Sick Leave – General Provisions
As a result of Labour Court recommendations, under the Public Service Agreement 2010 – 2014, new arrangements in relation to sick leave for public servants, including teachers, lecturers and ETB staff, came into effect from 1st September 2014.
The following is a brief summary of the main provisions. For full, comprehensive details members should read Circular Letter 13/2024.
Paid Sick Leave
- Total paid sick leave arrangements (inclusive of self-certified and certified sick leave – see below) for those with non-critical illnesses are three months (92 days) on full pay, followed by three months (91 days) on half pay in ‘a rolling four-year period’. Thereafter, payment of Temporary Rehabilitation Remuneration (TRR) - in effect, a fixed pension rate - will normally be limited to a further 18 months.
- Total paid sick leave arrangements (inclusive of self-certified and certified sick leave) for those with critical illnesses or serious physical injuries are six months (183 days) on full pay followed by six months (182 days) on half pay in ‘a rolling four-year period’. Thereafter, payment of Temporary Rehabilitation Remuneration will normally be limited to a further 12 months.
There is a “double look-back”, beginning with a look at the ‘rolling four-year period’. This means that sick leave taken over the previous four years, up to the date of the current illness, is taken into account when calculating eligibility for paid sick leave.
A second look-back, at sick leave taken over the 12 months up to the date of the current illness, then determines what rate the sick leave should be paid at. (See ‘Calculating sick leave’ below)
Critical illness
A critical illness protocol sets out the criteria that are used to determine whether the illness can be defined as ‘critical’. In order for the illness to be deemed ‘critical’, you should ordinarily be under current or recent clinical care of a consultant. The case will be referred to the occupational health service which will advise whether the following criteria are met:
- The employee is medically unfit to return to his or her current duties or (where practicable) modified duties in the same pay grade
- The nature of this medical condition has at least one of the following characteristics:
(a) Acute life threatening physical illness
(b) Chronic progressive illness, with well-established potential to reduce life expectancy
(c) Major physical trauma ordinarily requiring corrective acute operative surgical treatment
(d) In-patient hospital care of ten consecutive days or greater
For the latest information on critical illness provision, see Circular Letter13/2024. This confirms that if a teacher has an ordinary illness (i.e. an illness which is not regarded as critical illness) within a 12 month period of the date of return to work following a critical illness, the critical illness provision will apply.
Temporary Rehabilitation Remuneration (TRR)
Following exhaustion of all paid, sick leave (inclusive of self-certified and certified), a worker is eligible to be paid ‘temporary rehabilitation remuneration’ (which used to be called the ‘pension rate’). The rate of TRR is 37.5% of the remuneration that would otherwise accrue to the person, were they not on sick leave. TRR will not exceed 18 months (548 days) in a rolling 4 year period in the case of ordinary illness or 12 months in the case of critical illness, counting back from the first day of the teacher’s current absence. See Circular Letter 13/2024 for full details.
Self-Certified/Uncertified Sick Leave
Under these sick leave arrangements, teachers and lecturers are entitled to a maximum of 7 self-certified, paid sick leave days in a rolling 2 year period. Since 1st of August 2014, the 7 days have been calculated over a personal rolling 2 year period, counting backwards from the date of the latest self-certified sick leave.
Certified Sick Leave
A teacher/lecturer who has exhausted all 7 self-certified, paid sick leave days will - in the event that s/he is absent on sick leave - have to provide a medical certificate if s/he is to be paid for that absence.
In addition, where a teacher is absent on continuous sick leave of more than the authorised number of days as set out below, a medical certificate is required.
- Primary and ETB schools: maximum of 3 consecutive school days
- Secondary, Community and Comprehensive schools: maximum of 4 consecutive school days
- Lecturers in Technological Universities/Institutes of Technology: maximum of 2 consecutive days
- Grades other than teacher in the ETB Sector: maximum of 2 consecutive days
If a teacher in an ETB school/lecturer is absent on a Friday and on the following Monday, then the absence will be recorded as 4 days’ leave and a medical certificate will be required. Where a teacher/lecturer is absent on either Friday or Monday, only the day on which the teacher/lecturer is absent will be reckoned as sick leave.
Calculating sick pay (non-critical illness)
Step/Look-back 1 – Calculating the number of days of paid sick leave
Look back four years (from the date of current sick leave) to find the total number of both certified and uncertified sick days taken during this 4 year period.
- If the number of days taken is greater than 183 days then there is no further entitlement to sick pay (the entitlement has been exhausted). However, TRR may be payable (see above).
- If the number of days taken is fewer than 183 days then you are entitled to paid sick leave for the remaining number of days (up to a maximum of 183). You are entitled to 183 minus the number of sick days taken in the past four years.
Step 2/Look-back 2 – Calculating the rate of sick leave pay
If you are entitled to paid sick leave, the next step is to calculate the rate of sick pay that should be paid (i.e. full pay or half pay).
Look back over the previous 12 months (from the date of current sick leave) to find the total number of both certified and uncertified sick days taken in this period.
- If you have taken fewer than 92 days sick leave in the previous 12-month period, you are entitled to be paid at full pay up until you reach the 92 day cut-off and will then be paid at half pay for up to a further 91 days. (This is subject to the limit of the total number of sick days you are entitled to – calculated in step 1).
- If you have taken more than 92 days sick leave in the previous 12-month period, you are entitled to be paid at half pay for up to a maximum of a further 91 days. (This is subject to the limit of the total number of sick days you are entitled to – calculated in step 1).
Calculating sick pay (critical illness)
In calculating sick pay (critical illness), the two step calculation mechanism is similar except that, in looking back from a current date, the member is checking to see if the total number of certified and uncertified days taken in a four year period is less than or greater than 365, as opposed to 183. Furthermore, the rate of sick pay is based on 183 days on full pay followed by 182 days on half pay in a 12-month period.
