Calculate your sick pay without being sick!
When it comes to sick leave and salary, not knowing how to proceed with payroll management may be causing stress for the company's Human Resources Director or Financial Director.
So that the remedy is not worse than the disease, Dr. Appvizer informs! Stay with us to discover the formula to apply to calculate the salary of a sick leave, the obligations with which you must comply and under which legal framework .
🏥. Without further ado, may your peace of mind and the finances of your business stay healthy. Let's get started!
What is sick leave?
A sick leave is a situation in which an employee must be absent from work and no longer carry out his or her professional duties normally. In the event of a health condition that prevents them from carrying out their duties, a temporary incapacity (TI) is necessary, during which they receive medical care.
Types of sick leave
There are two types of sick leave, depending on the causes that gave rise to them.
1. Common contingencies
In the case of the so-called common contingencies, which include non-occupational accidents and common illnesses, it is the Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015 of 30 October or General Law on Social Security, which defines and regulates them, through article 158:
A non-occupational accident is an accident that does not have the character of an accident at work.
Common illnesses are disorders of health which do not have the status of accidents at work or occupational diseases.
2. Occupational contingencies
On the other hand, occupational contingencies refer to accidents or illnesses that occur in the context of work. An accident at work is an accident that occurs on the occasion of or as a consequence of the performance of work carried out as an employee.
How much do I get paid when I am on sick leave?
When a person is employed, the company continues to pay the salary while on sick leave, albeit in the form of a delegated payment. Depending on the situation and the type of contingency, the responsibility for payment falls to the Social Security or the mutual insurance company with which the company has an agreement, even if the employer is the one who pays.
If the sick leave is considered to be a common contingency, it will be paid according to the legally determined percentages, which are shown below:
| No. of days | Charge | Comment |
| 1 a 3 | None. | Collective agreement may provide otherwise. |
| 4 a 20 |
60% of the regulatory baseis paid . |
The regulatory base depends on the contribution base for common or occupational contingencies in the month preceding the sick leave. |
| 21 a 365 |
75% of the regulatory baseis paid . |
The maximum duration of a temporary incapacity is 365 days, although it can be extended for a further 180 days, according to medical criteria, and is considered a permanent incapacity. |
If the sick leave falls under occupational contingencies, 75% of the regulatory base will be paid from the day after the sick leave.
Sick leave pay: how to calculate it?
1. For common contingencies
In order to calculate the salary corresponding to sick leave, it is necessary to know:
- The contribution base for common contingencies for the month prior to the sick leave,
- the established legal percentages.
Example calculation: the regulatory base and percentages
The regulatory base corresponds to the contribution base that is applied for common contingencies according to the professional category and is a value (expressed in euros) that is generally indicated at the bottom of the payroll sheet of each employee.
Let's suppose you have an engineering company and you want to know how much you should pay to one of your engineers who has been on sick leave for 15 days. Taking into account the above, we have:
- Regulatory base = 1.152,90 €/month, (taking as an example the minimum contribution base for contingencies for engineers and graduates).
- Number of days of the month = 30
- Applicable percentage = 60%.
- No. of days of sick leave = 15
So, if you divide the regulatory base by the number of days in the month according to your payroll and multiply it by the applicable percentage and the number of days of sick leave, you get the value to be paid:
(1.152,90/30) * (0.60)*(15) = 345.87 €
This means that your engineer, for the 15 days he was on sick leave, will be entitled to 345.87 euros. For the remaining days of the month on which he worked normally, the benefit will be paid as usual.
2. For accidents at work
In the case of sick leave due to occupational illness or accident at work, as mentioned above, the difference with common contingencies is that there is no obligation for the employee to have paid contributions for a minimum period of time.
In this case, he or she will be entitled to receive, from the first day, 75% of the regulatory base.
Frequently asked questions about sick leave
What requirements must be met in order to be able to receive the benefit?
In order for sick leave to be officially taken into account, it must meet two basic requirements:
- It must be supported by the corresponding medical report (it is the doctor who issues two copies of this report: one for the patient and one for the patient to present to his or her employer):
- The corresponding supports must be submitted within the established deadlines: 3 days for the sick leave and confirmation report and 24 hours for the medical discharge report.
- In the case of a common illness, the person on sick leave must have paid contributions for at least 180 days during the previous 5 years.
What are the obligations of the employer?
Even though the social security scheme and/or the mutual insurance company share responsibilities with the company regarding payment during the period of sick leave, the company has specific obligations to fulfil through the employee's paycheck:
- pay the amount due to the person at the same frequency as the wages (this is known as delegated payment),
- pay the corresponding social security contributions and apply the corresponding income tax withholding.
In cases of common illness or non-occupational accident, the responsibility for payment is divided as follows:
| Period | Who pays |
| From day 4 to day 15 | The company |
| From day 16 onwards | Social Security or mutual insurance company |
How can you ensure correct payroll accounting in the event of sick leave?
Since calculating payroll can be a task that requires you to deploy a coordinated management process, it becomes essential to rely on efficient tools that allow you to make a correct calculation that respects the legal provisions.
Payroll software will allow you to manage your payments easily and with the peace of mind that you are fulfilling your obligations.
In short...
- Sick leave is a situation in which the employee is unable to work.
- This situation has an impact on the salary received at the end of the month.
- Sick leave can be due to one of two possible types of contingencies :
- Common contingencies (not directly related to work),
- occupational contingencies (directly related to work).
- Depending on the type of contingency, it is necessary to make specific calculations in the employee's pay slip.
- The actors involved in the payment of sick leave are:
- The Social Security and the Mutual Society with which the company has an agreement, who assume the final payment.
- The company acts as the advance payer while the SS or the Mutual Society reimburses the corresponding amounts.
- To guarantee the correct management of the payroll and the respect of the employer/employee labour relationship, it is advisable to hire the services of a versatile and high-performance software or to ask an expert, depending on the situation in which you find yourself. He or she will be able to ensure compliance with the legislation in force.
Article translated from Spanish