[Poland] Additional maternity leave for parents of premature babies – from when?

Parents of prematurely born children and hospitalized newborns have gained new rights thanks to the changes in the Labour Code. Article 180 ² of the Labour Code introduces additional maternity leave, the length of which depends on the week of pregnancy in which the child was born and how much time it spent in hospital. Since when is the new right available and what does its introduction mean for employers?

Supplementary maternity leave – from when and how much?

According to the amendment to the Labour Code (Article 180²), parents of premature babies will be able to take additional maternity leave from 19 March 2025. Its length will depend on the week in which the child was born and the time it spent in hospital after birth.

Additional leave is granted immediately after the maternity leave has been used. It can be used by an employee who is the mother of a child or a father raising a child. As we read in art. 180 ² § 1, the amount of leave is as follows in the event of the birth of a child:

• before the completion of the 28th week of pregnancy or with a birth weight of no more than 1000 g – in the amount of one week of additional maternity leave for each week of the child’s stay in hospital until the end of the 15th week after birth;

• after the 28th week of pregnancy and before the 37th week of pregnancy and with a birth weight of more than 1000 g – in the amount of one week of additional maternity leave for each week of the child’s stay in hospital until the 8th week after birth;

• after the completion of the 37th week of pregnancy and its stay in hospital, provided that the child’s stay in hospital after delivery will be at least 2 consecutive days, with the first of these days falling in the period from the 5th to the 28th day after delivery – in the amount of a week of complementary maternity leave for each week of the child’s stay in hospital in the period from the 5th day until the end of the 8th week after delivery.

To calculate the length of additional maternity leave, the weeks in which the child was in hospital up to the 8th or 15th week after birth (depending on the case) must be added up. Any partial week of the child’s stay in hospital is rounded up to a full week.

Furthermore, in the case of multiple births, the length of additional maternity leave will depend on the weight of the child with the lowest birth weight and the length of hospital stay of the child with the longest hospitalisation.

An employee who has taken a child for upbringing as a foster family (except for a professional foster family) or an employee who has taken a child for upbringing and has filed an application with the guardianship court to initiate proceedings for the adoption of the child will also be entitled to additional maternity leave under the general rules, provided that the child’s stay in hospital took place after the child was taken for upbringing.

The condition for obtaining this entitlement is that the child’s stay in hospital occurs after being admitted for upbringing. This means that if the child was in hospital before the employee took it in for upbringing, the right to additional maternity leave will not apply.

Additional leave – how to take it and does the employer have to give consent?

Additional maternity leave is granted once at the request of a parent (mother or father) submitted no later than 21 days before the planned return to work after taking maternity leave. The application can be submitted in paper or electronic form, and the employer is obliged to accept the application.

In addition, the application for additional maternity leave must be accompanied by a certificate from the hospital where the child was staying, as well as the documents specified in the regulation issued pursuant to Article 186^8a of the Labour Code. The certificate from the hospital must include information on the period of the child’s stay in the hospital and whether the child was born:

1. before 28th weeks of pregnancy or with a birth weight of no more than 1000 g;
2. between 28th and 37th weeks of pregnancy and with a birth weight of more than 1000 g;
3. after the 37th week of pregnancy.

It is also important that the application for additional maternity leave includes information about the end date of maternity leave.

During the period of supplementary maternity leave, the employee is entitled to maternity benefit in the amount of 100% of the calculation basis for this benefit.

Additional leave – employer’s obligations towards the employee

The employer is obliged to accept the employee back to work after the end of maternity leave, leave on maternity leave conditions, additional maternity leave, parental leave, paternity leave and childcare leave. The employee should return to the same position he/she held before the leave. If this is not possible, the employer must offer them an equivalent position, with conditions no less favourable than those that would apply if the employee had not taken the leave.

Moreover, a parent taking additional maternity leave will be protected from dismissal. According to the new regulations, article 177 of the Labour Code will apply to this leave. This means that from the day of submitting an application for additional leave until its end, the employer will not be able to:

• prepare to notice termination or terminate the employment contract with that employee;
• terminate or dissolve the employment contract, unless there are reasons justifying disciplinary dismissal (due to the employee’s fault) and the company trade union agrees.

If one submits an application for supplementary maternity leave more than 21 days in advance before the planned end of maternity leave, the protection against dismissal referred to above will start 21 days before the start date of your supplementary maternity leave.

You can read more about the above changes at the planning stage and the general provisions regarding maternity leave in our previous article.

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