ 4 and 5).

This leave is unpaid. Art. 173¹ of the Code does not provide for retaining the right to remuneration, and under the general rule remuneration is due for work performed, while for time not worked only where a provision so states (art. 80 k.p.).

It is worth understanding how the provision is built, because that determines who may be cared for. Art. 173¹ § 1 k.p. sets out two independent conditions: the person is a family member or shares the employee's household. The definition in § 2 narrows only the first of them.

4. Force majeure — 2 days at half pay

Leave from work due to force majeure amounts to 2 days or 16 hours per calendar year, in urgent family matters caused by illness or accident, where the employee's immediate presence is necessary. For that time the employee retains the right to remuneration at half of their pay (art. 148¹ § 1 k.p.).

Whether it is settled in days or in hours is decided by the employee in the first application submitted in a given year (§ 2). The employer must grant the leave upon an application notified at the latest on the day it is used (§ 3). For part-time work the hourly entitlement is set proportionally, with an incomplete hour rounded up (§ 4).

5. Care for a child under 14 — 2 fully paid days

An employee raising at least one child under 14 is entitled, per calendar year, to 16 hours or 2 days of leave from work with the right to remuneration retained (art. 188 § 1 k.p.). The choice between days and hours is made in the first application of a given year (§ 2).

This is the only one of the Code entitlements discussed here that is fully paid. If both parents are employed, only one of them uses the entitlement.

6. Beyond the Code: compassionate leave and blood donation

The catalogue does not end with the Labour Code. Two entitlements from separate regulations can significantly increase the pool of days off — and both are fully paid.

Compassionate leave

Colloquially called "compassionate leave", although it is not leave at all — these are exemptions from work under § 15 of the Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 15 May 1996 (t.j. Dz.U. 2014 poz. 1632). The employer must release the employee for:

• 2 days — the employee's wedding, the birth of their child, or the death and funeral of the employee's spouse, child, father, mother, stepfather or stepmother,
• 1 day — the wedding of the employee's child, or the death and funeral of their sister, brother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandmother, grandfather, as well as another person dependent on the employee or under their direct care.

For that time the employee retains the right to remuneration (§ 16 ust. 1 of the Regulation).

The key difference from leave: this is not an annual pool. The exemption is tied to an event, not to the calendar year. It cannot be "held" or planned — in most years it will not arise at all, and in one year it may arise several times.

Blood donation — 2 days for every donation

A distinguished honorary blood donor and an honorary blood donor are entitled to leave from work on the day they donate blood and on the following day, as well as for the time of the periodic medical examination of donors (art. 9 ust. 1 pkt 1 ustawy z 22 sierpnia 1997 r. o publicznej służbie krwi, t.j. Dz.U. 2024 poz. 1782). The Act also provides for reimbursement of lost earnings under labour law rules (art. 9 ust. 1 pkt 2), and the 1996 Regulation expressly counts a donor's exemption among those retaining the right to remuneration (§ 12 in conjunction with § 16 ust. 1).

The document confirming the entitlement is a certificate issued by a regional blood donation centre, the Military Centre or the Centre of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration (art. 9 ust. 1a).

7. How much can realistically be accumulated in one year

Let us add it up, but honestly — separating what is certain from what is conditional.

26 + 5 + 2 + 2 + 12 = 47 days, and every compassionate leave pushes this result further. Exceeding 50 days in one year is therefore possible — but it requires a coincidence: ten years of seniority, a child under 14, a close person requiring care, six blood donations and a family event. This is the maximum scenario, not the typical one.

8. Forms of employment in Poland — full comparison

Six forms, one simple consequence: the entire catalogue of days off — under the Code and outside it — is tied to employee status. A contractor may have time off only on the terms written into the contract itself, and if the contract is silent, they have none at all.

The name of the contract does not, however, determine its nature. Employment under the conditions of art. 22 § 1 k.p. — work of a specified kind for an employer, under their direction, at a place and time designated by them, for remuneration — is employment under an employment relationship regardless of the name of the contract concluded (art. 22 § 1¹ k.p.), and replacing an employment contract with a civil-law contract while those conditions persist is inadmissible (art. 22 § 1² k.p.).

Since 8 July 2026 this provision has had a real enforcement tool. The Act of 11 March 2026 amending the Act on the Labour Inspectorate and certain other acts (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 473) gave labour inspectors the power to issue an order to remedy infringements and, if it is not complied with, to establish the existence of an employment relationship by administrative decision (art. 11 ust. 1 pkt 7a i ust. 2 ustawy o PIP). Inspection also covers entities that are not employers, including those using the work of persons conducting business on their own account, and reaches one year back (art. 13 pkt 1 ustawy o PIP).

The effect on days off is direct: establishing an employment relationship means that throughout that period the contractor was entitled to annual leave and the remaining entitlements — including the cash equivalent.

9. What this means for a foreigner: the contract and work legalisation

For a foreigner, the choice of the form of employment is not merely a matter of employee entitlements. The type of contract is an element of the decision on the temporary residence and work permit: the decision indicates the entity entrusting the work, the position, the lowest remuneration, the working time and the type of contract (art. 118 ust. 1 pkt 1–5 ustawy o cudzoziemcach). Work on terms other than those set out in pkt 2–5 requires an amendment of the permit under art. 120 ust. 1 pkt 3 of that Act; the sole party to those proceedings is the foreigner (art. 120 ust. 7).

It is also worth remembering that the three tracks are independent: residence, work and contributions have separate legal bases. Legal residence does not in itself legalise work, and a change in the form of the contract may affect the payer's contribution obligations — with a fine of up to 46 000 zł for failing to meet obligations towards ZUS (art. 98 ust. 1 ustawy o systemie ubezpieczeń społecznych).

What you can do today

• Check your leave seniority — documents on education and work abroad may move the entitlement from 20 to 26 days.
• Do not mix up the entitlements: carer's leave is unpaid, force majeure is paid at half, childcare leave is fully paid.
• Watch the end of the year — days for force majeure and childcare do not carry over to the next year.
• If you donate blood, time off is due on the day of donation and on the following day, for every donation, on the basis of a certificate from a blood donation centre.
• Compassionate leave is not annual leave — do not take it out of the pool of 26 days.
• Before changing the form of your contract, check which document legalises your work.