Extra PTO in Poland: Additional maternity leave and a public holiday on Christmas Eve as early as 2025

Legislative changes are not slowing down – in fact, they are gaining momentum. On 27 November 2024, the Polish Sejm passed two amendments that could significantly affect many businesses.

Maternity leave

Additional maternity leave of up to 8 or 15 weeks – depending on the baby's birth weight, length of hospital stay and week of pregnancy – will be granted to parents of premature babies and children who have been hospitalised for health reasons after birth.

Thus – additional maternity leave will be a maximum:

• 15 weeks after birth – for parents (employees) of children born before the end of the 28th week of pregnancy or with a birth weight under 1,000 grams,
• 8 weeks after birth – for parents (employees) of a child born after the completion of the 28th week of pregnancy and before the completion of the 36th week of pregnancy and with a birth weight over 1,000 grams.

The duration of the additional maternity leave in the above two cases depends on the duration of the child's hospitalisation (i.e. one week of additional maternity leave is 'added' for each week of the child's hospitalisation).

• 8 weeks after childbirth for parents whose child was born after the 37th week of pregnancy and will require hospitalisation from the 5th day after the day of birth until the 8th week after the birth.

In the latter case, the condition is that the child must be hospitalised for at least two consecutive days between the 5th and 28th day after birth.

Employees-parents (the leave is to be granted to mothers or fathers, as well as legal guardians, foster parents or adoptive parents) will be able to apply to their employer for additional maternity leave with a medical certificate stating the week of pregnancy in which the child was born, the child's birth weight and the length of the child's hospital stay.

The allowance for the period of additional maternity leave is 100%. Additional maternity leave is granted once (in part) immediately after maternity leave. The fact that the leave is granted on request means that it is up to the employee-parent to decide whether to take the leave.

The new law is expected to enter into force at the earliest from the beginning of Q2 of 2025.

Public holiday on Christmas Eve (but) not until 2025

As of next year, Christmas Eve will be a public holiday. The law will also provide that from 2025, the three Sundays (currently two Sundays) preceding Christmas Eve will be “trading” Sundays.

The amendment to the law passed by the Sejm provides for Christmas Eve to be a day off for all employees, including retail workers, for whom Christmas Eve is currently a working day until 2 pm under the restriction of trade on Sundays and Holidays.

This means that by 2025, Christmas Eve will be the next day to be added to the pool of public holidays, bringing the total to 14 from next year.

What about Christmas Eve this year?

The public debate about this extra day off, just weeks before Christmas, may have caused some confusion. Employees may think that this day off is already in force, some may be disappointed that it is not until next year. It is true that every year on 24 December employers face difficulties in organising work due to pre-planned absences, holidays on demand or sickness absence. This year it is likely to be even more difficult, so one solution might be to set up work schedules with a reserve for unexpected absences, or perhaps offer a reward or bonus for attendance on 24 December, unless the business can be managed otherwise.