Employers
Managing sick leave
Eligible employees are entitled to 10 days of paid sick leave each year to care for themselves, their partners and children, or other dependants.
What an employee is entitled to
All employees (including part-time and Not defined in employment law, but usually refers to a situation where an employee works on an as-and-when-required basis and has no guaranteed hours of work, no regular pattern of work, and no ongoing expectation of employment.
- they have been working for you continuously for 6 months, or
- they have worked for you for a period of 6 months for:
- an average of 10 hours per week, and
- at least 1 hour in every week or 40 hours in every month.
If, in any year, an employee does not meet the criteria:
- they do not get any new sick leave entitlement
- they can still use any sick leave balance carried over from the previous year.
Your employees should let you know as soon as possible when they need to take a sick day.
Work out if an employee qualifies for sick leave [PDF, 600 KB]
If an employee gets sick before or during their annual holiday
Stress leave
Stress leave is not an entitlement under the law, but some employers offer it in their workplace policies or employment agreements. Stress leave can help manage the impact of work-related stress on an employee’s health.
If stress is making your employee mentally or physically unwell, they can use sick leave just like they would for any illness or injury.
Workplace stress is a health and safety issue. For more information about dealing with stress at work visit:
Carrying over unused sick leave
If an employee has unused sick leave at the end of a 12-month period, it is added to the next year's entitlement – to a maximum of 20 days of sick leave.
You and your employee can agree that sick leave accumulates to more than 20 days – either in their A written document setting out the terms and conditions of employment agreed by the employer and employee (also known as a ‘contract of service’). It can include other contractual documents and agreements made by the employer and employee. Every employee must have a written employment agreement.
Creating workplace policies and procedures
Unused sick leave does not have to be cashed up and an employee is not entitled to have any unused sick leave paid out as part of any final payment to the employee when they leave.
Employees taking sick leave for appointments
If an employee has a medical appointment (for example, to go to a doctor or dentist), they may be able to use sick leave for their appointment. It depends if it’s a routine appointment or not.
A routine appointment is one where the employee does not have to be diagnosed or treated for an illness, injury or condition. For example, getting a repeat prescription or getting a check-up at the dentist.
An appointment that is not routine is one where the employee needs to be diagnosed or treated for an illness, injury or condition. For example, they need to go to:
- the doctor because they are sick or injured
- hospital to have surgery
- physio.
If it is a routine appointment
You are not legally required to give employees leave unless their employment agreement says otherwise.
If there is nothing specified in the employment agreement, you and your employee can negotiate. For example, you could agree to use paid leave or unpaid leave. If you cannot agree, the employee can schedule these appointments for a time outside of work hours.
If it is not a routine appointment
If it is not a routine appointment, the employee can use sick leave to attend the appointment.
Taking part-days sick
The Holidays Act 2003 describes sick leave entitlement in days and does not divide it into part days or hours. This means that if an employee works for part of the day and then goes home sick, it can be counted as using a whole day of sick leave – no matter how much of the day they worked before going home.
However, you can agree with your employee to describe their entitlement as hours or part-days, if you want to. If you do agree to this, the number of hours or part-days must be equivalent to at least 10 full days a year.
For example, if an employee worked a half-day, and then went home sick, you could agree to only deduct a half-day of sick leave. You would then pay them half their The amount an employee would have been paid if they’d worked on a public holiday, alternative holiday, or on a day they took sick leave, family violence leave or bereavement leave. The daily average of the employee’s total gross earnings over the past 52 weeks.
If an employee has no sick leave left
If an employee has no sick leave left, you could agree with them that they:
- use sick leave in advance
- use some of their
annual holidays Paid time away from work for rest and recreation.
- take unpaid leave
- take paid special leave, either as provided for in the employment agreement or workplace policies or by agreement between you and the employee.
James normally works 8 hours Tuesday to Friday and 4 hours on Saturday. If he is sick on Saturday, the employer should pay James his relevant daily pay for the sick day, which is 4 hours.
If relevant daily pay is used for the calculation, the payment must include regular overtime if the employee would have worked overtime on the day if they had not been sick.
