What is Sick Leave?

Simply put, sick leave are one of the paid leave you can take when you are sick. An employee covered by the Employment Act is entitled to paid sick leave, including medical leave issued by a dentist if:

1. The employee has worked for the employer for at least 3 months
2. The employee has at least attempted to inform the employer of his/her absence within 48 hours
3. The sick leave is certified by the company’s doctor, or by a government doctor (including doctors from approved public medical institutions).

It’s important to know that your employer has the discretion to accept medical certificates from private doctors or traditional Chinese medical practitioner. Do check with your HR before consulting a doctor.

Paid Sick Leave Entitlement

The total number of paid sick leave allowed by your employer should be specified in your employment contract; but, the following is governed by MOM:

Paid Sick Leave

The max number of paid sick leave include both your non-hospitalization and hospitalization leaves. For example, if an employee has already taken 14 days of outpatient sick leave in that year, the number of days of hospitalisation sick leave that he can take is 46 days (60 – 14 = 46).

You can take half sick leave day as annual leave, but sick leave taken on a half working day (e.g. Saturday) should be considered as one day’s sick leave.

Also check with your HR the company policies regarding reimbursement of medical expenses.

If you work in Singapore, you must have a clear understanding of your annual leave entitlement in Singapore as an employee, protected by Ministry of Manpower or MOM including how to calculate your annual leave and whether you are qualified.

According to MOM, one employee is entitled to Annual Leave if (1) they are covered under Part IV of the Employment Act (2) and have worked for at least three months.

Calculation of Annual Leave entitlement

Employees’ annual leave entitlement depends on the year of service (begins from the day he/she started work with the employer):

• 1st year of service: 7 days of leave
• 2nd year of service: 8 days
• 3rd year: 9 days
• 4th year: 10 days
• 5th year: 11 days
• 6th year: 12 days
• 7th year: 13 days
• 8th year and thereafter: 14 days

Of course there are entitlement by law; your employers may entitle you for more days of paid annual leave. Usually, getting 14 days or even 21 days in the first year is not rare. You should also know that you can take “half day leave” if all you need to be away from work is less than half day.

The employer can deduct an employee’s salary for excess annual leave taken within the same month.

If you have worked for less than one complete year, your annual leave will be pro-rated using the following formula:

• (No of months in service/12) x 7 (replace “7″ with your actual total days of annual leave granted by your employer if it’s more than “7″)

Now you know your rights for annual leave entitlement; get help from MOM if necessary.