Employment contracts & holidays

There are several ways to end a work relationship. The most agreeable way is to do it with an agreement of both parties – the employer and the employee. Another way is to give a notice within a notice period specified in the work contract. Notice periods applying to employment contracts range from 3 days to 3 months – depending on the contract type. If you have a fixed-term contract, your notice period varies between 2 weeks and 3 months in accordance with the length of the period of your employment.

• Free-for-task agreements can be terminated at any time (without notice). However, both parties can provide a notice period in the agreement, if they wish.
• Specific-task contracts may be terminated by mutual agreement or, in exceptional cases, in several different ways taken into account by Polish law.

In Poland working time is regulated in the Labour Code and in general cannot exceed 8 hours per day, which gives an average of 40 hours in a five-day working week.

Usually work starts between 8.00-9.00 in the morning and finishes at 4.00-5.00 in the afternoon but it depends heavily on the employer, job, institution. In some companies, there are lunch breaks. However, you are entitled to at least 15-minute break during the 8-hour work day.

Vacation entitlement (paid days-off) amounts to:

• 20 days – in case of employees having worked less than 10 years,

• 26 days – in case of employees working more than 10 years,

Note: having completed higher education (be it a 3-year bachelor or 5-year master degree) is counted as 8 years in your employment period. In practice, university graduates gain 26 years of holidays after only 2 years of working.

• 36 days – in case of scientific employees (researchers); researchers employed at universities are obliged to take their days off during the period free from academic lectures (summer and winter holidays).