170,000 PLN in severance pay and 5 years of vacation. New offer for miners.

• The Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers adopted an amendment to the Act on Hard Coal Mining, introducing a package of protective benefits for employees of the sector.
• Employees of the closing mines will be able to benefit from, among other things, five years of leave and one-time severance payments of up to PLN 170,000.
• The new regulations, which are to come into force on 1 January 2026, are intended to mitigate the effects of the transformation and support miners in transitioning to a new industry.

The Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers adopted on Thursday an amendment to the Act on the functioning of the hard coal mining industry .

These are solutions that protect the interests of people, the economy and the state, implementing the provisions of the Social Contract, said Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka.

Gazeta.pl reminds us that 17 thermal coal mining plants are planned to be closed in the coming years. These include:

• Coal Mine Borek,
• Staszic-Wujek (Wujek Movement),
• Sośnica,
• Bolesław the Brave,
• Ruda (Ruch Bielszowice and Ruch Halemba).

Workers in closing mines can count on government support to mitigate the impact of the sector's transformation and enable miners to retrain or prepare for retirement. It is estimated that the program could cost over PLN 8.6 billion between 2026 and 2035.

The amendment introduces a comprehensive package of protective benefits for employees in the hard coal mining sector. It includes:

• the possibility of taking advantage of five years of mining leave and four years of leave for workers in mechanical coal processing or a one-off severance payment for persons with at least three years of service;
• one-off severance payments of up to PLN 170,000, tax-exempt;
• the possibility of transferring employees between mines and priority employment in other plants for people from closed mines;
• the possibility of transferring (by way of donation) real estate and movable property unnecessary to mining entrepreneurs for the implementation of public purposes.

The amendment is to enter into force on January 1, 2026.