Sick Leave - update for Employers
What to do when someone gets sick, what they’re entitled to, and how to manage sick leave.
If your employees are sick, encourage them to stay home. It will give them a chance to recover, and it will prevent other people from getting sick.
What you need to know
After an employee has been working for you for six months, they're legally entitled to at least 10 days of paid sick leave a year.
You must do the following:
Allow employees to accumulate up to 20 days of sick leave. This means employees can carry over 10 days of unused sick leave into the next year.
Allow employees to use sick leave to care for a sick or injured spouse, partner, dependant child or any other dependant individual.
Pay a sick employee what they’d get if they’d worked a normal day, including bonuses and overtime.
You can do the following:
Let employees take sick leave in advance if they’ve worked for you for less than six months.
Choose to let employees carry over extra sick leave, beyond the 20-day requirement from year to year.
Offer more than 10 days of paid sick leave a year.
What an employee is entitled to
All employees (including part-time and casual employees) are entitled to 10 days of sick leave each year once:
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.
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: Worksafe.govt.nz - Work related Stress
Sick leave is 10 days per year and is not pro-rated
Minimum sick leave entitlements increased from 5 to 10 days per year from 24 July 2021.
Sick leave entitlements are not pro-rated (assessed proportionately). Even if a part-time employee only works 3 days a week, they still get 10 days sick leave a year and can accumulate up to 20 sick days a year.
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 employment agreement or through your workplace policies.
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 relevant daily pay or average daily pay for the time on sick leave.
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
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.
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.
Tip: Take care when calculating pay for leave, because different types of leave require different calculations.
If an employee is injured
If an employee gets injured at work, they don’t need to take sick leave. Once the accident is registered with ACC and they’ve acknowledged it, you must pay your injured employee at least 80% of their normal wages for the first week off work.
If an employee gets injured outside of work, they can choose to take:
sick leave for the first week they’re off work
annual leave or leave without pay.
After the first week, ACC will pay them 80% of their usual salary while off work.
Injured employees can ask you to pay them one day of sick leave each week if they want to and they have the sick leave available. You have no other obligation to pay them while they’re on ACC, but if your employee returns to work on part-time duties, you may need to make a contribution towards their salary.
Asking for doctor’s certificates
You can ask for a doctor’s certificate:
after an employee has been sick or injured for 3 consecutive days
before they've been sick or injured for three consecutive days, but only if you cover the cost of getting the certificate.
Your employee can choose which doctor they'd like to see.
If they can't provide a doctor's certificate or other proof that they're really sick, you don't have to pay them for their sick leave.
CG comment: If you have any questions about your business’s sick leave requirements please contact your accountant to discuss.
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