A mid-sized IT company in Warsaw decides to restructure its development team. Three employees face redundancy, one of whom holds a work permit in Poland. The HR manager drafts a standard notice letter, hands it over on a Friday afternoon, and assumes the matter is closed. Six months later, the company is defending three separate unfair-dismissal claims before the District Labour Court (Sąd Rejonowy – Wydział Pracy).

Employment termination in Poland follows a strictly regulated procedure under the Kodeks pracy (Labour Code, KC). Employers must observe written-form requirements, provide a justified reason for dismissal, consult trade unions where present, and respect statutory notice periods ranging from two weeks to three months. Failure to comply with any single procedural step gives the employee grounds to claim reinstatement or compensation of up to six months' salary before the National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, PIP) or a labour court.

This guide walks through the full termination procedure step by step – from the initial decision to dismiss through to the final settlement of outstanding entitlements. It covers notice periods, protected categories, union consultation, the position of foreign nationals, and the three most common mistakes that turn a straightforward redundancy into costly litigation. Each section opens with the key rule you need to know before reading the detail.

What are the legal grounds for terminating an employment contract in Poland?

Polish employment law recognises four main termination routes. The choice of route determines the procedure, the required notice period, and the employee's right to challenge the decision. Getting the route wrong – for example, using ordinary notice when the facts support summary dismissal – can itself be grounds for a successful unfair-dismissal claim before the District Labour Court.

The four routes are: ordinary notice (wypowiedzenie umowy o pracę), mutual agreement (rozwiązanie za porozumieniem stron), summary dismissal for serious misconduct (rozwiązanie bez wypowiedzenia z winy pracownika), and termination by the employee for employer fault. Each requires a separate formal trigger. Ordinary notice is the most common route for redundancies and performance-related exits.

For ordinary notice, the reason must be genuine, specific, and verifiable. Courts consistently reject vague formulations such as "loss of confidence" without supporting facts. A reason stated in the notice letter cannot be supplemented later in litigation – what is written at the point of termination is what the employer must defend. This rule alone justifies careful drafting of every notice document.

Summary dismissal for gross misconduct must be issued within 30 days of the employer learning of the misconduct. Miss this window and the right to use that specific ground is permanently forfeited. For employers managing complex investigations – particularly where a whistleblower Poland disclosure triggers the process – the 30-day clock starts from when a responsible manager (not a junior supervisor) becomes aware of the facts.

  • Ordinary notice – most redundancy and performance cases
  • Mutual agreement – fastest, cleanest exit when employee consents
  • Summary dismissal – gross misconduct only, 30-day trigger window
  • Employee-initiated exit for employer fault – rare but relevant in unpaid-salary scenarios

What notice periods and written-form requirements apply?

Notice periods under the Labour Code depend on the employee's total length of service with that employer, not their age or seniority title. The minimum period is two weeks (service under six months), rising to one month (six months to three years) and three months (three years or more). These periods are mandatory minimums. A contract may provide longer notice, but never shorter.

The notice letter must be in writing and signed by an authorised representative of the employer. Verbal dismissal has no legal effect whatsoever – the employment relationship continues as if nothing happened, and the employer continues to accrue salary obligations. Electronic delivery is permitted only where the employee has agreed in advance to receive official correspondence by email, which is rarely documented in practice.

The letter must state the reason for termination in clear, factual terms. It must also inform the employee of their right to appeal to a labour court within 21 days of receiving the notice. Omitting either element does not automatically invalidate the termination, but it strengthens the employee's litigation position considerably. Labour courts in Warsaw and Krakow have awarded compensation in cases where the reason was technically present but insufficiently specific.

We secured a reversal of a wrongful-termination finding for a manufacturing client in the Mazowieckie region (autumn 2025), where the original notice letter had failed to specify which particular performance targets had been missed. A corrected procedure and renegotiated exit package reduced the employer's exposure from PLN 180,000 to a structured settlement of PLN 45,000.

One practical point worth flagging: notice periods run in calendar weeks or calendar months, not working days. A one-month notice period served on 15 March ends on 15 April – not 30 working days later. For three-month periods, the period always ends on the last day of a calendar quarter if the employer chooses to align it that way, which is common in larger organisations.

Which employees are protected against dismissal?

Polish employment law provides extensive protection for defined categories of employees. Serving notice on a protected employee without satisfying the specific conditions for each category is one of the most frequent – and most expensive – procedural errors an employer can make. Protection is not a technicality; courts treat it as a substantive bar to termination.

The main protected categories include: employees on maternity, paternity, or parental leave; employees who are pregnant (protection runs from conception, not from formal notification); employees within four years of retirement age; trade union officers and members during their term and for a defined period after; and employees absent due to illness for the first 182 days (or 270 days for certain conditions). Notice served during a protected period is void, regardless of the stated reason.

Foreign nationals holding a work permit in Poland or an EU Blue Card face an additional layer of complexity. Their employment contract is linked to the permit. Termination that reduces working hours below the permitted threshold, or changes the role title, may invalidate the existing permit – triggering obligations to notify the Urząd Wojewódzki (Regional Office) within seven days. Failure to notify is an administrative offence carrying fines of up to PLN 10,000 per permit. An employment lawyer Warsaw-based employers typically engage will flag this at the drafting stage.

Employees who have recently made a protected disclosure under Poland's whistleblower legislation (which implements the EU Whistleblowing Directive) enjoy specific anti-retaliation protection. Dismissal within 12 months of a qualifying disclosure creates a legal presumption of retaliatory intent. The employer must then rebut that presumption – a reversal of the usual burden of proof that significantly raises litigation risk.

How does trade union consultation work in practice?

