Teachers are losing a key privilege. The Ministry of National Education no longer offers hope

• Up to 80,000 teachers could lose their entitlement to health leave.
• This is related to the amendment of the regulations on early retirement for teachers.
• By law, if a teacher has less than a year left until retirement, taking health leave comes with restrictions.

In July 2023, as part of the amendment to the Teachers' Charter, regulations were introduced to ensure the right to a pension on special terms for teachers who started working before the introduction of the pension reform in 1999. At that time, the pension system provided for separate retirement rules for teachers.

When introducing the new regulations, a vacatio legis of over a year was applied, thus enabling all interested parties, including school principals, to familiarise themselves with them and prepare for the changes resulting from their entry into force.

According to the amendment, specifically Article 88 of the Teachers’ Charter, the following persons may take early retirement:

• September 1, 2024 - teachers born before September 1, 1966;
• September 1, 2025 - teachers born after August 31, 1966 and before September 1, 1969;
• September 1, 2026 - teachers born after August 31, 1969

Art. 73 of the Teachers' Charter gives teachers the opportunity to take health leave . However, a teacher who is less than a year away from becoming eligible for a pension cannot be granted health leave for a period longer than the end of the month preceding the month in which the teacher becomes eligible for a pension.

The regulations state that if a teacher does not want to take early retirement but is already entitled to it, he or she will not be able to take paid health leave.

- However, the introduction of the possibility of early retirement has complicated the use of health leave by teachers in such a way that the limitation of the possibility of taking health leave or its duration is not related to the type of pension that a teacher can take, so it can be both a general pension or an early retirement pension - notes MP Gabriela Lenartowicz in an interpellation to the Ministry of National Education.

He also asks whether the Ministry of National Education is planning changes in this area. The ministry's answer is unequivocal.

In the light of the current regulations, the limitation of the possibility of taking health leave or its duration is not related to the type of pension that a teacher can benefit from - we read in the response to the interpellation provided by Henryk Kiepura, Deputy Minister of Education.

It is therefore irrelevant whether a teacher acquired the right to early teacher retirement under general rules after reaching the general retirement age, or whether he or she acquires this right under the amendment in question.

At the same time, the ministry reminds that, in accordance with the regulations, the obligation to check whether a teacher meets the formal conditions for obtaining the right to health leave rests with the principal of the school or facility.

The above action should be performed by the director based on the teacher's personal file. It should be emphasized that under the applicable regulations, establishing and maintaining documentation for each employee in matters related to the employment relationship and the employee's personal file is one of the basic obligations of the employer related to employee documentation.

- explains the Ministry of National Education.

According to estimates by the Polish Teachers' Union, the construction of the regulations means that up to 80,000 teachers will lose their entitlement to health leave.