Krystyna Pavlowicz leaves TK. He'll get a better pension than president Duda

Krystyna Pawłowicz finishes his work at the Constitutional Court 3 years before the end of his word of office. As a retired judge, she will proceed to receive a advanced benefit, but for the TK, her departure marks another major failure in the lineup and an expanding problem with ruling in full.


Earlier announcements of the Constitutional Court indicated that on 5 December 2025 Krystyna Pawłowicz would be retired. This decision was made at her request – she asked to end her word of office after 6 years at the TK, although her 9-year word was not to expire until 5 December 2028.

Pavlowicz entered the Constitutional Court on 5 December 2019, after 2 word in the Sejm as an MP elected from the list of Law and Justice. She worked in the parliament, among others, in the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, the Committee on Constitutional work and the Committee on European Union Affairs, and she besides sat on the National Judiciary Council. She was a justice of the Court of State from 2007 to 2011. He is now moving to the remainder of the judiciary, a peculiar kind of judicial retirement, which preserves a large part of his erstwhile salary.

Retirement Pavlovich is higher than Dudy

According to money.pl, as an active justice of the Constitutional Court Krystyna Pawłowicz earned about PLN 23 1000 a month. The amount of judicial salaries is linked to the average wage in the economy – in the case of judges, the TK is 5 times the average salary. There is besides an internship allowance, which can scope 20% of the basic wage with at least 20 years of overall work experience.

Retiring does not mean a sharp fall in income. According to the regulations, the judges of the Constitutional Tribunal at remainder receive 75 percent of the last salary, calculated without allowances. In practice, this gives Pavłowicz over 16 1000 PLN per month. In another words, although formally leaving active service, its provision remains at a much higher level than the average pension or even the wage of most government officials. In comparison, president Andrzej Duda late praised his first presidential pension. It received precisely PLN 9 349 net.

TK is shrinking. less judges, more vacancies

The effects of the decision by Pavlowicz on the Court itself are far more serious than on its private budget. After her departure, 10 incumbent judges stay in the Constitutional Tribunal for the 15 seats provided for by the Act. However, the rules on the organisation and procedure of proceedings before the Constitutional Tribunal clearly indicate that the examination of a case in full requires the participation of at least 11 judges.

In full composition, the Constitutional Tribunal decides on the most crucial matters – concerning the compliance of laws with the constitution before their signing by the President, as well as in the competency disputes between the highest authorities of the state. So far, despite disputes about the position of any of the people sitting in the tribunal, it has been formally possible to keep the number of judges at a level that allows for the creation of a full composition. After the departure of Pavlovich, this condition is no longer fulfilled.

The state of remainder of Krystyna Pawłowicz is not the only staff change preparing for the Constitutional Court. In December, the office of the justice is to leave Michał Warciński. This means that at the end of the year there will only be 9 incumbent judges in 6 vacant seats. In 2026 the word of office of successive judges – Andrzej Zielonack (28 June) and Justyna Piskorski (18 September) ended.