On 13 April 2026, new provisions concerning sick leaves came into force. The change in question is also very important for employees posted to work abroad from the territory of the Republic of Poland. Despite of the departure abroad, many of them remain registered with the Polish social security system, as confirmed by A1 certificates. Therefore, they can still benefit from sick leaves in Poland and the new rules will apply to them.
1. What is possible to do during sick leave?
Until now, it has been questionable which activities are permitted during sick leave and which result in the loss of entitlement to sickness benefits. The legislator has decided to change this. According to the new wording of Article 17(1) of the Act of 25 June 1999 on cash benefits from social security in case of sickness and maternity (i.e. Official Journal of 2025, item 501, as amended), hereinafter referred to as the Act: The insured person loses his/her right to sickness benefit for the entire period of sick leave if, during the period of declared incapacity for work,:
- he/she performs paid work, or
- he/she takes up activities inconsistent with the purpose of this leave.
In order to avoid any doubt, the legislator has decided to define the situations resulting in the loss of the right to sickness benefits. Under the new Article 17(1a) of the Act, any activity of a remunerative nature constitutes paid work, regardless of the legal relationship being the basis for its performance. However, the insured person may perform incidental activities which, during the period of leave from work, are required by significant circumstances, for example, signing a document that can’t be done by another employee. It should be emphasised that the legislator has expressly stipulated that an employer’s instruction doesn’t constitute a significant circumstance.
Article 17(1b) of the Act defines activities incompatible with the purpose of sick leave as any actions hindering or prolonging the treatment process or recovery. However, this doesn’t include ordinary daily activities or incidental ones which must be undertaked during the period of sick leave because of significant circumstances. Therefore, the sick person may visit a pharmacy during leave. On the other hand, he/she can’t go on holiday.
2. New rules on checking the correct use of sick leaves
The extension of powers of ZUS to monitor the use of sick leaves constitutes a particularly significant change. The purpose of this check is to determine whether the controlled person doesn’t take the actions specified in Article 17(1) of the Act. On the other hand, if the monitoring concerns carer’s leave, it is determined whether, apart from the insured person, there are other family members living in the same household who could provide care, unless the leave is granted for the purpose of caring for a sick child under the age of 2 (Article 68a(2) of the Act).
Inspection activities may be carried out at the place of domicile, stay or work of the controlled person, as well as at the place where this person conducts non-agricultural activities or at any other location, if this is necessary for the purposes of the monitoring (Article 68c(1) of the Act).
According to the new provisions, the inspector has the right to:
- enter the place of inspection;
- identify the controlled person – this may occur only for the purpose of checking the identity;
- request or obtain information from the person being inspected, his/her contribution payer or his/her treating doctor;
- access data concerning the insured person and the contribution payer, held by ZUS in the insured person’s account and the contribution payer’s account (Article 68c(12) of the Act).
The primary responsibility of the authorised person is to facilitate the conduct of the inspection. Moreover, at the request of the controlling authority, he/she may be obliged to provide information and give explanations regarding the matters covered by the monitoring (Article 68d of the Act).
The new provisions specify the rules for drawing up the inspection protocol and raising objections to the decisions contained in this record.
3. Several insurance titles and sick leave
When discussing the legislative changes that came into force on 13 April 2026, it is also worth noting a modifitaion that will only to apply from 1 January 2027. From that date, in the event that the insured person is covered by multiple social insurance schemes, a sick note may be issued for some titles but not for others. However, this solution may be used if it’s possible to carry out paid work in the framework of a given schemes due to the nature of this work, and the insured person has requested this form from the doctor issuing the sick leave (Article 17(1d) of the Act). In such a situation, the insured person is obliged to inform the contribution payer of the period for which he/she received a leave from work under another social insurance title (Article 17(1e) of the Act).
4. Legal notice
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