35 days of leave for every employee. Is a revolution in labour law coming?

Since the beginning of this year, there has been a fierce debate over the number of annual leave days between trade unions and employer organisations. Reports have also emerged of a directive being prepared by the European Union aiming to extend employee leave entitlements in all Member States. As one might expect, employers are strongly opposing the changes proposed by the unions, while the latter point out that Poles are among the longest-working citizens in the EU.

The All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Związków Zawodowych, hereinafter OPZZ) has put forward a number of proposals regarding the suggested labour law reforms. One of them is to increase annual leave entitlement to 35 days.

According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (hereinafter OECD), Poles are not only among the longest-working, but also among the most stressed employees in the European Union. We spend as many as 1,792 hours at work per year. 27 per cent of Poles experience stress at work every day, which is linked to employers’ expectations of working during days off, for instance by checking emails or taking phone calls.

Under the current legal framework, there are two levels of annual leave entitlement per year: 20 and 26 days. The longer leave is granted to employees who have accrued 10 years of service. It is worth mentioning that years spent in education count towards the length of service. The number of years added to work experience is as follows:

• Vocational school – 3 years
• Secondary school – 4 years
• Technical college – 5 years
• Post-secondary school – 6 years
• Higher education – 8 years

The above periods are not cumulative.
According to the regulations, an employee who takes up employment for the first time acquires the right to leave at the end of each month of work, at a rate of 1/12 of the leave entitlement granted after a year of service.

At the same time, it should be remembered that annual leave is different from unpaid leave or, for example, maternity leave. These are subject to separate rules and calculation methods.

A statement regarding the organisation’s proposal has been published on the OPZZ website:

“In light of this, the current annual leave entitlements – 20 and 26 days – established several decades ago under completely different socio-economic conditions, absolutely do not guarantee proper rest and recovery for employees after a period of work. Nor do they serve to protect their health or restore their full capacity to work,” reads the OPZZ website.

The 35-day annual leave proposed by OPZZ would be granted to every employee, regardless of their length of service, level of education, or place of employment.

Meanwhile, employers opposing the proposed changes argue that extending leave entitlements would significantly increase employment costs and, consequently, have a negative impact on the entire labour market. Employees on annual leave are entitled to full pay, and employers must continue to pay social insurance contributions, income tax and other levies. In addition, there is the issue of accumulated unused leave, which poses particular difficulties for smaller businesses.