What happens if your B2B contract gets reclassified as employment, rights and payments

What happens if your B2B contract gets reclassified as employment, rights and payments

• What exactly the PIP decision establishes, and from which day it applies
• When the decision becomes enforceable
• How to appeal a PIP decision, step by step
• Is a PIP decision enough to get wages, leave, or overtime pay
• How much time you have to file a claim for wages, overtime, and leave
• Can you get paid for leave you didn’t have time to use during your years on a JDG
• Can you be fired or punished for PIP recognizing you as an employee
• Frequently asked questions
• What to do with this information
• Sources

What exactly the PIP decision establishes, and from which day it applies

The district labour inspector’s decision on the existence of an employment relationship (the new basis under Art. 11 ust. 1 pkt 7a of the PIP Act) contains a specific list: the parties to the contract, the type of employment contract, the date it was concluded, the type of work, the workplace, the working time, and the amount of pay¹. By default, the date the employment contract is “concluded” is the day the decision itself is issued, not the day your cooperation actually started looking like employment¹. This is the most important detail that most overviews of the new law miss: the decision by itself doesn’t automatically move you back in time.

There is one exception. If, between the start of the inspection and the moment the decision becomes final, the client terminates the civil-law contract themselves, doesn’t renew the cooperation, or simply stops giving you work, the employment contract is treated as concluded on the day the inspection started, not the day of the decision¹. But even then, only the rules on protection against dismissal and on limiting the number and duration of fixed-term contracts apply to you (Art. 25¹ KP), not the full package of employee rights for that entire period¹. In other words: this exception protects you from being “fired on the eve of the decision”, it doesn’t automatically hand you years of employment tenure with paid leave and overtime.

A PIP decision works going forward. It doesn’t automatically turn three years of working through a JDG (the Polish Jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza, sole proprietorship) into three years of employment tenure with full rights.

We covered the contractor profiles for whom this scenario is most likely in the series article “Who risks losing B2B status after the PIP 2026 reform“: the more your cooperation looked like the work of a full-time employee (a single client, a fixed schedule, reporting to a manager), the higher the probability that this procedure applies to you.

When the decision becomes enforceable

A PIP decision takes effect for labour law, tax law, ZUS, and health insurance purposes from the day it is issued, but only becomes enforceable at one of three moments: once the one-month appeal window has passed and neither party has responded, once a court ruling on appeal becomes final, or once the inspector grants the decision immediate enforceability (rygor natychmiastowej wykonalności)¹. That last option only applies to people with special dismissal-protection status: pregnant women, employees nearing retirement age, union representatives. For everyone else, filing an appeal automatically suspends enforcement until the case is finally resolved².

How to appeal a PIP decision, step by step

An appeal against a decision recognizing an employment relationship doesn’t go to an administrative court (WSA/NSA), but to a district court, a labour court, under a new procedure in the Code of Civil Procedure (Kodeks postępowania cywilnego, KPC)²:

1. Deadline: 1 month from the day you receive the decision².
2. How to file: in writing, through the same district labour inspector who issued the decision, not directly to the court².
3. The inspector’s self-review: if the inspector finds the appeal fully justified, they can amend or overturn the decision themselves without sending the case to court².
4. Referral to court: if the inspector doesn’t fully agree with the appeal, they forward it, together with the full case file, to the court within a month of it being filed².
5. Preclusion of evidence: all claims and evidence must be submitted with the appeal itself. Submitting them later is allowed only in exceptional cases, where the party proves it was impossible earlier².

The client isn’t the only one who can appeal the decision. As the contractor, you are also a party to it¹, and you have the right to file an appeal within the same one-month window, for example if the inspector got the start date of the employment relationship wrong, listed a pay amount that’s too low (in the absence of full evidence, the law requires the minimum statutory wage to be used), or misdescribed the type of work performed¹.

Is a PIP decision enough to get wages, leave, or overtime pay

No, not on its own. A PIP decision establishes status: the fact that an employment relationship exists and its basic terms (contract type, pay, schedule)¹. It’s not an order to pay a specific amount for past overtime or unused leave. If the client doesn’t pay voluntarily after the decision, the contractor needs a separate civil lawsuit in a labour court to recover the specific amount.

This is a fundamental difference from how reclassification works for tax purposes. The new Art. 201 § 1aa of the Tax Code (Ordynacja podatkowa) treats a final PIP decision or a legally binding court judgment as a binding precedent fact (prejudykat): a fact the tax authority cannot re-assess¹⁰. There’s no equivalent rule for the labour court: a PIP decision helps prove that an employment relationship exists, but it doesn’t replace a court judgment on the specific amount owed.

Example 1. Dmytro, a developer with the “single client embedded in a team” profile from the series article on risk profiles, received a PIP decision after an inspection that started in February 2027. While the proceedings were still ongoing, in March 2027, the client terminated his civil-law contract. The decision recognized the employment relationship, and because of the exception described above, the date the contract was concluded became the date the inspection started, February 2027. Does that mean Dmytro automatically gets a leave equivalent and overtime pay for the entire time he actually worked this way since 2023? No. Even in this scenario with the shifted date, the law only applies the rules on protection against dismissal to the earlier period, not the full package of rights. To get the employment relationship recognized for the years before the inspection, along with the right to leave and overtime for those years, a separate lawsuit is needed to establish that the employment relationship existed during that period, and the law expressly allows the district labour inspector, though it isn’t required to, to file that lawsuit when the period falls outside what the decision covers³.

