Can an employee be issued with an employment certificate before the end of the notice period?

From art. 97 of the Polish Labor Code results from the principle according to which the employer issues an employment certificate to the employee on the day on which the employment relationship ends. However, it sometimes happens that an employee earlier asks the employer for a employment certificate, while the notice period (and thus the employment relationship) is still ongoing. Should the employer then provide the employee with an employment certificate? This is one of the many practical questions asked by the clients of our PRWT accounting office.

In the case described above, the employer should not issue the employee with an employment certificate. This is due to the fact that the content of the employment certificate states facts (related to the employment relationship) that occurred in the past (during employment). It cannot therefore be ruled out that in the time between the issuing of the employment certificate and the end of the notice period, something that will should be included in the employment certificate (e.g. the employee falls ill, conclude the agreement with employer about changing the mode for terminating the employment contract, etc.). Therefore, in accordance with the provision quoted at the beginning, the employer issues an employment certificate to the employee on the day on which the employment relationship ends. This provision allows for an employment certificate to be issued at a later date in particularly justified cases, but it is not possible to issue it earlier. If the employee wishes to obtain such a document before the end of the employment relationship, the employer may only issue the employee with a certificate proving the  employment.

There may also be a situation in which the employee is on a vacation leave during the notice period and reports to collect his employment certificate on the last day of the notice period, but in the morning. Can he be issued a certificate of employment in such a case? In this case, it should be stated that issuing an employee with an employment certificate on the day on which the employment relationship ends but before its termination does not contradict Art. 97 of the Polish Labor Code, which uses the phrase “on the day on which the employment relationship is terminated”. However, it should be borne in mind that in this case also (on this day), the circumstances mentioned above may occur as an example, such as a change in the mode of termination of the employment contract. Therefore, a safe solution is to provide the employee with an employment certificate after the end of the day, which is the last day of the employment relationship for the employee.