Illness and reimbursement
Here you can read about illness and reimbursement.
- Employee sickness rules and regulations
- Deadlines - reimbursement for illness
- What is the child's first sick day?
- What is the significance of illness in connection with vacation
- llness during vacation
1. Employee sickness rules and regulations
According to the sickness benefit rules, an employee must report sick to their manager as soon as possible and no later than two hours after the start of working hours. Otherwise, the employee who would be entitled to sickness benefits may lose this right.
During the first 30 days (employer period), the employer is responsible, as a general rule, for paying sickness benefits if an employee is not entitled to pay during sickness.
If the employee is entitled to pay during sickness, e.g. white-collar workers, the employer can in general obtain reimbursement from the employee's municipality of residence after the first 30 days of absence. As a self-employed business owner, you can also receive sickness benefits from the municipality yourself. The sickness benefit reimbursement corresponds to the sickness benefit that the employee would have been entitled to if the employer did not pay salary. In that case, the employer must cover the difference between the employee's salary and sick pay themselves.
The employer's right to reimbursement is conditional, and depends on whether the employee meets the conditions for payment of sick pay in their municipality, for example meeting the requirement for the employee's incapacity for work, and that the employee meets the employment requirement with the municipality.
2. Deadlines - reimbursement for illness
In case of illness and pregnancy-related illness, the case must be reported no later than five weeks after the first sick day.
If the employee or employer does not qualify for the reimbursement for illness without pay, the case must be reported no later than two weeks after the first sick day.
Read more about reimbursement of sick pay at NemRefusion
Read about the employer's reimbursement of salary paid during sickness and maternity leave
If you need help applying for reimbursement for an employee, we at Azets are happy to help.
3. What is the child's first sick day?
Every parent has a right to absence on his or her child's first sick day, if the illness has arisen acutely and if it is necessary for the parent to be present.
As a starting point, the parent is not entitled to pay during the absence. However, the employment contract, collective agreement, local agreement, or personnel handbook may state that the employee is entitled to pay.
Note that many collective agreements and local agreements provide for pay on the child's first sick day, some even provide for several days off with pay. However, both parents cannot take the child's sick day with pay at the same time.
The employee has a right to the child’s first sick day several times. For example, the child may be sick on Wednesday, where the employee is entitled to leave with pay. After that, the child becomes well but becomes sick again the following Tuesday, where the employee is entitled to leave with pay again, as it is a new period of illness.
4. What is the significance of illness in connection with vacation?
If an employee becomes ill before the start of their vacation, they are not obligated to take their vacation. The employee must justify the illness as an obstacle and can receive replacement vacation days, if they report their illness to the employer before the start of regular working hours on the first day of vacation, and further provide documentation of the illness, either through a declaration made under oath or a medical certificate from their own doctor. If the employer requests a medical certificate, the employer pays for it.
5. Illness during vacation
If an employee who has earned 25 vacation days becomes ill during their vacation, they are entitled to replacement vacation days after five sick days. If the employee has earned less than 25 days, they are entitled to replacement vacation days after a proportionally fewer number of days. The number of days, for which the employee does not receive replacement vacation, is the number of earned vacation days multiplied by 1/5. The employee's opportunity to receive replacement vacation is conditional upon reporting their illness to the employer before the start of regular working hours on the first day of illness, and further providing documentation of the illness from their doctor. The employee pays for the medical documentation, which must be issued on the first day, whether the employee is abroad or in their home country.