Who Pays For Common Sick Leave? All You Need To Know

Do you know the difference between a work accident and a disease? And more importantly, who pays for the common sickness leave? and how long can you be off?

In this article we answer these and other questions regarding the common ones and how these can affect you at work.

Common disease, what is it?

A common illness is defined as an unforeseen event or circumstance that can affect an employee and prevent him from going to work due to an indeterminate time off .

That is to say, the origin of this type of illness is a type of contingency that occurs in daily life and prevents employees from exercising their normal work functions. In addition, it implies having health care as they are not ready to work.

In summary, a common disease is a type of alteration of the health of a worker that does not involve an accident at work or occupational disease.

A clear example of a common sick leave can be the flu or a cervical sprain caused by a car accident.

How long can you be for common illness?

A flu and a torn meniscus are common illnesses , but each requires different periods of convalescence to be available for return to work. In other words, the recovery time from the illness is what dictates the sick leave time.

Therefore, those workers who suffer from a common disease that lasts a long time such as a torn ligament can be sick for a maximum of one year as established by the Regulatory Law of Social Security (LGSS ) in its article 172 .

At this point there may be several cases, the first of which is that the worker cannot perform his usual job duties and has to continue to leave.

In this sense , the initial period of one year can be extended to another six months of leave. Another case is that the employee is discharged to join his job.

Finally, the last possibility is that the possibility of offering a permanent disability to the worker is evaluated before the possibility that he / she cannot perform his / her job functions.

Who pays for common sick leave?

From the 4th day is when the payments that correspond to 60% of the regulatory base start and continue until the 20th.

Once the 21st day is reached, the percentage varies and rises to 75% of the regulatory base.

Then it is necessary to assess other percentages that change depending on the type of contract and percentages for agreements and company agreements.

Once you know the amount you are going to charge, it is time to find out who pays you . In the event of temporary disability due to common illness, the first payer is the employer.

The employer is the one that takes care of payments from the 4th to the 15th. It is from the 16th when the payer changes , at this time, it is the responsibility of the Social Security Institute or the mutual, depending on the type of worker.

In general, in the case of employed persons, payments are received with the same frequency as the rest of the previous ones.

As you can see, no one is free from suffering from a disease at any time and although it is true that you are covered with a subsidy from Social Security, the payments may not reach you, especially if you are self-employed. One option to overcome this is insurance for the self-employed or have an emergency fund that allows you to face this type of delicate situation.