Example 2. Olena, with the “single client, flexible schedule” profile from the same article, received the same kind of PIP decision, but her client didn’t terminate anything during the proceedings, simply continued the cooperation as usual. The date the employment contract was concluded became the date the decision was issued, the general rule with no exception. Does Olena have a right to a leave equivalent for the two years before the decision? Not without an extra step. The decision recognizes her as an employee from the day it was issued, not from 2023. To get paid for the earlier period, she needs to file her own civil lawsuit to establish that the employment relationship existed for those specific past years, and only after a court recognizes that can she count leave, overtime, and the equivalent for those years.

How much time you have to file a claim for wages, overtime, and leave

Claims arising from an employment relationship, including overtime pay and the leave equivalent, become time-barred after 3 years from the day the claim became enforceable (Art. 291 § 1 KP)⁵. That’s the same basic limitation period for both types of claims: the law doesn’t set a separate, shorter, or longer period specifically for overtime as opposed to the leave equivalent.

Three years is less than the 5-year period during which ZUS and the tax office can assess a company’s arrears, which we covered in detail in the series article on the cost of B2B reclassification⁶. The difference is simple: ZUS and tax debts are public-law debts owed to the state, while wages and leave are a private right of the employee, and lawmakers traditionally set a shorter period specifically for private claims.

Three years to file a wage claim doesn’t mean three years from the day of the PIP decision. The clock stops while the inspection proceedings themselves are ongoing, and only starts counting again once the decision becomes final.

There’s an important detail that, in practice, gives you more time than it might seem at first glance. When a district labour inspector opens proceedings to establish an employment relationship, it interrupts the limitation period for the worker’s claims connected to that relationship. After the interruption, the period starts counting again from the day the decision (or a court ruling on appeal or on a claim to establish the relationship) becomes final³. The practical effect: if the inspection started in 2026, but the final court ruling wasn’t issued until 2028, the three years for a wage claim run not from 2026, but from 2028.

Can you get paid for leave you didn’t have time to use during your years on a JDG

The right to annual paid leave belongs to every employee (Art. 152 § 1 KP), and it cannot be waived⁸. The leave allowance is 20 days for less than 10 years of service and 26 days for 10 years or more⁸. But leave itself and money for unused leave are not the same thing: the leave equivalent (ekwiwalent pieniężny) is only paid when an employment contract is terminated or ends (Art. 171 § 1 KP)⁷. As long as the employment relationship continues, unused days don’t automatically turn into money, the employer must grant them by 30 September of the following calendar year at the latest (Art. 168 KP), not buy them out.

This is where the main limitation of this article comes back into play: if the PIP decision recognized you as an employee only from the day it was issued (the usual scenario, with no exception for a termination during the proceedings), you legally have no formal “days of leave” for your years working through a JDG, because in the eyes of the law, no employment relationship existed at that time. The only way to get them is through a separate recognition of the employment relationship for the earlier period: either through your own lawsuit in a labour court, or through a lawsuit that the district labour inspector may, but isn’t required to, file³. Only once a court recognizes that the employment relationship existed, say, since 2023, can you count leave for those years and claim the equivalent, if the relationship has already ended by the time you’re settling accounts. We covered in detail exactly what a B2B contractor loses compared to a full-time employee while that recognition doesn’t exist, in particular paid leave, sick pay, and overtime pay, in the series article “Paid leave, sick pay, overtime: what a B2B contractor doesn’t have”.

Can you be fired or punished for PIP recognizing you as an employee

No, that is expressly forbidden by law. Issuing a decision on the existence of an employment relationship cannot be grounds for any unfavorable treatment of the employee, and in particular cannot be a reason for dismissal, with or without notice¹. Violating this ban exposes the client to a fine of 2000-60,000 zł for a first violation⁹, the same range as other violations of Art. 281 KP, which we covered in detail in the series article “PIP fines in 2026: how much, and for what”.

A PIP decision cannot be turned into a pretext for dismissal. Trying to do so costs the client another fine in the same range as other violations of Art. 281 of the Labor Code.

If your contract was terminated specifically in the period between the start of the inspection and the final decision, and you believe the reason for the termination is connected to the PIP proceedings, a court can grant special protective measures: banning any change to or termination of the contract other than under the general rules protecting employees from dismissal, for as long as the case is pending⁴. This applies specifically to the period while the case is being heard, not to automatic protection for all time going forward.

Frequently asked questions

Does a PIP decision mean I’ll automatically get leave for all my years working through a JDG? No. By default, the decision recognizes the employment relationship from the day it was issued, not from the day your actual work started looking like employment. To get recognition and pay for earlier years, you need a separate lawsuit to establish that the employment relationship existed during that period.

