When an employment contract ends, the employer must complete several formalities quickly. The deadline for issuing the employment certificate, deregistering from ZUS, settling the leave equivalent – these obligations are strict, and failure to meet them carries sanctions. Below is a complete list of what you need to do.
Employment certificate – deadline and content
The employment certificate must be issued to the employee on the day the employment relationship ends. If that is not possible, the employer has 7 days to deliver it. Failure to issue the certificate or a delay is a petty offence against employee rights, punishable by a fine.
- Date of contract and type of contract, position, working hours
- Periods and manner of termination or expiry of the employment relationship
- Number of days of annual leave taken and any equivalent paid
- Periods of incapacity for work in the year of departure
- Enforcement proceedings – if any were conducted (with the name of the authority and amount)
- Note on any disciplinary measures taken
ZUS deregistration – ZWUA
Within 7 days of the date the employment relationship ends, the employer must file form ZWUA – deregistering the insured person. In the same timeframe, ZWUA must also be filed for family members if they were registered as co-insured persons. Late deregistration can result in continued health insurance contributions being charged.
Settlement of salary and leave equivalent
In the final month of employment, salary is calculated proportionally to the number of days worked. If the employee has not used their full annual leave entitlement, they are owed a cash equivalent. The equivalent is calculated using the leave equivalent coefficient published annually by the Central Statistical Office (GUS) and the employee's salary.
PIT-11 – deadline and obligations
The PIT-11 for the year in which the employment ended is issued by the end of January of the following year – together with PIT-11 forms for all other employees. If the employee leaves during the year and requests an early PIT-11 (e.g. for their annual tax return or a new job), there is no obligation to issue it before the deadline – but you can do so voluntarily.
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What happens to the documentation and personnel file
The personnel file of an employee who left after 31 December 2018 must be retained for 10 years from the end of the year in which the contract was terminated. For earlier employment relationships – 50 years. Documentation is not destroyed when an employee leaves – throughout the retention period, requests for a copy of the employment certificate or a statement of employment may be made.
Complete checklist – to verify
- Issue and deliver the employment certificate (on the day of departure or within 7 days)
- File ZWUA with ZUS (within 7 days of the date employment ended)
- Calculate and pay salary for the final month (proportionally)
- Calculate and pay the equivalent for unused annual leave
- Prepare the final payroll including the above
- Close the personnel file and transfer to archive
- Issue PIT-11 (by the end of January of the following year, or on the employee's request)
How I can help
As part of the HR service, I prepare all documentation related to the termination of a contract – from the employment certificate, through the ZWUA, to the final payroll with leave equivalent. If you need one-off help when an employee leaves – get in touch.