Retirement Severance Pay and Beyond: Benefits for Teachers Ending Their Careers

Starting in 2026, teachers are entitled to retirement severance pay under new rules, offering potentially higher benefits not only for those retiring but also under specific conditions.

New Rules for Retirement Severance Pay

From 2026 onwards, teachers have the right to retirement severance pay under new rules. Thanks to the amendment of regulations, eligible individuals have a chance at a higher benefit. It is worth remembering that the right to it applies not only to persons retiring. What are the rules?

Retirement Severance Pay for a Teacher

The generally applicable provision on the basis of which employees ending their professional activity acquire the right to severance pay is Article 92^1 of the Act of June 26, 1974 – Labor Code. However, teachers are that professional group in relation to which special provisions apply in this regard, specifically Article 87 of the Act of January 26, 1983 – Teacher’s Charter, which as of January 1, 2026, applies in an amended wording.

The indicated provision shows that in connection with the transition to retirement, disability pension, or teacher’s compensation benefit, a teacher is entitled to a one-time severance pay in the amount of: 1. after 10 years of work – two months’ salary; 2. after 15 years of work – three months’ salary; 3. after 20 years of work – six months’ salary.

A teacher employed in more than one school receives the severance pay at the school designated as the primary place of employment, and the periods of work referred to in this regulation include all previously completed employment periods and other periods if, by virtue of separate provisions, they are subject to inclusion in the period of work on which employee entitlements depend. Crucially, as part of the changes introduced from January 1, 2026, the right to retirement severance pay has also been gained by teachers employed in one or more schools whose total employment volume is lower than 1/2 of the obligatory teaching load. Under the legal state in force until the end of 2025, they were deprived of this right based on Article 91b of the Teacher’s Charter.

Concurrence of Rights to Different Severance Payments

What needs attention when analyzing a teacher’s right to retirement severance pay is its relation to the right to other severance payments provided for in the provisions of the Teacher’s Charter. It must be remembered that the discussed benefit is not the only one to which teachers ending their professional activity are entitled.

The first of these is the severance pay referred to in Article 28 of the Teacher’s Charter, meaning the severance pay due to a teacher employed on the basis of appointment whose employment relationship was terminated in the event of a determination by the doctor conducting the periodic or control examination of the teacher’s incapacity to perform current work. As results from Article 87 paragraph 4 of the Teacher’s Charter, in the event of a concurrence of the right to these severance payments, the teacher is entitled to the more favorable severance pay.

The second severance pay that should be taken into account in this situation is the severance pay referred to in Article 20 paragraph 2 of the Teacher’s Charter, meaning the severance pay due to a teacher employed on the basis of appointment whose employment relationship was terminated in the event of: 1) complete liquidation of the school; 2) partial liquidation of the school or organizational changes causing a reduction in the number of classes in the school or changes in the curriculum preventing further employment of the teacher in a full teaching load.

In the case of such concurrence, the teacher is entitled to retirement severance pay in full amount and the severance pay referred to in Article 20 paragraph 2 in half of its amount.

Legal Basis

Article 20 paragraph 2, Article 28, Article 87 of the Act of January 26, 1983 – Teacher’s Charter (consolidated text, Journal of Laws of 2026, item 515)