1-14 days’ illness

If you have been employed for at least one month or have worked for 14 days consecutively, you are entitled to sick pay from your employer for the first 14 days of your illness. No payment is made for the first day, the so-called waiting period. Sick pay is 80 per cent of your pay for days 2-14. 

You must report your illness to your employer on the first day that you are unable to work because of illness. Please note that the rules on sick pay do not apply if you are a contractor or self-employed. 

If you are not an employee and do not receive any sick pay from an employer for the first 14 days, you may be able to get sickness benefit from the Social Insurance Office. 

You will not receive any benefit for the first day of your illness, the waiting period. You must report to the Social Insurance Office yourself on the first day of your illness. 

Doctor’s certificate 
If you are ill and away from work for more than one week, you must have a doctor’s certificate. The doctor’s certificate is intended to enable your employer and the Social Insurance Office to assess your entitlement to sick pay and sickness benefit. The certificate is only a recommendation and does not automatically entitle you to sick pay or sickness benefit. 

Illness lasting more than 14 days 

If you are ill for more than 14 days, your employer notifies the Social Insurance Office, which assesses your entitlement to sickness benefit. 

Doctor’s certificate 
If you are ill and away from work for more than one week, you must have a doctor’s certificate. The doctor’s certificate is intended to enable your employer and the Insurance Office to assess your entitlement to sick pay and sickness benefit. The certificate is only a recommendation and does not automatically entitle you to sick pay or sickness benefit. 

To certify the reduction in your ability to work because of illness, you must provide the Social Insurance Office with a doctor’s certificate at the latest as from the eighth day of the period of illness. In certain cases the Social Insurance Office can request a doctor’s certificate from the very first day of the period of illness. 

Full or partial sickness benefit 
You may receive one quarter, one half, three quarters or full sickness benefit, depending on the extent to which you are unable to work. The Social Insurance Office assesses your entitlement to sickness benefit and considers whether you are able to perform your work fully or partly despite your illness. 

Text last edited on: 11/2009