Świadectwo pracy after employment ends: obtain, check and correct it

Świadectwo pracy confirms information about the employment relationship: periods of work and data needed for subsequent employment rights. It relates to umowa o pracę. After the ordinary zlecenie should not require such a document as a mandatory work certificate; there you can request confirmation of the performance of the contract and the payments.

Do not confuse the certificate with wypowiedzenie – notice of termination, or zaświadczenie o zatrudnieniu – certificate of current employment. Combine both documents if each is needed for its own purpose. The certificate does not renew the work permit and does not constitute a new ground for stay.

According to the PIP, the certificate is issued on the day of termination of the employment relationship if the employer does not plan a new employment relationship with you within seven days. If it is objectively impossible to extradite on that day, it shall be sent or delivered by another means within the following seven days. The release cannot be made dependent on the return of the phone or other settlement with the company.

Tell the staff the current address and contact method until the last day. If the document has not arrived, ask for the date, the method of sending and a copy; the copy helps to verify the contents, but does not relieve the obligation of proper delivery. Save the request and the envelope of the received letter.

• Name and details of the employer, dates of start and end of work.
• Employment and positions held.
• Grounds for termination of employment relationship.
• Use of leave and other information affecting entitlements at the next employer.
• Periods and data that differ from the contract, schedule or payroll.

Within 14 days of receiving the certificate, send the employer a request for rectification of the certificate of employment. Name the incorrect string, the correct value, and the document that supports it. Don’t just ask to “fix everything”: the HR manager should know what to check. Keep proof of receipt of the application.

The employer reports the refusal or issues the corrected certificate in the prescribed manner; PIP indicates a seven-day period for its reaction. In the case of a refusal, there are 14 days from the notice of refusal to claim redress in the labour court. If the deadline is missed or there is no response at all, do not consider the dispute automatically lost: get a PIP consultation with your timeline.

Give the required copy or copy to the human resources department and ask what information is still required for the calculation of leave. Keep the original in your archive. If the new employer has discovered an error, compare it with the old contract, and do not accept an oral explanation "so always write".

Do not add information yourself or hide the correction page. If you have to apply again, keep all the correspondence in one folder: the dates of delivery here have more importance than the day indicated in the header of the letter.

• Issuance, correction and time limits
• PIP Note on Certificate Correction

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