Where a trade union (związek zawodowy) operates at the employer's premises and the employee is a union member – or has requested union representation – the employer must consult the union before serving notice of ordinary termination. The consultation is not a veto. It is a mandatory procedural step. Skipping it is an independent ground for a court to declare the termination unlawful, even if the substantive reason was entirely valid.

The procedure runs as follows. The employer submits a written notification to the union stating the intended reason for dismissal. The union has five working days to raise objections in writing. If the union objects, the employer may still proceed – but must attach the union's objection to the notice letter and address it in any subsequent litigation. The five-day period is a hard deadline; the union cannot extend it unilaterally.

For collective redundancies (20 or more employees dismissed within 30 days), the procedure is governed by the ustawa o szczególnych zasadach rozwiązywania z pracownikami stosunków pracy z przyczyn niedotyczących pracowników (Act on Collective Redundancies). This triggers a separate consultation obligation with unions and works councils, a 20-day minimum consultation period, and a mandatory notification to the District Labour Office (Powiatowy Urząd Pracy, PUP). Severance pay of one to three months' salary is payable depending on service length.

Our team assisted a Pomerania-based logistics company (spring 2026) in restructuring 35 positions across two sites. Proper sequencing of the union consultation, PUP notification, and individual notice delivery reduced the total timeline from an estimated five months to eleven weeks, while avoiding three potential procedural challenges that had been identified at the outset.

What are the most common mistakes – and how do you avoid them?

Most employment termination disputes in Poland do not arise from a bad substantive decision to dismiss. They arise from procedural failures that give the employee a technical but legally enforceable ground to challenge. Understanding the three most common errors allows employers to build a process that survives court scrutiny from the outset.

Mistake 1 – Vague or post-hoc reasons. As noted above, the reason stated in the notice letter is the reason the employer must defend. Courts will not accept new reasons introduced at trial. Employers should document performance issues, attendance records, or business-restructuring decisions in writing before drafting the notice. Internal emails and HR notes created after service of notice carry limited weight.

Mistake 2 – Ignoring protected status. Many employers discover that an employee is pregnant, on sick leave, or a union officer only after the notice has been served. Polish law does not allow good-faith ignorance as a defence for most protected categories. A pre-termination checklist – reviewed by HR and legal – should include a mandatory confirmation of protected status. This takes under 30 minutes and eliminates one of the most common grounds for reinstatement claims.

Mistake 3 – Failing to settle outstanding entitlements on time. On the last day of employment, the employer must pay all outstanding salary, accrued holiday pay, and any contractual bonuses. Late payment triggers statutory interest and, in cases of persistent delay, can constitute a separate breach entitling the employee to exit for employer fault. For foreign employees, late settlement may also delay the permit-cancellation process, creating continued administrative obligations.

For employers managing terminations across multiple jurisdictions – for example, a UK company with a Polish subsidiary – the interaction between local Polish requirements and group-level HR policies creates additional complexity. Our guide on employment law compliance for United Kingdom companies in Poland addresses the most common friction points in that specific cross-border context.

Directors personally authorising terminations should also be aware that wrongful-dismissal findings can, in certain circumstances, contribute to assessments of management conduct in insolvency or regulatory proceedings. The intersection of employment decisions and director liability is explored in our article on D&O insurance coverage for Polish directors.

What to prepare before serving notice:

  • Written documentation of the substantive reason (performance records, restructuring decision, misconduct report)
  • Confirmation of the employee's protected-status position
  • Union membership check and, where required, draft union consultation letter
  • Calculation of notice period, outstanding holiday, and final salary
  • For foreign nationals: work permit details and Regional Office notification timeline

Employers managing posted workers or cross-border assignments should also review obligations under the A1 certificate framework, particularly where termination affects social-security registration. Our briefing on posted workers from Cyprus to Poland and A1 certificates sets out the relevant process.

The specific facts of your termination scenario determine which procedural path applies and where the litigation risk sits. Applying a generic checklist without legal review of the individual case forfeits the protection that a properly structured process provides.

To receive an expert assessment of your termination procedure and exposure, contact info@kordeckipartners.com.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Can an employer terminate an employee by mutual agreement to avoid the notice period?

A: Yes. Mutual agreement is a valid and common route that can set any termination date the parties agree on, including immediate effect. However, the agreement must be genuinely voluntary – courts will examine whether the employee was placed under undue pressure. An employee who signs under duress may later apply to have the agreement set aside. The document should be signed by both parties and retained for at least three years.

Q: How long does an employee have to challenge a dismissal in court, and what compensation can they claim?

A: An employee must file a claim with the labour court within 21 days of receiving the notice of termination. For summary dismissal, the deadline is 21 days from delivery of the termination document. Compensation for unlawful dismissal ranges from a minimum of two weeks' salary to a maximum of three months' salary for employees on fixed-term contracts, and up to six months' salary for employees on indefinite-term contracts. Alternatively, the court may order reinstatement.

Q: Does redundancy require severance pay in Poland, and what are the thresholds?

A: Statutory severance pay applies when the termination is for reasons not attributable to the employee (including redundancy) and the employer has at least 20 employees. The amount is one month's salary for service under two years, two months for two to eight years, and three months for more than eight years. The payment is capped at 15 times the national minimum wage. Employers with fewer than 20 employees are not subject to this statutory obligation, though contractual severance provisions may still apply.

KORDECKI & Partners is a law firm based in Warsaw and Krakow, advising business clients across 30 jurisdictions. Our team combines expertise in Polish and international law with a practical approach to employment law, workforce restructuring, and cross-border mobility. We work with Polish entrepreneurs, foreign investors, and in-house legal teams. To discuss your situation, contact info@kordeckipartners.com.

Disclaimer: This publication is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information herein should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel tailored to your specific circumstances. KORDECKI & Partners assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@kordeckipartners.com.