Sick leave

Sick leave is a payment that employees receive when they are ill or injured and cannot work. Sick leave often includes two parts: it provides time off during which an employee’s job is saved, and payment that replaces the employee’s typical salary or pay. Sick leave is guaranteed in most developed nations throughout the world, but the benefits vary from country to country. More than 145 countries offer employees sick leave. Developed countries that do not require employers to provide sick leave, such as the United States and South Korea, allow employers to decide whether to offer sick leave. However, some localities in these countries require employers to pay sick leave.

Background

Sick leave is a common employee benefit around the world that benefits workers. A significant health benefit is preventing the transmission of communicable illnesses to other employees. When employees know that their jobs are safe, and they are being paid for their time off, they are more likely to stay home when they are sick, which prevents them from spreading illnesses. In addition, studies have shown that employees with sick leave benefits are more likely to address serious health problems or seek preventative care when they first experience symptoms, rather than waiting a longer time. Addressing health problems as early as possible can help prevent an illness from worsening or developing secondary conditions. Furthermore, some studies have shown that providing medical leave has a positive long-term effect on workforce participation. For example, a study in Finland showed that employees who could work part-time while recuperating were more likely to remain in the workforce. This can also benefit employers, as they can retain trained employees instead of having to replace those employees and train new people for the same positions.

A lack of sick leave requirements negatively impacts employees and sometimes society. A lack of sick leave increases the chance of employees going to work ill and spreading illnesses to others. For example, the United States is one of the largest developed countries not to mandate sick leave to employees, and studies have indicated that millions of Americans work while ill each year because of a lack of sick leave. People who do not have sick leave may also avoid seeking regular testing and medical appointments (e.g., wellness visits, mammograms, blood tests) that could identify potential health problems. Also, those who continue to work while sick can lengthen their illnesses. One study in the United States even links the lack of sick leave to earlier death.

Overview

Many countries require employers to provide their employees with sick leave, and the United Nations (UN) holds the position that employees should have the right to feel secure when they are sick. The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “Everyone has the right. . .to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

Although most developed nations ensure that employees have access to sick leave, they differ in their methods of requiring it, paying for it, the terms for its use, and the length of the leave. Countries guaranteeing sick leave can do so by requiring employers to provide the leave through social insurance, or through a mixture of employer and social insurance benefits. (Social insurance is a government program to which citizens make compulsory contributions and then can use in the form of benefits if they meet certain requirements.) Nations offering sick leave have options when it comes to paying for it. When the employer pays for sick leave, they can via private health insurance, with employees or companies paying the premiums for the plans before they are needed. Employers can also pay for sick leave through a loss of earnings. When social insurance pays for sick leave, it does so through taxes or mandatory contributions. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a group of thirty-eight democratic countries that work together on economic policies. Many OECD countries have large, thriving economies and play important roles in the global economy. Out of the thirty-seven OECD countries, thirty-six offer sick leave benefits to employees.

The two countries that do not are the United States and South Korea. The thirty-six countries that guarantee sick leave have different policies, compensation structures, maximum amounts of leave, and tenure required to use the leave. Of the countries that give sick leave in the OECD, fifteen do not require employees who have served any certain period or tenure to receive benefits. The countries that provide sick leave also offer a varied amount of pay. Many countries’ sick leave policies state that employees should receive a percentage of their regular pay as part of the benefit. Roughly 20 percent of countries cover 100 percent of employees’ pay with sick leave, but most countries offer a rate covering between 50 and 75 percent of the employees’ pay. Other countries have policies in which employees are entitled to a set amount of money, which is the same for everyone, for each day missed. Some countries also require employees to go through a waiting period before they can collect sick leave benefits, making some employees wait up to fourteen days before they can collect. Many countries also have caps or ceilings that offer employees a set amount of time off or a set amount of money that they cannot exceed during a year. Most programs also require doctors to verify an illness or injury if an employee uses a set amount of sick leave.

Sick leave policies of the largest and most influential countries can influence the policies of other countries. The Group of Seven (G7) consists of seven large, developed countries that work together to form economic and political agreements. These countries are global leaders in economics and international policy. While their leaders meet to discuss policies, their sick leave policies are not the same.

• Canada: Canadians who are sick or injured can receive employment insurance for up to fifteen weeks. Employees receive a percentage of their normal pay, usually 55 percent. Low-income employees may qualify to receive a higher percentage of their pay.
• France: Employers pay a certain percentage of employees’ pay for sixty days. Employees have to have a twelve-month tenure before they quality for the benefits.
• Germany: Employers are responsible for paying six weeks of paid sick leave. Employees have to have a one-month tenure to receive full benefits but qualify for benefits for a shorter duration if they do not meet the tenure requirements.
• Italy: Employees start receiving benefits after a three-day waiting period and get a percentage of their pay for up to 180 days.
• Japan: If employers do not cover paid leave for sick days, Japanese workers receive Employee’s Health Insurance. Employees have to go through a three-day waiting period and can receive benefits for up to eighteen months.
• United Kingdom (UK): Employees who are too sick or injured to work receive statutory sick pay (SSP), which is a set amount of money each week. The employer is responsible for paying sick leave for the first twenty-eight weeks.
• United States: The United States is the only G7 country and one of the few developed countries that provides no guaranteed paid sick leave. However, fourteen states—such as California and New York—have laws guaranteeing sick leave to their citizens. Some employees are guaranteed unpaid time off through the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which gives workers up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave.

Laws requiring employees to receive paid sick leave have existed since the mid- to late-twentieth century. However, certain events have changed sick leave policies. The COVID-19 pandemic of the early 2020s changed sick leave policies worldwide. Some policies were changed so that employees were paid to stay home and quarantine if they were exposed to someone with the virus. Also, some countries changed tenure requirements to make more employees eligible for paid sick leave. For example, France removed its one-year tenure requirement to qualify for paid sick leave during the pandemic. Sick leave laws changed during the pandemic in part because keeping sick people at home helped to slow the spread of the disease.

In the mid-2020s, sick leave policies throughout the United States remain disjointed and varied drastically in federal, state, and local regulation. FMLA remained the only federal sick leave policy as Congress repeatedly failed to pass the Healthy Families Act, which would mandate seven days of sick leave per year per employee. Several states continued to have unique sick leave laws, and many states are adopting these laws. Private employers are also expanding sick leave policies to entice employees to return to a physical office. Inequities continued to exist in providing sick leave to lower-wage earners and part-time employees. 

Bibliography

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