Definition: Sickness benefit

Category: EU-SILC

Sickness benefits refer to cash benefits that replace in whole or in part loss of earnings during temporary inability to work due to sickness or injury.

Sickness benefits include:

- paid sick leave: flat-rate or earnings-related payments intended to compensate the protected person in full or in part for the loss of earnings caused by temporary inability to work due to sickness or injury. These benefits may be paid by autonomous social protection schemes, but they may also be provided by the employer in form of a continued payment of wages and salaries during the period of sickness,
- paid leave in case of sickness or injury of a dependent child,
- other cash benefits: miscellaneous payments made to protected people in connection with sickness or injury.

It does not include:

- cash benefits that replace loss of earnings during temporary inability to work as a result of pregnancy (these benefits are included under "Family/children-related allowance" (HY050G)),
- cash benefits that replace loss of earnings during temporary inability to work as a result of disability (these benefits are included under "Disability benefits" (PY130G)),
- payments made by employers to an employee in lieu of wages and salaries through a social insurance scheme when unable to work through sickness, where such payment can not be separately and clearly identified as a social benefit (these payments are included under "Gross cash or near-cash employee income" (PY010G)),
- additional payments made by employers to an employee to supplement the sickness leave pay entitlement from a social insurance scheme, where such payments can not be separately and clearly identified as social benefits (those payments are included under "Gross cash or near-cash employee income" (PY010G)). http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2003/l_298/l_29820031117en00010022.pdf