Understanding Statutory Sick Pay

With Statutory Sick Pay and Sick Leave entitlement days on the up in 2025, SFA HR Executive Zaynab Lawal takes a look at what employers need to be mindful of.

Statutory Sick Leave and Sick Pay commenced on the 1st of January 2023 following the introduction of the Statutory Sick Leave Act 2022. Three days of entitlement were permitted in the 2023 calendar year. In 2024, employees are entitled to five days of statutory sick pay (SSP) per year. The Government intends to increase statutory sick days to seven calendar days in 2025 and potentially 10 days per calendar year in 2026.

Rate of Payment
The Act provides that an employer must pay an employee in respect of each Statutory Sick Day. The Act sets out the prescribed daily rate for Sick Leave. Sick Pay is paid at 70% of the employee’s normal daily pay, up to a maximum of €110 per day.
There are two methods for calculating the average gross earnings, depending on whether the employee earns a fixed wage or salary or works variable hours. If an employee is not a salaried worker or works variable hours, a reference period of the preceding 13 weeks, multiplied by the number of hours an employee would have worked if they were not out sick, can be used for the calculation.

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Qualifying Employees
Section 5 of the Statutory Sick Leave Act 2022 sets out that an employee must have completed 13 weeks of continuous service with their employer to qualify for sick pay. An employee must produce a medical certificate in order to qualify for Statutory Sick Leave. The medical certificate must be in the official language of the State and signed by a registered medical practitioner. Significantly, it must state that the employee is unfit to work. The medical certificate should cover each day that the employee is sick in order for the employee to receive payment. The medical certificate should be from the first day of sickness. Sick pay is payable only on days that the employee is scheduled to be at work.

Employers with more favourable sick pay schemes
Section 9 of the Act states that if an employer provides a more favourable scheme to employees as a whole, the obligations of the Statutory Sick Pay scheme shall not apply. In determining whether a sick pay scheme confers benefits that are more favourable as a whole, the Act requires five criteria to be considered.

The five criteria are outlined as follows:

  1. The period of service that an employee must have before sick leave is paid
  2. The number of waiting days
  3. The duration of sick leave paid
  4. The amount of sick pay
  5. The reference period used for pay calculation
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Employees can bring a claim to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) if they believe the employer’s scheme is not more favourable and that they are entitled to statutory sick pay.

Record Keeping
An employer must maintain a record of all statutory sick leave taken. These records include:

  • The period of employment of each employee who availed of statutory sick leave
  • The dates and times of statutory sick leave in respect of each employee who availed of such leave
  • The rate of statutory sick leave payment in relation to each employee who availed of statutory sick leave.

Records must be retained for four years. Employers who, without reasonable cause, fail to comply shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of up to €2,500.

Key takeaways for employers

  • As the entitlement to Statutory Sick Pay increases, employers should refer to their statutory sick pay scheme to check if it is still deemed more favourable
  • If an employer is relying on Section 9 of the Act, best practice would be to outline in your company sick pay scheme policy that the company sick pay scheme will continue to apply
  • Ensure record are up to date and secure.
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