Working overtime or extra shifts
Claire’s employment agreement specifies an hour for lunch. But Claire usually takes only half an hour for lunch, at her employer’s request. Instead, she gets an extra half hour payment each day. If Claire is sick, her sick leave payment includes the extra half-hour she is normally paid, even though it is not in her employment agreement.
If an employee works continuously but has an irregular pattern, sick leave is payable if they were rostered to work on the day leave is taken, or they could have expected to be rostered. The sick leave is paid at the employee’s relevant daily pay or average daily pay.
Requesting proof of illness or injury
If an employee requests sick leave, you can ask them for proof of sickness or injury. This is usually a medical certificate from a doctor saying that the employee (or their spouse, partner or dependant) is sick or injured and unable to work. You cannot tell an employee which doctor or practice they should go to.
If you ask for proof, it could be you or your employee who pays for these costs. It depends how many days your employee has been sick.
Sick for less than 3 days
If your employee has been sick for less than 3 days, you must:
- ask for proof as soon as possible, and
- pay the employee back for any costs – for example, the cost of their doctor's visit.
Sick for 3 or more days in a row
If you know your employee has been sick for 3 or more days in a row, they must pay for any costs.
The 3 days are counted as calendar days, not just workdays. This means it includes days the employee would not otherwise have worked. For example, a Saturday or Sunday, or another day they were already scheduled to have off.
Jennifer works on Monday and takes a day's sick leave on Tuesday. She then has a one-day scheduled break on Wednesday (during which she is still sick), and takes another day’s sick leave on Thursday. Her employer can ask for proof at Jennifer’s expense as she has been sick for 3 days in a row.
Holly is sick on Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday she phones her employer to tell them that she will be off sick again. Holly’s employer tells her that:
- she will need to bring a medical certificate to work on her return to prove that she was genuinely ill, and
- she will need to pay for the costs of getting the medical certificate herself, as she will have been sick for 3 days.
If Holly’s employer had asked for the certificate when she phoned in sick on Tuesday, her employer would have had to cover the cost.
Holly’s workplace policies state that sick leave is recorded and deducted in half days. If Holly had come to work at lunchtime on Wednesday (and taken only a half-day’s sick leave), she would have been sick for less than 3 days. This means her employer would have had to cover the cost of the medical certificate.
Paying employees for sick leave
Employees only get paid sick leave for days they would have worked if they had not been sick. These are known as otherwise working days.
You do not have to pay an employee for sick leave if:
- you have asked them for proof of sickness or injury, and
- they have not provided this, and
- they do not have a reasonable excuse for not providing it.
If they provide proof at a later date, you must pay them for that sick leave.
Pay for sick, bereavement and family violence leave
How you pay sick leave to your employee
Payment must be the employee’s relevant daily pay, or their average daily pay in some cases.
Payment for sick leave is made in the normal pay cycle.
For more information about how to pay sick leave, see:
If an employee has an ongoing illness or injury
If an employee is sick or injured for a reasonable period of time and can no longer do their job, you need to know:
- how long the employee is likely to be off work, and
- whether they’ll be able to do their job again.
For more information see:
When an employee is on ACC
If an employee has an accident or injury covered by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) scheme, you have payment responsibilities in the first week after their injury. ACC will pay the employee from the second week onwards.
If the employee is receiving ACC payments, you cannot make them take this time as sick leave or annual holidays.
Payment responsibilities for the first week after injury
Your payment responsibilities for the first week after their injury depend on whether the injury happened at work or not.
If the injury happened at work, you must pay compensation of 80% of the employee’s usual earnings for that first week.
If the injury did not happen at work, the employee can use sick leave or other paid leave (for example, annual holidays) if they have any. If they do not have any paid leave available, they will not be paid for that first week.
If the employee is on ACC for more than 5 days
If the employee is on ACC for more than 5 days, you and your employee can agree that you will top up their ACC payment. It can be topped up from 80% to 100% by using 1 day of sick leave for every 5 days they are on ACC.
- If the injury happened at work, you can top up the payment in the first week and every week after this.
- If the injury did not happen at work, you can only top up the payment from the second week onwards.
If an employee leaves after being on ACC
When an employee leaves their job after being on ACC compensation, this can affect their final holiday pay.
Their final pay must include their final wages, all the holiday pay they’re entitled to and any other payments owing.