The draft bill for pensioners is stuck in consultations. ZUS and RCL strongly criticize the changes
The situation of early retirees is stalemate. Although they can count on higher benefits thanks to the Constitutional Tribunal, its judgment is not published (reference number SK 140/20). The government promised that it would quickly prepare a law that would solve the problem it raises.
The project by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy appeared in June 2025 and aroused controversy. As we reported in Business Insider, the project does not cover all retirees who could benefit from the verdict, and also proposes unfavorable conversion rules. Now we read similar comments in the positions of trade unions, but also ZUS and RCL. Both are from June 2025, but have only now seen the light of day.
Read also: ZUS versus the court: how to recover up to PLN 60,000 zloty? Check what to do
The project ignores teachers and miners
ZUS points out that the problem of reducing the amount of the pension by the amounts of earlier pensions collected in some cases, it may also apply to people from younger age groups, e.g. miners, who, after reaching the age of 50, retired as miners before June 6, 2012, or persons who acquired the right to a retirement pension for creative or artistic activity before that date.
OPZZ clearly states, following the arguments of the Polish Teachers' Union, that the project does not take into account teachers who retired early, regardless of age in accordance with Art. 88 Teacher Cards.
Dr. Andrzej Hańderek, a legal advisor specializing in disputes with ZUS, explains the source of the problem.
— In this case, it is important to take early retirement before June 6, 2012 (or before January 1, 2013), and to reach the general retirement age after January 1, 2013. ZUS rightly points out that among the potential beneficiaries of the Act there are miners' pensioners, creators and artists who are younger than the above-mentioned age groups, and also, which ZUS fails to notice, teachers. All these professional groups could retire before the age of 55 in the case of women and before the age of 60 in the case of men, explains attorney Hańderek.
See also: The trip to Norway paid off. We know what pensions Polish emigrants from there receive today [KWOTY]
ZUS position
|
RCL
What about retirees from before 2013?
Monika Salamończyk, vice-president of RCL, points out that “the principle of equality requires equal treatment of legal entities within a specific class (category). Meanwhile, it is not clear by what criterion the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy, the author of the project, singled out the addressees of the project.”
Dr. Andrzej Hańderek considers this remark to be very accurate. In his opinion it means that the act should also cover people who submitted an application for early retirement before January 1, 2013. RCL pointed out that the insured should not suffer negative consequences from the moment the act is announced, as it is contrary to the essence of the institution vacatio legis.
RCL position
|
RCL
Questionable rules for determining the amount of the pension
Another comment from ZUS concerns the determination of the pension amount. This is to happen only on the day of reaching retirement age. According to ZUS, this will be a different method than the current one (as, for example, in the case of people born in 1953), and, above all, less favorable.
“The introduction of the proposed solution may result in… a person who postponed the moment of submitting a pension application in order to obtain a higher benefit, the amount of the pension will be calculated on the day of reaching the standard retirement age, and therefore in a way that is much less favorable for him. At the same time, the pension determined in accordance with the principles provided for in this Act cannot be lower than that paid so far. Thus, the proposed provisions may lead to a situation of favoring a group of beneficiaries who will receive a guarantee of benefit payment in the current amount over those who will submit an application for a pension only after the entry into force of the proposed act in connection with the completion of the general retirement age,” we read in the opinion signed by Mariusz Jedynak, vice-president of ZUS.
In short ZUS criticizes a mechanism for indexation of initial capital and contributions, which operates until the moment of submitting an application for a pension at the standard retirement age, and not only until the standard retirement age is reached.
See also: Not only the indexation of pensions from March. This is change for thousands of seniors
No indexation of initial capital and contributions
However, neither ZUS nor RCL paid attention to the biggest drawback of the project, which was noticed by Dr. Hańderek, but also by the National Commission of NSZZ “Solidarność”, The Polish Union of Pensioners, Pensioners and Disabled Persons, as well as the National Trade Union of Operating Room, Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Workers.
The legislator proposes it again determining the amount of the benefit without reducing the pension capital by the amounts of earlier pensions already collected, but bwithout taking into account the indexation of the initial capital and contributions for the period of receiving early retirement.
According to Solidarity, this significantly limits the benefits of recalculating the pension. “To such an extent that the recalculated benefit may turn out to be lower than previously paid (this is confirmed by the proposed provision guaranteeing that the benefit will not be reduced as a result of recalculation – Article 2(6) of the draft act),” Solidarity emphasizes.
— Failure to take into account the annual indexation of initial capital and contributions during the period of receiving an early retirement pension will have a significantly unfavorable impact on the final amount of the pension – says Dr. Andrzej Hańderek.
In his opinion, the retiree will hypothetically receive a benefit in a higher amount, but not as high as in the cases from 1953, or on the basis of current court judgments.
See also: Pensioners will no longer receive increases of several percent. And very good [OPINIA]
A short history of the dispute over early retirement
More than a year and a half ago, on June 4, 2024, the Constitutional Tribunal issued a ruling in favor of nearly 200,000 people. retirees (reference number SK 140/20). The point is that from the basis of calculation pensions at the standard age (60 years for women and 65 years for men), the amount received during early retirement should not be deducted.
The Constitutional Tribunal issued its judgment only five years after the complaint was filed, already during the rule of the so-called coalition on October 15, because the costs to the budget were previously feared. The estimated increase in expenses for the implementation of the Constitutional Tribunal's judgments on pensions amounts to over PLN 5-5.5 billion per year, and the additional cost of compensation is estimated at almost PLN 10 billion.
Despite the Constitutional Tribunal's judgment, ZUS still issues negative decisions in many cases because it points to the lack of publication of the judgment in the Journal of Laws, which formally limits the possibility of its application in resumed proceedings.
However, practice shows that Labor and social security courts increasingly rule in favor of retireesusing the institution of dispersed constitutional review.
