Sick leave calculator

Your manager says you have "used up your sick leave for the year". That sentence contains the commonest mistake about sick leave in South Africa. Paid sick leave is not measured by the calendar year. It runs over a three-year cycle starting the day you began the job. This calculator works out where you are in that cycle, how many paid sick days are left, and the date the count starts again.

What this tool works out and who it is for

You enter four things: the date you started this job, whether you ordinarily work five days a week or fewer or six, the paid sick days already taken in the current cycle, and the date you want the answer for.

The tool then shows when your current cycle started and ends, the full entitlement for that cycle, the days you have used, the paid sick days left, and the date the cycle resets. It also raises warnings where they matter.

It is for any employee in South Africa covered by the basic employment legislation, and for a small employer answering a payroll question. It does not deal with maternity leave, family responsibility leave or annual leave, and it does not deal with an injury or illness caused by your work, which is handled through the compensation fund rather than out of your sick days.

How the calculator decides

The tool follows the same steps every time.

First it checks your dates. The date you ask about cannot fall before the day you started work, and the tool refuses that combination. Leave it blank and it uses today.

Second it works out the allowance: the number of days you ordinarily work in a six-week period. On a five-day week that is six times five, which is 30 days. On a six-day week it is six times six, which is 36 days. Those days are not per year. They cover the whole cycle.

Third it works out which cycle you are in. A cycle runs three years from your start date, and a new one begins the day the old one ends. It has nothing to do with January or the company financial year. The tool counts the full years since you started and divides by three to place your cycle start and end.

Fourth it deals with your first six months, when the allowance is not the full 30 or 36 days. You build it up at the rate of one day of paid sick leave for every 26 days worked. The tool estimates the days worked from your time employed and the days a week you work, divides by 26 and rounds down. A five-day-week employee three months in has worked roughly 65 days, which is two days of paid sick leave, not 30. Once you pass six months you get the full cycle allowance, less anything already used.

Fifth it subtracts. Days taken come off the entitlement. If you have taken more than the entitlement, the tool shows the overrun rather than a negative balance.

Sixth it tells you the reset date and reminds you that unused days do not carry over. Finish a cycle with 21 days unused and those 21 days are gone. The new cycle starts you at the full allowance again, not the allowance plus a balance brought forward.

The medical certificate rule

The tool also sets out when your employer may insist on a medical certificate. Two triggers apply: absence of more than two consecutive days, or absence on more than two occasions in any eight-week period. Either one lets the employer require proof. Below those triggers, a certificate is not the legal requirement people assume, although many workplaces ask for one as policy. When one is required it must come from a practitioner registered with a professional council. Get it on the day, keep a copy, and hand the original in with your leave form.

The warnings the tool can raise

If you have taken more paid sick days than the cycle allows, the tool warns that further absence is normally unpaid, though your employer may agree to annual leave or unpaid leave instead, and it says plainly that running out of paid sick leave is not by itself a reason to dismiss you.

If you are inside your first six months, it warns that the entitlement is still building. If you have three days or fewer left, it warns you to talk to your employer about incapacity procedures rather than simply staying away.

The law behind it

The rules come from the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997, which sets the length of the cycle, the size of the allowance, the slower accrual in the first six months, and when a medical certificate may be demanded. The LawMatch rate table records those figures with the date they took effect.

Two points matter more than any calculation. The Act sets a floor, not a ceiling: your contract, company policy or a bargaining council agreement may give you more, and where it does, the better term wins. And sick leave is paid at your normal wage for the days you would ordinarily have worked, but unlike annual leave it is not paid out when you leave the job.

Illness also has a separate life in dismissal law. An employer may not dismiss you merely for being ill. Where illness is long term or recurring, the employer must investigate how bad it is and how long it is likely to last, consider alternatives such as adapted duties, consult you, and only then consider ending the employment for incapacity.

Worked example

This example is illustrative. Nomsa starts a job on 1 January 2024 and works five days a week. Her three-year cycle runs from 1 January 2024 to the close of 31 December 2026, and resets on 1 January 2027.

For her first six months her allowance builds slowly. By 1 April 2024 she has been employed 91 days, which on a five-day week is about 65 days worked. Divide 65 by 26 and round down, and she has two paid sick days at that point.

From July 2024 the picture changes completely. She now has the full 30 days, and those 30 days have to last until the end of 2026, not the end of 2024.

Say she takes four days off with flu in 2024 and six after an operation in 2025, ten in total. Thirty less ten leaves 20 paid sick days for the rest of the cycle. If she reaches 31 December 2026 having used only those ten, the remaining 20 do not travel with her. On 1 January 2027 she starts fresh with 30 days. Had she worked a six-day week her allowance would be 36 days, with the cycle dates unchanged.

What this tool does not decide

The tool takes your inputs at face value. It cannot check your payroll records, so if you and your employer disagree about the days used, it cannot settle that. Ask for your leave record in writing.

It does not decide whether a particular absence should have been recorded as sick leave, whether a certificate was valid, or whether an employer was entitled to refuse to pay for a specific day. Those are questions of fact.

It does not apply a bargaining council agreement, a sectoral determination or a contract that gives you more than the Act. If any of those apply, read them, because the better term counts.

And it does not decide a dispute. If your employer refuses to pay sick leave you say you are owed, or dismisses you over absence, the CCMA or a bargaining council decides an unfair dismissal or unfair labour practice claim, and the Department of Employment and Labour or a court deals with unpaid wages.

When to get advice, and the free route

Start in writing. Email your manager or HR, set out the dates you were off, attach the certificates, state the balance you calculate, and ask for the leave record. Most disputes end there, because most are arithmetic done on the wrong cycle.

If that fails, the free routes are real. The CCMA costs nothing, needs no attorney, and you can reach it on 0861 16 16 16 about a dismissal or an unfair labour practice. The Department of Employment and Labour handles complaints about unpaid wages and leave at any labour centre, also free. If you were dismissed, watch the clock, because referral deadlines are short and our CCMA deadlines calculator works out yours.

Get an attorney where the illness is long term, where an incapacity process is running against you, or where the money at stake is large. If you cannot afford one, Legal Aid South Africa on 0800 110 110 may help, and our legal aid page explains who qualifies.

LawMatch is not a law firm and this page is general information, not legal advice. Check your own contract and leave records before relying on any figure here.

Related reading: can I be dismissed for being off sick and do I get paid for unused leave when I leave a job.

Frequently asked questions

Is sick leave really not per year?

Correct. The allowance is the days you ordinarily work in six weeks, over a three-year cycle running from your start date. Calling it "ten days a year" roughly describes 30 days over three years, but it is not the rule, and it gives the wrong answer for anyone ill twice in one year and never in the next.

Do unused sick days carry over or get paid out?

Neither. They fall away at the end of the cycle and are not paid out when you resign or are retrenched. Annual leave is different, and our leave payout calculator deals with that.

Can my employer demand a doctor's note for one day off?

The legal triggers are more than two consecutive days, or more than twice in any eight weeks. Below that the employer cannot withhold pay for want of a certificate. Many policies still ask for one, and asking is not unlawful; refusing to pay when neither trigger applies is the problem.

What happens when my paid sick leave runs out and I am still ill?

Further absence is normally unpaid, unless the employer agrees to annual leave or unpaid leave. Being out of paid days is not a reason to dismiss you. If the illness is long term, the employer must investigate it, look at alternatives, and consult you before considering incapacity.

My contract gives me more sick leave than this. Which applies?

The more generous one. The Act sets a minimum that a contract, policy or bargaining council agreement may improve on but cannot take away. If an employer tries to reduce what your contract already gives, read can my employer change my contract without my consent.