Poland Overhauls Sick-Pay Rules for Workers Holding More Than One Job

From 1 January 2027, Poland's Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) will apply a single shared sick-pay allowance period — the okres zasi?kowy — across every insurance title a worker holds. The change is set out in the Act of 18 December 2025 (Ustawa z 18.12.2025, Dz.U. 2026 poz. 26), as reported in the media in late October 2026.

One cap for all contracts

The overall entitlement stays at 182 days. Where pregnancy or tuberculosis is involved, the limit remains 270 days.

Under the new approach, earlier periods of sickness count towards the shared allowance provided the gap between them does not exceed 60 days. Where sick notes overlap on individual calendar days, those days are counted only once.

Once the shared allowance is used up, the right to sick pay lapses in all of a person's employment relationships at the same moment. To handle this in practice, HR departments are expected to submit the ZUS Z-10-O?wiadczenie form together with a formal request through the POG system, so that ZUS can determine exactly how much of the allowance remains.

A sick note that can be tailored to the job

Article 17(1d) of the Act introduces more flexibility: at the insured person's request, the treating doctor may decide not to certify incapacity for work across all of that person's activities.

Where a health problem still permits a particular kind of work, the sick note need not cover every post. In such cases a worker can draw sick pay for one job while continuing to receive normal wages from another.

Sick pay normally stands at 80% of the assessment base and rises to 100% in specified cases set out in law. Taking up work while certified as unfit, however, still means losing the benefit.

Certain unavoidable actions for important exceptional reasons — answering an urgent email, say, or collecting a work phone — will no longer be treated as a harmful breach.

Article 17(1e) places a matching duty on employees: they must tell each contributor about incapacity arising from another insurance title. The reason is practical — employers cannot view someone else's electronic sick notes (e-ZLA) in the eZUS system or on the PUE ZUS platform.

Fewer panels, faster opinions

The reform also reshapes ZUS medical assessment from 2027. As a rule, the same ZUS examiner will now decide both the first and the second instance. The existing three-member medical commissions are being dropped in standard cases and will be convened only in medically complex situations, on the express order of the chief examiner.

Opinions will be subject to a binding 30-day deadline, and assessments may be carried out digitally by e-visit. The pool of medical staff is widening at the same time: physiotherapists will be able to decide independently on rehabilitation measures under the prevention pension, while nurses will judge whether a person requires care.

Doctors in specialist training, physicians with at least five years' professional experience but no specialist qualification, and civilian service providers are also being admitted to carry out assessments.