If you are on sick leave, your employer pays you first and then you get sick pay. But how does it work if you don’t have an employer? When are you entitled to sick pay in this case and when are you also entitled to wage replacement? The answer to these questions is not only in this article.
Sick pay is a form of social insurance that provides income replacement for people who are temporarily unable to work because of illness or injury. This benefit is part of the sickness insurance paid by employers on behalf of their employees and by employees out of their gross earnings.
Social security is a levy that almost all working people have to pay. It is a substantial part of our wages. However, many people do not know why they pay social security and how much is actually deducted from their wages or salary. Read on to find out who has to pay National Insurance and where all the money actually goes.
Sick pay is granted for calendar days, including weekends and public holidays, and is calculated on the daily assessment base.
Sickness, vacation or holiday. These quite different situations for employees have one thing in common: they may give rise to a claim for wage replacement. What are the conditions under which this happens and how much is the salary compensated? Find out in our next article.
You are entitled to wage replacement from your employer during the first 14 calendar days of sickness. This is determined according to the rules of the Labour Code and includes all the hours you would normally have worked if you had not been unable to work. This includes normal working days, public holidays and scheduled shifts.
Sickness benefits are paid from the 15th calendar day of sickness and are part of the sickness insurance. This benefit is provided for calendar days, including weekends and public holidays, and is calculated on a daily assessment basis.
You can read more about how much you get from your employer in wage compensation in our article on: What an employee is entitled to when sick.
If you fall ill while working, it’s straightforward – you’ll get wage replacement from your employer for the first 14 days and start receiving sick pay from the 15th day. But what if you get sick after you’ve left your job and don’t have a new one yet?
Yoursickness insurance ends when your employment ends. However, there is still a 7-calendar-day protection period afterwards. You are still entitled to sickness benefits during this period. However, you will no longer be entitled to wage replacement from your employer.
For more on the protection period and the protection period, see our next article.
Sick leave during the notice period is not uncommon. It works in a similar way as if you were on sick leave. This means that you are entitled to wage replacement from your employer for the first 14 days and then start receiving sick pay from the 15th day. However, if you get sick towards the end of the notice period, you would only be entitled to wage replacement for the days you were still on notice.
Let’s explain this with an example: Mr Novotny gave his notice and the two-month notice period started. One week before the end of this period, Mr Novotny fell ill. During the first week of his sick leave, he received wage compensation from his employer (as his notice period was still running). However, the second week he received nothing from his employer, as he was no longer his employee. At the beginning of the third week (on the 15th day) he started to receive sickness benefits.
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The last topic around which questions abound is how it works with notice in the case of sick leave. Can you give it or get it?
If you are currently on sick leave, you are also in a protected period. Your employer cannot give you notice during this time. Exceptions include situations where:
For more on sickness, pregnancy and probationary leave, see our article.
If your employer fires you on sick leave and has no reason for doing so, you may have a defence. Specifically, within two months of the date of termination, you must file a lawsuit with the competent district court to declare the termination invalid.
It is better not to file the lawsuit yourself. You will only succeed in court if your claim is bulletproof. We will be happy to conduct a careful analysis of your case and then prepare a pre-suit notice, a statement of claim, an appeal or represent you in court where we will vigorously enforce your rights.
As an employee, you can give notice at any time, including when you are on sick leave. You do not even have to give a reason.
Sick pay is a form of social insurance that compensates people who are unable to work because of illness or injury. Employees are entitled to wage replacement from their employer for the first 14 days of sickness, then sickness benefits, which are paid until the end of the temporary incapacity for work, up to a maximum of 380 days.
After the end of the employment relationship, there is a 7-day protection period during which the employee is still entitled to sickness benefits but not to wage compensation from the employer. The same rules apply if the employee is in the notice period.
During sick leave, the employee is protected and the employer cannot give notice. However, the exceptions to the rule are probation at home, gross misconduct or violation of sick leave rules, the employer’s business being closed or the employer moving. An employee may resign at any time, even during sick leave, without giving any reason.
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