Compare sick leave with social insurance and sick leave with full salary based on: conditions, level of sick leave with social insurance, duration of sick leave with social insurance and full salary.
What is paid sick leave?
Although the 2019 Labor Code does not specifically explain what paid sick leave is, you can understand it as follows:
- Sick leave with full pay is when employees use their annual leave to take time off work when they are sick or ill;
- Employees in these cases will be paid by the enterprise as for a normal working day;
- When applying for paid sick leave (ie annual leave), employees do not need to apply for social insurance sick leave benefits.
What is sick leave with social insurance?
Sick leave with social insurance (social insurance sick leave) is a policy that allows employees to take time off work when they are sick but still receive salary and that salary will be paid by the social insurance agency on behalf of the enterprise.
————
Thus, when employees take sick leave, they can only receive one of two benefits: social insurance sick leave or full salary.
>> See more: 5 benefits when participating in compulsory social insurance.
Subjects entitled to social insurance sickness benefits
The subjects entitled to sick leave benefits include:
➨ For employees who are Vietnamese citizens:
- Employees participating in compulsory social insurance;
- Workers are civil servants, public employees, and officials;
- Workers go abroad to work under labor contracts;
- Cooperative and enterprise managers receive salary;
- Police workers, defense workers, and people working in other key organizations;
- Civil servants, officers, officials, cadres, police, and people receiving salaries as military personnel;
- Employees working under labor contracts with a term from 1 month to less than 3 months;
- People working under a labor contract with a fixed term or indefinite term, seasonal or for a specific job with a term from 3 months to less than 12 months;
- Non-professional workers in wards, communes, towns…
➨ For foreign workers:
Foreign employees working in Vietnam with a work permit or practice certificate issued by a competent authority in Vietnam will be eligible to participate in social insurance according to regulations (the contribution rate will be different from that of Vietnamese citizens) and receive sick leave benefits.
See also:
>> Work permit application service for foreigners;
>> Social insurance registration service for businesses – Total 1,500,000 VND.
Comparison of sick leave with social insurance and sick leave with full salary
Basically, you can compare sick leave with social insurance and sick leave with full salary through the following 3 outstanding features:
1. About the conditions for enjoying sick leave
2.1 Sick leave with social insurance
Employees are entitled to sick leave and social insurance benefits if they fall into one of the following cases:
- Take leave to take care of sick children under 7 years old (with confirmation from medical examination and treatment facility);
- Illness or accident not caused by work-related accidents or treatment of illness or injury that recurs due to work-related accidents or occupational diseases and requires leave from work (with confirmation from a medical facility);
- Female employees who return to work before the end of their maternity leave and fall into one of the two cases mentioned above.
Note:
Sick leave with social insurance benefits does not include the following cases:
- Employees take leave for first treatment due to occupational diseases or work accidents (*);
- Employees who have accidents or are sick and must take time off work due to drunkenness, self-harm, or use of drugs or drug precursors;
- Employees who have accidents or illnesses that are not work-related accidents while on unpaid leave, personal leave, annual leave, or maternity leave as prescribed by law.
(*): Employees can enjoy occupational accident and disease benefits if they meet the relevant conditions.
See also:
>> Conditions for enjoying social insurance maternity benefits;
>> Conditions for receiving occupational accident and disease benefits.
2.2 Sick leave with full pay
For sick leave with full pay, in addition to meeting the conditions mentioned for sick leave with social insurance, employees need to satisfy the additional requirement that the sick leave coincides with annual leave.
2. About sick leave with benefits
2.1 Sick leave with social insurance
According to the provisions of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, depending on whether the employee is absent from work due to illness or absent from work to take care of a sick child, the time off work to receive social insurance benefits will be different. Specifically:
➨ The employee himself is sick:
| Working conditions | Social insurance payment period | Sick leave time to receive social insurance (*) |
| Normal environment | Under 15 years | 30 days |
| From 15 years – under 30 years | 40 days | |
| 30 years or more | 60 days | |
| Hazardous, toxic, arduous environments or places with regional allowance coefficient of 0.7 or higher | Under 15 years | Up to 40 days |
| From 15 years – under 30 years | Up to 50 days | |
| 30 years or more | Up to 70 days |
(*): Not including weekly holidays, holidays, Tet.
In case the employee is sick and requires long-term treatment, the maximum sick leave period to receive social insurance is 180 days (including weekly days off and holidays). If after 180 days the employee continues to receive treatment, he/she will receive a lower level of sick leave (up to the maximum period of social insurance contributions).
