In the past there was no legal right for employees to be paid while they were on sick leave from work, but this changed in 2022.  The Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment signed and published the regulations which govern Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) on 29th November 2022.

Statutory Sick Pay will come into operation for all employers from 1st January 2023.

From 1 January 2023, workers will have a right to:

• Paid sick leave for up to 3 sick days per year. This will increase to 5 days in 2024, 7 days in 2025 and 10 days in 2026.
• A rate of payment for statutory sick leave of 70% of normal wages to be paid by employers (up to a maximum €110 per day).
• Take a complaint to the WRC where they are not provided with a company sick pay scheme

In order to be eligible for sick leave under the new scheme an employee must have worked 13 weeks of continuous service and produce a medical certificate in respect of each day of statutory sick leave requested.

There are 3 methods by which the daily amount of SSP that an employee is entitled to can be calculated;

• For Employees on a fixed salary, or a fixed number of hours at a fixed rate, the employee is entitled to a payment of 70% of their normal daily rate, up to a maximum of €110 per day. This daily rate includes any fixed salary, allowance or bonus that does not vary according to the work normally carried out, but excludes any pay for overtime or commission.

• For Employees on a fixed hourly rate, but a variable number of hours per week, the employee is entitled to be paid for the hours that they would have worked on the day they were sick, but at a rate that is 70% of their normal rates subject to a maximum payment of €110 per day. Again this applies to all normal rates, allowances or bonuses but excludes overtime and commission.

• For any employees not covered by either of the above methods, they will be entitled to be paid for the number of hours which they would have worked on the sick day, but at a rate which is calculated as 70% of their average rate of pay over the previous 13 weeks, subject to a maximum of €110 per day. Again this applies to all normal rates, allowances or bonuses but excludes overtime and commission.

Most payroll packages will have tools to help you calculate employees entitlement to SSP and track any such payments made to your employees.