 Sick Leave
An employee is entitled to sick leave after the employee has completed 6 months' current continuous employment with the employer or, if that does not apply, after the employee has
over a period of 6 months worked for the employer at least an average of 10 hours a week during that period and not less than 1 hour in every week or no less than 40 hours in every month during that period.
An employee who becomes entitled to sick leave is entitled to 5 days' sick leave to be taken when the employee, or the employee's spouse or dependant, is sick or injured.
Untaken sick leave entitlements may be carried over from year to year up to a maximum of 20 days' current entitlement.
An employer and employee may agree that sick leave may be taken in advance.
An employer must pay an employee the employee's relevant daily pay for every day taken as sick leave that would otherwise be a working day for the employee. Relevant daily pay is defined as the amount of pay that an employee would received had he/she worked on the day concerned and include productivity and incentive payments, overtime and cash payment for board and lodging had they been received on the day concerned.
If an employee is sick before a scheduled annual holiday starts the employer must allow the employee to take sick leave.
An employer can require proof of illness or injury if the employee is away for three consecutive days or if the employee is away less than that period but the employer believes on reasonable grounds that the employee's sick leave is not genuine (in this situation the
employer must inform the employee as soon as possible of the requirement to provide a medical certificate and must pay for the cost of the certificate). If an employee is required to provide proof of illness or injury in support of sick leave the employer may withhold payment for that sick leave until the required proof is provided. Proof of injury or illness includes a medical certificate.
An employer and employee may agree to additional or enhanced sick leave entitlements and different rules that will apply in relation to the enhanced entitlements.
Sick leave need not be paid out at termination.
An employer is required to provide every new employee with information about the employee's entitlements under the Holidays Act 2003. As well an employer is required to keep a detailed holiday and leave record for every employee.
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