Carried-over leave: 30 September 2026 is two deadlines in one

30 September 2026 is a single date but two different deadlines. By that day your employer must grant you the carried-over leave (urlop zaległy) from 2025. On the very same day, the claim for leave from 2022 becomes time-barred — if you still have unused days from that year, from 1 October the employer may refuse to grant them. It is worth checking your leave record this week, not in October.

Deadline one: carried-over leave from 2025

The rule is simple: leave is granted in the calendar year in which you became entitled to it (art. 161 of the Kodeks pracy — the Labour Code). If not all days were used, they become urlop zaległy (carried-over leave), which must be granted no later than 30 September of the following year (art. 168 of the Labour Code). Days from 2025 therefore have a deadline of 30 September 2026.

Two things that are most often forgotten:

• It is enough that the leave begins by 30 September. If you have a dozen or so carried-over days and the first of them falls on 30 September, the rest may continue into October — the deadline is met.
• Urlop na żądanie (leave on demand) is not part of this pool. Four unused on-demand days from 2025 carry over into 2026 as ordinary carried-over leave, but they are no longer governed by the separate on-demand regime.

Failing to grant an employee the leave they are entitled to is an offence against employee rights, punishable by a fine of PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000 (art. 282 § 1 point 2 of the Labour Code, as in force since 8 July 2026).

Deadline two: leave from 2022 becomes time-barred

Claims arising from an employment relationship become time-barred after 3 years from the day they became due (art. 291 § 1 of the Labour Code). For carried-over leave, that period runs from 30 September of the year following the year the leave was earned.

Do the maths for leave earned in 2022: it should have been granted by 30 September 2023, so the three years run from that date and end on 30 September 2026. From 1 October 2026 the claim is time-barred. The right does not vanish by itself, but the employer may raise the defence of limitation and effectively refuse both the days off and any cash equivalent for them.

One exception: while you are on urlop wychowawczy (parental childcare leave), the limitation period for the annual leave claim is suspended. If you were on such leave during that time, your dates are different — ask HR to calculate them.

Money does not replace time off

As long as you are employed, your employer cannot pay you a cash equivalent instead of leave. The right to rest must be taken in kind, that is in days off — the Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy (PIP, National Labour Inspectorate) repeats this regularly. A cash equivalent (ekwiwalent) for unused leave is due only when the employment relationship ends or expires (art. 171 of the Labour Code). That claim is also time-barred after 3 years, but counted from the day the contract ended.

A second practical consequence: according to PIP, relying on Supreme Court case law, an employer may send an employee on carried-over leave even without their consent. So if in September you are told “you are taking your carried-over days from Monday” — for carried-over leave this is permitted.

What this means for you

If you are an employee:

• Ask HR for your leave balance broken down by year: how many days remain from 2022, from 2023–2024, from 2025 and from 2026.
• Use the days from 2022, or file a request for them, before 1 October 2026. A request in writing or by e-mail gives you proof that you applied in time.
• Plan the carried-over days from 2025 so that the leave starts no later than 30 September.
• If your employer does not grant the leave, you can file a complaint with PIP. The complaint is free of charge, and at your request the inspector will not disclose that the inspection follows from your report.
• Working through an agency as a temporary worker? Leave is granted by the agency as your employer — send your request there, even though you work every day at the user undertaking (pracodawca użytkownik).

If you are an employer:

• Review leave records before 30 September: first the days from 2022–2024 (risk of limitation and dispute), then the 2025 backlog (risk of an offence).
• Carried-over leave takes priority over current-year leave — that is the order in which requests should be handled.
• Document your decisions. In a PIP inspection what counts is paperwork: leave requests, leave records and working-time records.

Carried-over leave rarely results from bad faith — more often from nobody looking at the dates. A single review of the leave record in the last week of September can save a dozen days off. If you are unsure how to calculate your own deadlines, or your employer refuses the leave — write to us.

Legal basis: Act of 26 June 1974 — Kodeks pracy (Labour Code), consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 item 277 as amended, art. 161, art. 167(2), art. 168, art. 171, art. 282 § 1 point 2, art. 291 § 1; information materials of the Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy on annual leave (statement “Prawo do wypoczynku ma być realizowane w naturze”, 2 September 2025; “Inspektor Pracy”, September 2026). Legal status as at 23 September 2026.