Since 1st January 2023, Irish legislation introduced a mandatory statutory sick pay scheme in the form of the Sick Leave Act 2022.
Under the Act, paid sick leave was gradually introduced and is currently at 5 days paid leave per year. Originally, the legislation envisaged further increases to 7 days in 2025 and 10 days in 2026. However, a review in 2025 resulted in the decision to keep the entitlement at five days in 2025 rather than increasing it.
These days are calculated over the calendar year (January to December) and may be taken consecutively or broken up throughout the year.
Rate of Pay
When an employee takes statutory sick leave, the employer must pay 70% of the employee’s normal daily earnings, subject to a maximum of €110 per day. This rate is designed to balance financial support for workers while helping control costs for employers.
The payment is subject to normal tax and social insurance deductions, similar to regular wages.
Who Is Eligible?
Not all employees qualify automatically. To be eligible for statutory sick pay, a person must:
- Be an employee including full-time, part-time, apprentices, agency workers, and interns.
- Have completed at least 13 weeks of continuous employment with the same employer.
- Provide a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner confirming they are unfit for work on the relevant days.
There is no pro-rating the 5 days entitlement in line with employees working hours, all employees hold the same 5 days leave entitlement.
The sick leave entitlement applies to days on which the employee would normally work but is incapable of working due to illness or injury.
Interaction with Illness Benefit
Once an employee exhausts their statutory sick pay entitlement, they may be able to claim Illness Benefit from the State, provided they meet the required PRSI contributions. Illness Benefit is administered by the Department of Social Protection and typically pays a weekly amount.
Importantly, while statutory sick pay and Illness Benefit cannot be paid for the same days simultaneously, once SSP runs out, eligible workers can transition to the state benefit.
What if the business has a sick pay scheme in place?
Where an employer already operates a sick pay scheme, that scheme may be used to satisfy statutory sick pay obligations, provided it is at least as favourable as the statutory entitlement. This means it must offer sick leave for the same minimum number of days and at a rate of pay equal to or greater than statutory sick pay. If the employer’s scheme is less favourable, statutory sick pay must be provided in addition.
The case of “Lee Peate v Musgrave Marketplace” highlighted the importance of ensuring the company sick pay scheme is more favourable to all employees.
If the company scheme has a waiting period before an employee is eligible to receive sick pay then once the employee has 13 weeks continuous service and the time they are eligible for sick pay, statutory sick pay must be afforded to an employee when on certified sick leave.
Statutory sick pay and disciplinary procedures
Days taken as statutory sick pay can be referenced in an absence record, but they should not be treated as misconduct or grounds for disciplinary action simply because statutory sick leave was used. As outlined in the findings of “Worker V Service Provider to Financial Services”, an employer shall not penalise or threaten penalisation of an employee for proposing to exercise or having exercised his or her entitlement to statutory sick leave.
Employer Obligations and Enforcement
In summary, statutory sick pay in Ireland marks a significant advancement in workers’ rights, providing a guaranteed minimum level of financial support when employees fall ill. While still modest compared with schemes in some other European countries, it represents a critical safety net that did not previously exist.
Employers must maintain accurate records of statutory sick leave taken and sick pay paid. Failure to comply with the Sick Leave Act can result in enforcement action by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), including fines and compensation orders.
There are limited circumstances where an employer can apply for an exemption (for example, where financial hardship can be demonstrated), but these are judged on a case-by-case basis.
