You are most likely aware that all employees with more than 13 weeks employment in your business are entitled to claim payment from you for sick leave.
For the rest of 2023, an employee can seek payment for3 days leave if they have CERTIFIED their illness/incapacitation subject to the following:
- The claim relates to day/days that the employee was scheduled/rostered to work
- The claim will be paid at 70% of the claimants gross salary, up to a cap of €110 per day
You should make it very clear to all employees that payment will be made once the Certificate is produced, and that the Certificate should be given to you within a defined period (possibly 4-6 weeks) after return to work. It is perfectly legal to insist on a “No Cert, No Pay” policy.
It is very important that you keep records of all claims and subsequent payments as an inspection by a WRC official can be anticipated. You need to keep these records for 4 years.
The numbers of sick leave days will increase from 3 days in 2023, to 5 days in 2024, 7 days in 2025 and 10 days in 2026. There is NO provision for “unused” days to transfer into an “entitlement” to a subsequent year.
It is possible that your payroll software will need to be updated to accommodate these elements of the Statutory Sick Pay Scheme, we would advise that you ensure it is enabled as soon as practicable, in the interim period you may need to resort to the old fashioned pencil and paper recording!