➨ Take time off to care for a sick child:
If an employee has a sick child and needs to take time off to take care of him/her, the time off work to receive social insurance is regulated as follows:
- Maximum 15 days off/year: Children from 3 to 7 years old;
- Maximum 20 days off/year: Children under 3 years old.
Note:
The above time off does not include weekly days off, holidays, and Tet.
In case both father and mother participate in social insurance, the time off to enjoy the regime when the child is sick of each person will still be calculated according to the above regulations.
2.1 Sick leave with full pay:
As mentioned above, the employee’s paid leave is calculated based on annual leave days.
Accordingly, based on Article 113 of the 2019 Labor Code, employees who have worked for 12 months will have annual leave and be entitled to sick leave with full pay according to the following regulations:
| 12 days/year | Workers work under normal conditions |
| 14 days/year | Workers are disabled, minors or work in dangerous, arduous, or toxic conditions. |
| 16 days/year | Workers working in especially dangerous, toxic and arduous conditions |
In case the employee’s working time is less than 12 months, the number of annual leave days will be calculated in proportion to the number of working months.
For example:
If you work for 3 months, you have 3 days of annual leave. If you work for 6 months, you have 6 days of annual leave.
3. About the level of social insurance sickness benefits
3.1 Sick leave with social insurance
➨ In case of normal illness: The formula for calculating the normal sickness benefit level is prescribed as follows:
| Sickness benefit level | = | Number of days off for sick leave | x | Monthly salary for social insurance contribution of the month immediately preceding the leave of absence / 24 days | x | 75% |
➨ In case of illness requiring long-term treatment:
Below is the formula for calculating the level of benefits for long-term illness requiring treatment:
| Sickness benefit level | = | Number of months of sick leave | x | Social insurance contribution salary of the month immediately preceding the leave of absence | x | Sickness benefit rate (%) |
In which, the rate of enjoying sick leave benefits:
- For the first 180 days off: 75%;
- After the first 180 days off:
- 50%: Social insurance payment under 15 years;
- 55%: Social insurance payment from 15 years to less than 30 years;
- 65%: Social insurance contributions for 30 years or more.
Note:
In case the employee’s long-term sick leave has odd days (not a full month), the formula for calculating the sick leave benefit is prescribed as follows:
| Sickness benefit level | = | Number of days off with sick leave | x | Social insurance contribution salary of the month immediately preceding the leave of absence / 24 days | x | Sickness benefit rate (%) |
3.2 Sick leave with full pay
Because sick leave with full pay is when an employee takes time off work on an annual leave day, no salary deductions will be made. The sick leave benefit is also equal to 100% of the employee’s salary when working.
Frequently asked questions about sick leave with social insurance and full salary
1. Do I get paid when I take sick leave and receive social insurance benefits?
No. When on sick leave, employees can only receive social insurance sickness benefits or receive salary from the enterprise (depending on the specific case), but cannot receive both of these expenses at the same time.
>> See more: Social insurance sickness benefit profile.
2. What are the conditions for sick leave to receive social insurance?
- Employees are entitled to sick leave;
- Take leave to take care of sick children under 7 years old (with confirmation from medical examination and treatment facility);
- Illness or accident not caused by work-related accidents or treatment of illness or injury that recurs due to work-related accidents or occupational diseases and requires leave from work (with confirmation from a medical facility);
- Female employees who return to work before the end of their maternity leave and fall into one of the two cases mentioned above.
3. Are employees with less than 12 months of work entitled to paid sick leave?
Yes. If an employee has worked for less than 12 months, is eligible for sick leave and meets the conditions for paid sick leave, the number of annual leave days will be calculated in proportion to the number of months worked.
4. What percentage of social insurance is paid for sick leave?
The rate of enjoying social insurance sick leave is 75% if the employee takes regular sick leave.
In case an employee is sick and requires long-term treatment, the rate of receiving social insurance sickness benefits is prescribed as follows:
- For the first 180 days off: 75%;
- After the first 180 days off:
- 50%: Social insurance payment under 15 years;
- 55%: Social insurance payment from 15 years to less than 30 years;
- 65%: Social insurance contributions for 30 years or more.
5. Are employees who have accidents due to drunkenness eligible for sick leave and social insurance benefits?
No. Social insurance does not resolve sickness benefits in the following cases:
- Employees take leave for first treatment due to occupational diseases or work accidents;
- Employees who have accidents or are sick and must take time off work due to drunkenness, self-harm, or use of drugs or drug precursors;
- Employees who have accidents or illnesses that are not work-related accidents while on unpaid leave, personal leave, annual leave, or maternity leave as prescribed by law.