Pursuant to Article 39 of the Labour Code, an employer may not terminate the employment contract of an employee who is less than four years away from reaching retirement age if the period of employment entitles them to a pension upon reaching that age.
For many years, two conflicting views have appeared in court rulings and labour law doctrine on what conditions must be met in order for persons employed under a fixed-term employment contract to benefit from this protection.
According to the first view, pre-retirement protection should cover all persons employed under fixed-term employment contracts, including those whose contracts, due to their duration, will expire before the employee reaches retirement age. For example, in its judgment of 18 December 2014, ref. no. II PK 50/14, the Supreme Court indicated that the interpretation of Article 39 of the Labour Code does not entitle the introduction of an additional condition that employment protection covers only fixed-term employment contracts which have been concluded for a period not shorter than the period remaining until retirement age. A similar position was presented in the Supreme Court’s decision of 14 August 2024, ref. no. III PZP 4/24.
The second view indicated that the pre-retirement protection provided for in Article 39 of the Labour Code does not apply to a fixed-term employment contract which would expire before the employee reaches the retirement age entitling him or her to a pension. This position was presented in the Supreme Court’s judgment of 27 July 2011, ref. no. II PK 20/11.
Doubts in this regard, prevailing not only in legal doctrine but also in court rulings, are eliminated by a resolution of the Supreme Court adopted by a panel of seven Supreme Court judges on 30 September 2025, ref. no. III PZP 6/24, which has the force of a legal principle.
The above-mentioned resolution of the Supreme Court states that ‘prohibition on termination of an employment contract resulting from Article 39 of the Labour Code also applies to a fixed-term contract, including one whose term expires before the employee reaches retirement age.’
In the above-mentioned resolution, the Supreme Court clearly opted for the first of the above-mentioned positions, which is clearly ‘pro-employee’.
The Supreme Court ruled that the prohibition on terminating an employment contract applies to any employee who is no more than four years away from reaching retirement age, regardless of whether they are employed under a permanent employment contract or a fixed-term employment contract, and also when the end date of such a fixed-term employment contract falls before they reach retirement age.
The Supreme Court’s resolution certainly meets the expectations of employees commonly referred to as ‘50+ employees’, giving them full and real pre-retirement protection, which is independent of the type of employment contract they have concluded with their employer.