Supplementary maternity leave: What you need to know

by Katarzyna Małaniuk

14 May 2025

The new legislation gives the employed mother or father raising a child the right to supplementary maternity leave, but only immediately after they have used the maternity leave. The new leave cannot be used in parts (pursuant to Article180²(4) of the Labour Code (“the Labour Code"), supplementary maternity leave is granted once, at the request of the eligible employee).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Request

2. Amounts payable during the supplementary maternity leave

3. Transitional provisions

The new Article 180² (1) added to the Labour Code specifies in more detail the circumstances in which employees are entitled to supplementary maternity leave, i.e. when a child is born:

before the end of the 28th week of pregnancy or with a birth weight of no more than 1,000 g, in which case one week of supplementary maternity leave is granted 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 end of the 37th week of pregnancy and with a birth weight of more than 1,000 g, in which case one week of supplementary maternity leave is granted for each week of the child's stay in hospital, until the end of the 8th week after birth,
after the end of the 37th week of pregnancy and the child's stay in hospital, provided that the child's stay in hospital after birth is for at least 2 consecutive days, with the first of these days being between the 5th and 28th day after birth – in such a case one week of supplementary maternity leave is granted for each week of the child's stay in hospital in the period between 5th day until the end of the 8th week after birth.

If more than one child is born at one birth, the weight of the child with the lowest birth weight and the length of hospital stay of the child who stayed there the longest should be taken into account when determining the amount of supplementary maternity leave. This should be assessed as a positive solution for employees, as the child with the lowest birth weight is not always the one who stays in hospital the longest.

The legislators have also allowed the periods of the child's stay in hospital to be added up when determining the amount of supplementary maternity leave, but up to the end of the 8th or 15th week after birth, respectively. In such a case an incomplete week is rounded up to a full week, which is another solution beneficial for employees.

In addition, Article 183(3¹) has been added to the amended Labour Code, under which supplementary maternity leave is also granted to an employee who:

took custody of a child as a foster family (except a professional foster family),
took custody of a child and applied to the custody court for initiating adoption proceedings,

on the rules set out for employees being biological parents, i.e. the rules described in Article 180² of the Labour Code, if the child stays in hospital after the employee took custody of him/her.

Thereby the legislators have made the rights of adoptive parents equal to those of biological parents.

Request

The leave request must be submitted on paper or electronically (by e-mail, text message, instant messaging software) at least 21 days before the end of maternity leave, and the employer must grant such a request. For evidentiary purposes, it is recommended that leave requests be submitted to the employer in paper form with proof of delivery or by e-mail.

Pursuant to the Labour Code and Article 14(1) of the Regulation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy of 11 March 2025 on applications concerning employees' rights related to parenthood and documents attached to such applications (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 322), the application should include:

the full name of the employee (mother or father) raising the child,
maternity leave end date,
the period for which the supplementary maternity leave is to be granted.

The following documents must be attached to the application:

2. the hospital certificate that contains information on how long the child stayed in hospital and that the child was born:

before the end of the 28th week of pregnancy or with a birth weight of less than 1,000 g,
after the 28th week of pregnancy and before the end of 37th week of pregnancy and with a birth weight of more than 1,000 g,
after the 37th week of pregnancy;

2. a statement by the employee (mother or father) raising the child that the other parent does not intend to take supplementary maternity leave or maternity allowance for the period corresponding to the supplementary maternity leave;

3. additional documents in the case of adoption or taking custody of a child:

the employee's statement on the date of taking custody of the child(ren) and
a copy of the application for initiating adoption proceedings which includes the date of birth of the child(ren), with the application date certified by the custody court or
a certificate from the custody court stating the date of applying to the court for adoption of the child(ren), including the date of birth of the child(ren), or a copy of the final decision of the custody court to place the child(ren) in a foster family, or
a copy of a civil law contract between the foster family and the district governor (starosta).

Problems may arise when it comes to granting a supplementary maternity leave request submitted past the deadline. The legislators have indicated that the leave request must be submitted at least 21 days before the end of maternity leave. In theory, the employer can always act in the employee's favour and grant the leave even if it is requested after the deadline. However, if the employer pays out the allowances, then he exposes himself the risk of having the maternity allowance paid to the employee questioned by the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS).

Amounts payable during the supplementary maternity leave

An employee on supplementary maternity leave is entitled to a maternity allowance in the amount of 100% of the allowance assessment base. The amount of the allowance does not change even if the employee applies, within 21 days after the birth, for maternity allowance in connection with maternity and parental leave, and later for supplementary maternity leave.

In such a case, the maternity allowance will amount to:

81.5% of the allowance assessment base – during maternity leave,
100% of the allowance assessment base – during supplementary maternity leave,
81.5% of the allowance assessment base – during parental leave.

Importantly, the employer will also not have to calculate the maternity allowance assessment base anew, as the supplementary maternity leave is granted immediately after the maternity leave.

Transitional provisions

Pursuant to Article 26 of the Amending Act, employees who, on the date of entry into force of the Amended Act (i.e. on 19 March 2025), are entitled to or are on maternity leave or leave equivalent to maternity leave, may be granted supplementary maternity leave under Article 180² of the Labour Code or Article 183(3¹) of the (amended) Labour Code. In such a case, supplementary maternity leave is granted on a one-off basis upon application submitted in paper or electronic form by the employed mother or father no later than on the last day of maternity leave or leave equivalent to maternity leave.

If you have any questions related to supplementary maternity leave, contact us »

Legislation

The Act of 6 December 2024 amending the Labour Code and Certain Other Acts (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 1871 of 18/12/2024) – “the Amending Act". The legislation will enter into force three months after promulgation, i.e. on 19 March 2025.