Sick leave (L4) — how much you get and when you lose sickness benefit

Sick leave, commonly called “L4”, is a medical certificate of temporary incapacity for work (zwolnienie lekarskie). For the time you are ill you usually get 80% of your pay — first from your employer, then as sickness benefit (zasiłek chorobowy). Since 13 April 2026 new rules have applied that describe exactly what you must not do on sick leave. If you break them, you lose the money for the whole sick leave, not just for one day.

How much you get while ill

If you have an employment contract (umowa o pracę):

• the first 33 days of illness in a calendar year — your employer pays sick pay (wynagrodzenie chorobowe) of 80% of your pay (Art. 92 § 1 of the Labour Code); if you have turned 50, this period is 14 days,
• from the next day — you get sickness benefit from social insurance, also 80% of the benefit base (Art. 11(1) of the Sickness Benefits Act).

You get 100%, among others, when the illness occurs during pregnancy or results from an accident on the way to or from work. The money is due for every day of sick leave, including Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Sickness benefit is paid for a maximum of 182 days, and in the case of tuberculosis or illness during pregnancy — for 270 days (Art. 8). The benefit is paid by the employer if it registers more than 20 people for sickness insurance; in smaller companies it is paid by ZUS (Art. 61).

When you are entitled to money on L4

You are entitled to sickness benefit after 30 days of uninterrupted sickness insurance if it is compulsory for you — as under an employment contract. If your sickness insurance is voluntary, you wait 90 days (Art. 4(1)). It is voluntary, for example, under a contract of mandate (umowa zlecenia) — if you do not pay the sickness contribution on a mandate contract, you will not get the benefit.

Previous insurance periods count if the break was no longer than 30 days. If you are not entitled to sickness benefit, you will not get sick pay from your employer either (Art. 92 § 3 of the Labour Code).

What you must not do on sick leave

You lose the right to sickness benefit for the whole period of sick leave if during your illness (Art. 17(1)):

• you do paid work — i.e. any activity for which you earn money, regardless of the type of contract. The exception is incidental activities, i.e. one-off ones forced by important circumstances. An instruction from your employer is not such a circumstance,
• you engage in activity inconsistent with the purpose of sick leave — i.e. actions that hinder or prolong your treatment. Ordinary everyday activities, such as shopping or going to the pharmacy, are allowed.

You also lose sick pay from your employer, because it is due only if you are entitled to sickness benefit.

Who can check you and how

• ZUS can send you for an examination by a certifying doctor (lekarz orzecznik) or a consultant doctor — at a designated place or where you are staying. It can also request medical records from the doctor who issued the sick leave (Art. 59(3)).
• ZUS also checks whether you use sick leave for its purpose — on its own initiative or at the employer’s request (Art. 68(1) and (1b)).
• Your employer can check by itself whether you use sick leave for its purpose — when it pays you sick pay or sickness benefit (Art. 68(1a) and (1d)).

Doubts as to whether sick leave was used contrary to its purpose are decided by ZUS (Art. 68(1e)).

Change from 1 January 2027: sick leave from one job only

If you work in two places (e.g. under two contracts), illness generally applies to both jobs and sick leave is issued separately for each of them. From 1 January 2027, the doctor will be able — at your request — not to issue sick leave for one of the jobs if, because of its nature, you can keep doing it, e.g. office work with a broken leg. You must then inform the contribution payer (e.g. your employer) that pays benefits about the period of sick leave issued for the other job (Art. 17(1d) and (1e)).

What this means for you

If you are an employee:

• Sick leave is issued electronically (e-ZLA) and usually reaches your employer automatically via ZUS. Still, inform your employer about your absence in the way used in your company.
• Do not work on L4 — neither for your employer nor anywhere else, not even “for a moment” or at your boss’s request.
• If you receive a summons for an examination by a ZUS certifying doctor, attend on time and bring your medical records.
• If you think your benefit was calculated incorrectly, you can file an application with ZUS to determine your benefit entitlement (Art. 63).

If you are an employer:

• You have the right to check whether an employee uses sick leave for its purpose, or to ask ZUS to do so.
• Do not instruct employees on L4 to do work — your instruction does not justify their working on sick leave and may cost them their benefit.
• Prepare your HR team for the change from 1 January 2027 concerning people with several insurance titles.

Legal basis: Act of 25 June 1999 on cash benefits from social insurance in case of sickness and maternity (consolidated text, Dz.U. 2026 item 854), Art. 4, 8, 11, 17, 59, 61, 63, 68; Act of 18 December 2025 amending the Act on the social insurance system and certain other acts (Dz.U. 2026 item 26) — in force since 13 April 2026, Art. 17(1d) and (1e) from 1 January 2027; Act of 26 June 1974 — Labour Code (consolidated text, Dz.U. 2026 item 1245), Art. 92. Legal status as of 2 October 2026.