Employment Act 1968 - Singapore Statutes Online

Sick leave

89.—(1) Any employee who has served an employer for a period of not less than 6 months is entitled, after examination by a medical practitioner, to such paid sick leave, as may be certified by the medical practitioner, not exceeding in the aggregate —

(a)

if no hospitalisation is necessary, 14 days in each year; or

(b)

if hospitalisation is necessary, the lesser of the following:

(i)	60 days in each year;
(ii)	the aggregate of 14 days plus the number of days on which the employee is hospitalised. [55/2018]

(2) Any employee who has served an employer for a period of at least 3 months but less than 6 months is entitled, after examination by a medical practitioner, to such paid sick leave, as may be certified by the medical practitioner, not exceeding in the aggregate —

(a)

where the employee has served the employer for a period of at least 3 months but less than 4 months —

(i)

if no hospitalisation is necessary, 5 days in each year; or

(ii)

if hospitalisation is necessary, the lesser of the following:

(A)	15 days in each year;
(B)	the aggregate of 5 days plus the number of days on which the employee is hospitalised;

(b)

where the employee has served the employer for a period of at least 4 months but less than 5 months —

(i)

if no hospitalisation is necessary, 8 days in each year; or

(ii)

if hospitalisation is necessary, the lesser of the following:

(A)	30 days in each year;
(B)	the aggregate of 8 days plus the number of days on which the employee is hospitalised; or

(c)

where the employee has served the employer for a period of at least 5 months but less than 6 months —

(i)

if no hospitalisation is necessary, 11 days in each year; or

(ii)

if hospitalisation is necessary, the lesser of the following:

(A)	45 days in each year;
(B)	the aggregate of 11 days plus the number of days on which the employee is hospitalised. [55/2018]

(3) For the purposes of this section —

(a)

an employee is hospitalised if the employee is warded in a hospital in such circumstances as may be prescribed or is under quarantine (whether or not in a hospital) under any written law; and

(b)

an employee is to be treated as hospitalised for any period the employee is not an in-patient of a hospital, or stops being an in-patient of a hospital after being warded in that hospital in accordance with paragraph (a), if the employee is certified, by a medical practitioner employed by a hospital approved by the Minister —

(i)	to be ill enough to require hospitalisation during that period; or
(ii)	to need rest or further medical treatment during that period in order to recover after the employee’s discharge from a hospital. [55/2018]

(4) An employee who absents himself or herself on sick leave —

(a)	which is not certified by a medical practitioner; or
(b)	which is certified by a medical practitioner not appointed by the employer, but of which the employee did not inform or attempt to inform the employer within 48 hours after its commencement,

is deemed to have absented himself or herself from work without the employer’s permission and without reasonable excuse for the days on which the employee is so absent from work.

[55/2018]

(5) The employer must pay the employee for every day of such sick leave —

(a)	where no hospitalisation is necessary, at the gross rate of pay excluding any allowance payable in respect of shift work; and
(b)	where hospitalisation is necessary, at the gross rate of pay.

(6) Despite subsection (5), an employee is not entitled to paid sick leave on a rest day or on a holiday to which he or she is entitled under section 36 or 88 respectively or on any day of paid annual leave or on a day when he or she is not required to work under his or her contract of service or on a day when he or she is on leave of absence without pay granted by the employer at the employee’s request.

(7) An employee is not entitled to paid sick leave for the period during which he or she is receiving or is entitled to receive compensation for temporary incapacity under paragraph 4 of the First Schedule to the Work Injury Compensation Act 2019 or paragraph 4 of the Third Schedule to the Work Injury Compensation Act (Cap. 354, 2009 Revised Edition) repealed by that Act.

[27/2019]

(7A) Where an employee has served an employer for a period of at least 3 months, the employer is liable to bear, or to reimburse the employee, the fees of an examination of the employee by a medical practitioner, if —

(a)	the medical practitioner is appointed by the employer or is a medical officer; and
(b)	after the examination, the employee is certified by the medical practitioner to be entitled to paid sick leave. [55/2018]

(8) An employer is deemed to fulfil the employer’s obligation under subsection (7A) if —

(a)	the Commissioner, after considering the merits of any healthcare scheme that the employer provides to the employer’s employees and such other matters as the Commissioner may consider relevant, by written order directs that the employer has fulfilled that obligation for so long as the employer provides such a healthcare scheme for the employer’s employees; or
(b)	the employer complies with such other requirement as the Minister may, by regulations, prescribe. [55/2018]

(9) An order made under subsection (8)(a) —

(a)	may be subject to such terms or conditions as the Commissioner may determine, which the Commissioner may add to, vary or revoke;
(b)	need not be published in the Gazette; and
(c)	may be revoked by the Commissioner in writing at any time.

(10) This section does not apply to any employee seeking or undergoing medical treatment which, in the opinion of a medical practitioner performing the examination under subsection (1) or (2), is for cosmetic purposes.

[26/2013; 55/2018]

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