Falling ill abroad is scariest financially. We explain who pays for L4 in Poland and how much — and why on a UZ contract it all comes down to one checkbox.
Sick leave in Poland is called L4 (after the old paper form's name) — today it's an electronic document that the doctor sends automatically to the employer and to ZUS. You don't need to carry a paper certificate anywhere.
The standard rate is 80% of the base (your average pay from previous months). But there are cases where you get 100%:
On an umowa zlecenia, sickness insurance is voluntary. If you didn't opt into the 2.45% contribution, you won't be paid sick leave at all — there's simply nothing to draw on. On an umowa o pracę this contribution is mandatory, so sick pay is guaranteed.
So when choosing between contract types, don't look only at the take-home amount: a higher net pay on zlecenie without sickness cover means any illness turns into zero income for those days.
The right to payment doesn't start from day one: there's usually a waiting period — 30 days of continuous mandatory insurance (on an umowa o pracę), or 90 days for voluntary cover (zlecenie). There are exceptions — for example, for recent graduates and people whose insurance continued earlier without a long gap.
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