The first ruling following amendments to the length-of-service legislation. The employer failed to justify refusal to pay a long-service award
On 8 May 2026, the District Court in Łomża issued a first ruling - following the amendment to the Labour Code of 26 September 2025 - concerning the inclusion of new periods in an employee’s length of service. The judgment is final (case no. IV P 31/26).
The employer refused to pay the employee a long-service award for 35 years of service claiming that the employee attained the required length of service too early (as early as 2023). The court rejected this argument indicating that entitlement to the award could arise at the earliest on the date the new provisions came into force (i.e. 1 January 2026), but the required length of service could have been achieved earlier. A different interpretation would deprive the employee of the benefit rather than improve situation of the employee.
The practical implication is significant: recalculating a length of service under the new rules could result in entitlement to the benefit from 1 January 2026, even if the length-of-service threshold was reached earlier. The claim for over 13,000 PLN was upheld in full.