Sick Leave (Singapore)
Under Singapore's Employment Act, employees who have completed at least 6 months of service are entitled to 14 days of paid outpatient sick leave and 60 days of paid hospitalization leave per year, with the employer bearing the full cost of sick pay at the employee's gross rate.
- What Is Sick Leave in Singapore?
- Sick Leave Entitlement by Service Period
- Medical Certificate (MC) Requirements
- How Sick Pay Is Calculated
- Employer Obligations and Common Pitfalls
- Singapore Sick Leave Statistics [2026]
- Best Practices for Singapore Employers
- Frequently Asked Questions About Sick Leave in Singapore
What Is Sick Leave in Singapore?
Key Takeaways
- ✓Singapore splits sick leave into two categories: 14 days of outpatient sick leave and 60 days of hospitalization leave. The 14 outpatient days are included within the 60-day total, not in addition to it.
- ✓To qualify for the full entitlement, employees must have at least 6 months of service. Partial entitlements start from 3 months.
- ✓Every sick day requires a medical certificate (MC) from a company-approved doctor or a government doctor. No MC, no paid sick leave.
- ✓The employer pays 100% of the employee's gross rate of pay during sick leave. There's no government reimbursement.
Singapore's sick leave system is straightforward but strict. Employees get 14 days of outpatient sick leave and 60 days of hospitalization leave per year. The important detail: the 14 outpatient days are a subset of the 60 hospitalization days, not a separate allocation. So the total maximum is 60 days per year, not 74. An employee who uses 14 days of outpatient sick leave has 46 hospitalization leave days remaining. An employee who is hospitalized from day one gets up to 60 days. Every absence requires a medical certificate from an approved doctor. Singapore doesn't have a self-certification period like the UK's 7 days. If an employee calls in sick on Monday and doesn't produce an MC, the employer isn't obligated to pay for that day and can treat it as an unauthorized absence. This strict MC requirement keeps Singapore's average sick leave usage relatively low compared to other developed economies. The Employment Act covers employees earning up to SGD 4,500/month (for non-manual workers) and all manual workers regardless of salary. Managers and executives above this threshold depend on their employment contracts for sick leave terms, though most contracts mirror or exceed the statutory provisions.
Sick Leave Entitlement by Service Period
The entitlement scales up during the first 6 months of employment.
| Service Period | Outpatient Sick Leave | Hospitalization Leave | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 3 months | 0 days | 0 days | No statutory sick leave entitlement |
| 3 months | 5 days | 15 days | Entitlement begins |
| 4 months | 8 days | 30 days | Scaling up |
| 5 months | 11 days | 45 days | Scaling up |
| 6 months or more | 14 days | 60 days | Full entitlement |
Medical Certificate (MC) Requirements
Singapore's MC requirements are among the strictest in the world. Understanding them is critical for both employers and employees.
Who can issue an MC
Only a registered medical practitioner can issue a valid MC. This includes company-appointed doctors, government hospital or polyclinic doctors, and registered private practitioners. The Employment Act doesn't require the employee to visit a specific company-appointed doctor, but many employers maintain a panel of approved clinics. If the employee visits a non-panel doctor, the MC is still valid, but the employer may not reimburse the consultation fee. Dental practitioners can issue MCs for dental-related conditions.
Hospitalization leave certification
Hospitalization leave isn't limited to actual hospital stays. It covers any medical condition where the doctor certifies the employee needs extended rest and recovery, even if they're recovering at home. Day surgeries, post-surgical recovery, and serious illnesses that require bed rest but not hospital admission all qualify. The doctor's MC must indicate that hospitalization leave (not just outpatient sick leave) is warranted.
Notification obligations
Employees must inform the employer of their sick leave within 48 hours. If the employee doesn't notify the employer within this window, the employer can treat the absence as unauthorized and withhold sick pay for those days. The notification can be through any reasonable method: phone call, message, email to the manager, or through a colleague. The MC itself must be submitted within a reasonable time (most employers require it within 3 days of the absence).
How Sick Pay Is Calculated
Singapore employers pay 100% of the employee's gross rate of pay during sick leave. There's no government subsidy or insurance scheme covering this cost.
Gross rate of pay definition
Under the Employment Act, the gross rate of pay includes the basic salary plus any fixed allowances that the employee receives regularly. It excludes additional payments like overtime, bonuses, annual wage supplement (AWS), reimbursements, and travel allowances. For employees with variable pay components, the gross rate is calculated as the average over the 12 months preceding the sick leave (or the actual employment period if less than 12 months).
Cost to employers
Unlike many countries where a social insurance system picks up part of the sick pay cost, Singapore employers bear 100% of the expense. For a company with 200 employees, even modest average usage (5 days per employee per year) translates to 1,000 paid sick days annually. This direct-cost model is one reason Singapore employers maintain strict MC requirements and invest in workplace health programs.
Employer Obligations and Common Pitfalls
Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) takes sick leave compliance seriously. Here's what employers must get right.
Medical benefits obligation
Under Section 46 of the Employment Act, employers must bear the costs of medical examination and treatment for employees covered by the Act. This includes the consultation fee at a company-approved doctor. If the employer maintains a panel of doctors, the employee is expected to use panel doctors for the employer to bear the cost. Visits to non-panel doctors may be at the employee's expense for the consultation, but the resulting MC is still valid for sick leave purposes.
Common compliance mistakes
Refusing to accept a valid MC from a non-panel doctor is a frequent error. The employer can set a preferred panel, but they can't reject a legitimate MC from a registered practitioner. Another common mistake: deducting sick leave from annual leave without the employee's consent. Sick leave and annual leave are separate statutory entitlements. Forcing an employee to use annual leave when they produce a valid MC violates the Employment Act. Finally, some employers cap paid sick leave below the statutory entitlement in their contracts. Any contractual term that provides less than the Employment Act minimum is void.
Singapore Sick Leave Statistics [2026]
Data on sick leave usage and its impact on the Singapore workforce.
Best Practices for Singapore Employers
Practical guidance for managing sick leave in the Singapore context.
- Maintain a panel of company-approved doctors to manage medical costs, but train HR staff that MCs from non-panel doctors are still legally valid for sick leave purposes.
- Track the 3-month and 6-month service milestones. New employees in their first 3 months have no sick leave entitlement, and the scaling period from months 3 to 6 requires accurate tracking.
- Separate outpatient and hospitalization leave in your HRIS. They draw from different pools (though hospitalization includes outpatient), and mixing them up leads to incorrect balance calculations.
- Don't ask employees for their diagnosis. The MC certifies unfitness for work and the recommended duration. Requiring employees to disclose their medical condition may breach the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and creates employee relations issues.
- Monitor sick leave patterns at the team level. Consistent spikes in one department may indicate management issues, workload problems, or poor working conditions rather than individual health issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an employee be dismissed for excessive sick leave in Singapore?
What if an employee falls sick on annual leave?
Are part-time employees entitled to sick leave?
Does the employer have to pay for the doctor's visit?
Can sick leave be carried over to the next year?
Written by Adithyan RK