If you are working in the public sector, as early as 1 January 2026 you can apply to your employer to have your years of service calculated anew - taking into account, among other things, periods of mandate work or sole proprietorship.

But that's not all! Employees who have previously worked under the mandate contracts or run a business will receive new entitlements resulting from the inclusion of these periods in their length of service.

For this, you need a certificate from the Social Insurance Institution. How to obtain it? It’s easy!

How do I obtain a certificate from ZUS?

Stage 1

Log in to your ZUS account: www.zus.pl/ezus/logowanie.

Stage 2

Look for the "Services" (Usługi) tab in the menu on the left.

Stage 3

Search from the list of services for “USP submission (Złożenie wniosku USP). Application for a certificate of insurance for the purpose of adding periods to years of service” (Wniosek o wydanie zaświadczenia o ubezpieczenia dla celów doliczania okresów do stażu pracy) (if you cannot find it, type “USP” in the search box).

Stage 4

Complete the application (already partly completed with your details) and send it.

I have the certificate - what next?

Give the certificate you receive from the Social Insurance Institution to your current employer.

If, for some reason, the Social Insurance Institution will be unable to issue such a certificate (e.g., because the period of work was a long time ago), the employee will have the opportunity to prove length of service using his/her own documents, confirming the period worked.

What will count towards years of service?

According to the Act, the following will be included in the length of service:

· periods of running a business in sectors other than agriculture and cooperation with a person running such a business,

· the period during which non-agricultural business activity was suspended to provide personal childcare,

· periods of performance of the mandate contract,

· periods of provision of services, an agency contract and the period of being a collaborating person,

· the period of affiliation to a farming cooperative and farmers cooperative association, and

· a documented period spent abroad performing work on basis other than an employment contract.

Important dates

The new provisions of the Act will come into force on 1 January 2026 for employers from the public finance sector, and on the first day of the month following the expiry of six months from the date of publication of the Act for employers from outside this sector.

Note!

You have 24 months to provide your employer with documents confirming the new periods from the date:

- 1 January 2026 - if you are employed by an employer which is a unit of the public finance sector within the meaning of the Public Finance Act of 27 August 2009,

- 1 May 2026 - if you are employed by an employer who is not a unit of the public finance sector within the meaning of the Public Finance Act.

If you do not document a period of time within these deadlines, the employer employing you on 1 January 2026 or 1 May 2026, respectively, will not include it in the period of employment from which employee entitlements are due.