Red Tape Hot Box The nightmare of the Rp-7 form
It is a vital element of the pension system, the basis of an employee's future pension. ZUS calculates this amount based on the Rp-7 forms sent by the employee. Each Rp-7 form is filled in by the former employer. It includes the period during which that person was employed, as well as his wages. This concerns people born after December 31, 1948, who were employed before January 1999 (that is when foreign pension funds were finally allowed to enter the Polish market). So, generally speaking, this concerns the majority of professionally active people in this country.
Gathering an Rp-7 form from each place of work can be a real challenge. People migrate, and companies also change addresses. Not to mention that sometimes one has to deal with communist-era plants and factories that went bankrupt after 1989, and, therefore, no longer exist. In that case, we must resort to the ministry which supervised our plant and hope that they have all the necessary data in their archives. In many cases the documents can't be recovered.
A certificate is also needed for the time spent at university. Unfortunately, for ZUS, a copy of a graduation diploma is not sufficient proof of studying, so one must take a day off work and go to one's alma mater to receive a slip of paper which certifies that indeed we were enrolled there. It's ironic that the only information needed to get this paper is our student book and in it the date on which we received our graduation diploma (which ZUS apparently doesn't accept)...
Even if everything goes smoothly - that is, if all our former places of employment still exist, none of the documents concerning us disappeared, and we needed no more than one day for each company - it still means that we lost at least a few days of our time. A few precious days at work. Shouldn't ZUS do this searching for us in the first place? After all, isn't it their job? If they lack the clerical staff to perform this job, then that's great. With the unemployment rate in Poland being so high, every single job offer is priceless.
Gathering an Rp-7 form from each place of work can be a real challenge. People migrate, and companies also change addresses. Not to mention that sometimes one has to deal with communist-era plants and factories that went bankrupt after 1989, and, therefore, no longer exist. In that case, we must resort to the ministry which supervised our plant and hope that they have all the necessary data in their archives. In many cases the documents can't be recovered.
A certificate is also needed for the time spent at university. Unfortunately, for ZUS, a copy of a graduation diploma is not sufficient proof of studying, so one must take a day off work and go to one's alma mater to receive a slip of paper which certifies that indeed we were enrolled there. It's ironic that the only information needed to get this paper is our student book and in it the date on which we received our graduation diploma (which ZUS apparently doesn't accept)...
Even if everything goes smoothly - that is, if all our former places of employment still exist, none of the documents concerning us disappeared, and we needed no more than one day for each company - it still means that we lost at least a few days of our time. A few precious days at work. Shouldn't ZUS do this searching for us in the first place? After all, isn't it their job? If they lack the clerical staff to perform this job, then that's great. With the unemployment rate in Poland being so high, every single job offer is priceless.
