Questions regarding pregnancy laws / maternity and paternity leave in Poland

Hi all,

Me and my girlfriend recently found out that we're having a November baby. I'm a foreigner and my girlfriend is half-Polish but grew up outside Poland so isn't to familiar with Polish law either.

Few questions:

1) I read that soon-to-be mothers only need to inform their company 14 days in advance of when they want to take maternity leave and for how long. Yet for some reason the company my GF works for, a major international bank, is already pushing her now to inform them when and how long (20 weeks? 6 weeks additional? 26 weeks additional parental leave? Splitting with the father?) as they claim "if you wait too long we can't guarantee that you'll get it". Could somebody reference me the proper Polish lawcodes concerning this so I can tell them to **** off and leave my GF in peace? :-)

2) If I understood correctly, at the point of birth the mother receives 20 weeks maternity leave. 100% paid. She has to take min. 14 weeks of those and can transfer the remaining 6 to the father. I assume he will also receive these 6 weeks as 100% paid, right? Same for the 6 extra weeks of maternity leave that can be transferred to the father.

3) There is no official pregnancy leave before birth, one can basically go 6-5-4-3-2-1 month(s) before giving birth to a doc and get an L4. Now, does this L4 only provide 80% of your salary like normally, or due to pregnancy one gets 100%?

Question 3 is asked because my GF is a bit of a workaholic and even wants to keep working until a few weeks before the DoB as "there are some important meetings and trainings in october/november that I simply cannot miss!!". I don't know if that is so healthy so in case it's 100% L4 i might persuade her to take it a bit more easy.

Thanks for the advice.

At the beginning I would like to stipulate that I am not a lawyer and the knowledge about the rules I draw from public sources online.


They don't have any right to refuse the maternity leave. And everywhere I read it is clearly indicated that 14 days before giving birth is enough to notify the employer about it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find specific law for this fact, but they just can't demand from your girlfriend such early notice about the date of commencement of maternity leave.


Everything is correct. One more thing: if she would like to take additionally the parental leave after maternity, she would get 80% of salary during maternity and parental leave (when apply for paternal leave max. up to 14 days after the birth), or 100% on maternity and next 60% of salary on parental leave (when applied later).

The parental leave may be taken for up to 26 weeks and can be share between mother and father.


Not months, just weeks - up to 6 weeks before giving birth.


It's still maternity leave, paid 100% (if no paternal leave)

"Not months, just weeks - up to 6 weeks before giving birth."

Curious. She says some colleagues of her who have been pregnant in the past, were off on pregnancy L4 for months before giving birth.

Regardless, you say it is maternity leave so paid 100%. Does the amount you take before pregnancy on this L4 have an effect on how much you can take after giving birth?

I meant the maternity leave here, not L4. Sorry for your confusion, It needs my correction.


As I mentioned earlier, the pregnant woman residing in Poland may use her maternal leave up to 6 weeks before giving birth, but in the real world she often takes L4, to avoid using her maternity leave days which are 100% paid. The L4 in case of sickness during pregnancy is also paid 100%


L4 is L4 - if she remains on L4 up to birth giving, then in that day it automatically turns into the maternity leave. Time spent on L4 does not affect maternity leave time.

Could somebody reference me the proper Polish lawcodes concerning this so I can tell them to **** off and leave my GF in peace? :-)

You are legally in the right but I would avoid doing that - she has a good job and if someone, not even married, did that to me in reference to one of my own employees then I would first of all tell them to put a ring on it and then wonder why a qualified banker is not able to look after her own affairs.

Hi guys please I need some info .My wife I due in a few month to give birth. Please can she take 6month maternity leave in terms of South African law. The doctor say she can in terms of the law . 4month 100% her salary and 2month 50% of her salary

Witam! Please be informed that these laws apply ONLY when woman works on "umowa o prace". They do not apply when working on what Poles call "garbage contracts", i.e 'umowa o dzielo", "autorskie"', "zlecenie", in which case there is nothing.

Also be aware that if the mother wishes to take an "education leave" in order to raise her child, she gets nothing (no matter what contract),

Merged: Parental leave

Hello, All.

I am foreigner and working, living in Warsaw.
Can anyone give me some answers for parental leave?

My son was born outside of EU and he is 18 month now.
My wife is a housewife and i am single income for our family.
Full time job, worked for current company for 2.5 years now.

Can i apply for parental leave in this case? If so, how long can i take?

Many thanks.

No, you can't.

you get 1 year in Poland, the doctor signs you off
if you work over time just before you go off they have to keep the same rate of pay ... that included over time before you sign off

you also still get your holidays so just before you come back to work .... take a holiday ;)

Merged: Maternity pay

Hi Everyone

My wife has recently found out that she's pregnant but she's also just started a new job on 1st September on an umowa o pracę... we are reasonably sure she got pregnant a week or 2 before starting her new job. Befote that she had her own 'business activity' for 3 years in Poland. Will she still be entitled to maternity pay or not? Also, how long are women entitled to take off work?

Thanks in advance

in which country now?

Poland (umowa o pracę)

Merged:

Parent leave unemployed mom.

Hello everyone and happy new year!

I'm Brazilian and I have received several work opportunities in Poland. I'm currently doing some interviews and there is a good chance I'll be moving there in 2018.

I don't have any kids yet but me and my wife are planning to have one in the short term.
As only I will be working when we move to Poland, my question is: Will I be eligible for the parental leave even if she never worked in Poland?

I'm asking because I'll probably be the only person she could count on, as we'll be very far from our families. So it would be nice if I have at lease some days to stay with her.

Thank you very much for your time.

If you're working in Poland legally i see no reason for you not being eligible for any of the benefits a working person gets.

If you are working in Poland with a contract of employment (umowa o pracę), yes, you will be entitled to any rights specified by law for people employed under those terms, regardless of your spouse's personal history.

You'll need to be sure of the exact contract type - as a non-EU person, it will probably be umowa o pracę rather than some b2b thing in which you'd officially be self-employed, but check anyway.

From what I can gather through a quick look on google:
If you are the father of the child and are working full time on 'omowa o prace' , then you are entitled to 2 weeks leave after the birth of the child.

Good day,
This is Shantanu from India.

I have received a job offer from Poland. This is a permanent contract job. Company is processing work permit.

Me and my wife are planning to move Warsaw. My wife will come with me on dependent visa.(we are in search for her job in warsaw) We are planning for pregnancy.

So in this case
1. if she is unemployed is she eligible for maternity allowance? If i Paid extra PLN for her insurance part

2. Company is providing ZUS insurance to me, so what is the benefit of this for her pregnancy?

3. If she get a job and company process a work permit ,then in such case when she will eligible for maternity leave and allowance?

Requesting you to kindly provide me information on this as earliest.