Worked Examples
Example 1 (non-critical illness) – a teacher/lecturer who has taken 123 days sick leave in the four year period up to their current illness is entitled to 60 further days of paid sick leave. He has taken no sick leave in the previous 12 months so would be entitled to take all 60 days sick leave at full pay.
Example 2 (non-critical illness) – a teacher/lecturer who has taken 20 days sick leave in the four year period up to their current illness is entitled to 163 further days of paid sick leave. She has taken 10 days sick leave in the previous 12 months, so is entitled to 82 further days of sick leave on full pay and the remaining 81 days on half pay.
Example 3 (critical illness) – a teacher/lecturer satisfies the criteria for their sick leave to be treated under the critical illness protocol. He/she has taken 30 sick leave days in the four year period up to their current ‘critical illness’ and so is entitled to 335 further days of paid sick leave under the critical illness protocol. He/she has taken 13 days sick leave in the previous 12 months, so is entitled to 170 further days of sick leave on full pay and the remaining 165 days on half pay.
Pregnancy-related sick leave
Following representation by the teacher unions through the Public Services Committee of the ICTU, Sick Leave Regulations were amended to reflect an improvement that has been agreed in regard to Pregnancy-Related Sick Leave.
The Public Service Sick Leave Scheme provides that:
- no woman shall be paid less than half-pay while absent for a pregnancy-related illness.
- a woman who has availed of pregnancy related sick leave will have access to additional sick leave at half pay equivalent to the period for which she was on pregnancy-related sick leave at half pay.
The amendment means that, in addition to the general provisions above, access to additional sick leave at the half rate of pay will be allowed for all pregnancy related sick leave (i.e. not just sick leave taken at half pay).
The amended Sick Leave Regulations provide that a woman who has exhausted her access to paid sick leave due to pregnancy-related sick leave in the previous 4 years may have access to additional non-pregnancy-related sick leave at the half rate of pay.
The number of additional days allowed:
- will be the equivalent number of days taken on pregnancy related sick leave in the 4 years;
- must not exceed normal sick leave limits (e.g. 183 days) for non-pregnancy-related sick leave (when counted with other non-pregnancy related sick leave in the previous 4 years).
General criteria for referring teachers to the Occupational Health Service (OHS)
1. Non-discretionary referral:
Any teacher on sick leave who has 4 weeks continuous or cumulative sick leave absence in a 12 month rolling period must be referred to the Occupational Health Service. See Circular Letter 13/2024 for full details.
2. Discretionary referral:
This applies to a teacher about whom the employer has concerns relating to their medical fitness for work – see below.
Resumption of duty by teachers employed by ETBs/C&C schools/voluntary secondary schools following paid/unpaid sick leave
The employer has a duty under Section 8 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 to “ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of his or her employees”. The Occupational Health Service is in place to assist the employer in carrying out this duty. The employer may therefore refer a teacher to the Occupational Health Service, for the purpose of an independent medical assessment, where reasonable concerns exist as to the capacity of the teacher to undertake his/her duties in a manner that is safe for both the teacher and students.
The teacher will be required to co-operate with the Occupational Health Service for the purpose of providing appropriate advice to the employer. Co-operation may involve the teacher attending in person for a medical examination (arranged by the Occupational Health Service) and/or arranging for the transmission to the Occupational Health Service (by the teacher’s attending doctor) of a comprehensive doctor-to-doctor report.
It is a matter for the Occupational Health Service to decide in what circumstances a teacher may be required to attend for medical assessment. Failure, without reasonable cause, of a teacher to cooperate with the Occupational Health Service on the basis of a referral by the employer may result in cessation/withholding of salary following due process.
A teacher intending to resume duty prior to the date specified on her/his medical certificate, must provide a medical certificate of fitness from her/his attending doctor not later than the date of resumption. In the absence of such a certificate, the full period as recorded on the medical certificate(s) of illness will be counted as sick leave. Certificates of fitness furnished at a later date will not be accepted as evidence of fitness for duty.
A teacher may resume duty following a period of paid sick leave of more than three consecutive months (or a shorter period where reasonable concerns exist) in circumstances where, prior to resumption,
- satisfactory medical certification of fitness for duty is submitted by the teacher and
- the employer is satisfied, having first obtained the advice of the Occupational Health Service by means of a medical referral as to the teacher’s physical and mental fitness to resume.
A teacher may resume duty following a period of unpaid sick leave where, prior to resumption,
- satisfactory medical certification of fitness for duty is submitted by the teacher and
- the employer is satisfied, having first obtained the advice of the Occupational Health Service by means of a medical referral as to the teacher’s physical and mental fitness to resume.
Where a teacher is absent on sick leave and has not returned to duty for a reasonable period before and after a period of school closure, the teacher will be deemed to be on sick leave for the whole duration unless
- the teacher provides a medical certificate of fitness to resume teaching prior to or during a period of school closure and
- the advice of the Occupational Health Service as to the teacher’s fitness for duty has been obtained as to whether the school closure period or any part thereof might be discounted and
- the Occupational Health Service has deemed the period of return to duty to be reasonable taking into account the medical circumstances in individual cases.
See Circular Letter 13/2024.
Illness Benefit from the DSP
Teachers/lecturers may be entitled to claim Illness Benefit from the Department of Social Protection (DSP), depending on their PRSI contributions. The employee should obtain and complete the application form for illness/injury benefit (IB1) and the certificate of incapacity to work (MED1) form, both of which should be forwarded to the DSP.
For all PRSI Class A contributors, the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) increased from 3 days to 5 days for the calendar year 2024.