Who files the claim for wages or overtime: me or PIP? Usually you. The district labour inspector may file a lawsuit to establish an employment relationship for a period the decision doesn’t cover, but that’s their right, not an obligation³. A claim for a specific amount, your wages, overtime, or the leave equivalent, is always filed by the former contractor themselves, not the inspector.

How much time do I have to file a claim for wages or leave? 3 years from the day the claim became enforceable, under Art. 291 § 1 KP. If the district inspector has already opened proceedings on your case, this period is interrupted and only starts counting again from the day of the final decision or court ruling.

Can I appeal the decision if I think the inspector got the pay amount or date wrong? Yes. You’re a party to the decision just as much as the client, and you have the same one-month window to appeal through the district labour inspector to the court.

Can I be fired because PIP recognized an employment relationship? No. The law expressly bans this as grounds for dismissal, and violations carry a fine of 2000-60,000 zł for the client.

What if the client just ignores the decision and doesn’t pay the recognized wages? A PIP decision is not an enforceable order for a specific amount. If the client doesn’t pay voluntarily, you need a civil lawsuit in a labour court to recover the specific amount. Once the court rules, that amount becomes an enforceable title that can be handed to a court bailiff (komornik) if the client still doesn’t pay after the ruling.

Are the limitation periods different for overtime compared to the leave equivalent? No. Both types of claims fall under the same general 3-year period from Art. 291 § 1 KP. The law doesn’t set a separate, shorter, or longer period specifically for either one of these claim types.

If I myself wanted an employment contract and the client refused, does that affect what’s described in this article? No, the procedure following a PIP decision or court ruling is the same regardless of who initiated the move to B2B and who was against it. We cover how to demand a switch to an employment contract yourself, before a PIP decision exists, in the series article “Can you refuse a B2B contract and demand an employment contract instead“.

What to do with this information

If you’ve already received a PIP decision or a court ruling recognizing an employment relationship, the next step isn’t to crunch numbers on a calculator yourself, it’s to check exactly what date the decision lists as the date the employment contract was concluded, and whether there are grounds for a separate lawsuit covering the earlier period. MojaFirma offers two formats for checking this, depending on your situation.

If you received the PIP decision yourself as a former JDG contractor. Order the online B2B audit: you provide a copy of the decision or ruling and a description of your actual work over the earlier years, and within 48 hours you get an assessment of whether there are grounds for a separate lawsuit covering the earlier period, along with a rough estimate of the possible amount of the leave equivalent and overtime pay.

If you own or run HR at a company that received such a decision regarding one or more contractors. Order the B2B operating model audit: it reviews all contracts under a similar cooperation model at once, assesses the risk of similar claims from other contractors, and helps prepare your position for court in time, before the deadline to submit all evidence with the appeal itself runs out.

Sources

1. Ustawa z dnia 13 kwietnia 2007 r. o Państwowej Inspekcji Pracy (Act on the National Labour Inspectorate), Journal of Laws 2024 item 1712, Art. 34 ust. 2b-2l (added by Art. 1 pkt 14 of the Act of 11 March 2026, Journal of Laws 2026 item 473)
2. Ustawa z dnia 17 listopada 1964 r. Kodeks postępowania cywilnego (Code of Civil Procedure), Journal of Laws 2026 item 468, Art. 461 § 11 i § 23 oraz Art. 4777b-4777g (added by Art. 2 of Journal of Laws 2026 item 473)
3. Journal of Laws 2026 item 473, Art. 1 pkt 13 (new Art. 33a of the PIP Act: a lawsuit by the district labour inspector to establish the existence of an employment relationship for a period earlier than the one covered by the decision, ust. 6; interruption of the limitation period for employee claims, ust. 8)
4. Journal of Laws 2026 item 473, Art. 2 pkt 7 (new Art. 7556 of the Code of Civil Procedure: protective measures for the duration of proceedings)
5. Kodeks pracy (Polish Labor Code), Art. 291 § 1
6. Act on the social insurance system, Journal of Laws 2026 item 199, Art. 24 ust. 4 i ust. 5h (added by Journal of Laws 2026 item 473); the same period cited in the series article on the cost of B2B reclassification
7. Kodeks pracy (Polish Labor Code), Art. 171 § 1
8. Kodeks pracy (Polish Labor Code), Art. 152 § 1, Art. 154 § 1, Art. 168
9. Journal of Laws 2026 item 473, Art. 3 pkt 1 (new Art. 281 § 1 pkt 1b of the Labor Code: a fine of 2000-60,000 zł for violating the ban in Art. 34 ust. 2l of the PIP Act); the same range cited in the series article “PIP fines in 2026”
10. Ordynacja podatkowa (Tax Code), Journal of Laws 1997 nr 137 poz. 926, Art. 201 § 1aa (added by Art. 4 of Journal of Laws 2026 item 473)

Legal status as of: 31 July 2026.

This article is not legal advice. Every situation is individual and depends on the specific PIP decision or court ruling and the circumstances of your case. Author: Valerii Kushnirskyi, in-house legal practitioner at MojaFirma.