Sick Leave Act 2022

Non-application of obligations under Act

9. (1) The obligations under this Act shall not apply to an employer who provides his or her employees a sick leave scheme where the terms of the scheme confer, over the course of a reference period set out in the scheme, benefits that are, as a whole, more favourable to the employee than statutory sick leave.

(2) In determining, for the purposes of subsection (1), whether a sick leave scheme confers benefits that are, as a whole, more favourable than statutory sick leave, the following matters shall be taken into consideration:

(a) the period of service of an employee that is required before sick leave is payable;

(b) the number of days that an employee is absent before sick leave is payable;

(c) the period for which sick leave is payable;

(d) the amount of sick leave that is payable;

(e) the reference period of the sick leave scheme.

(3) In this section—

“collective agreement” means an agreement by or on behalf of an employer on the one hand, and by or on behalf of a body or bodies representative of the employees to whom the agreement relates on the other hand;

“enactment” has the same meaning as it has in the Interpretation Act 2005 ;

“recognised trade union or staff association” means a body which is a holder of a negotiation licence under the Trade Union Act 1941 , or is an excepted body within the meaning of that Act which is sufficiently representative of the employees concerned;

“sick leave scheme” means a scheme that provides for the payment of remuneration that an employee will be entitled to receive during a period of illness or injury according to the circumstances and subject to the conditions of the scheme under—

(a) a contract of employment,

(b) an enactment,

(c) a collective agreement negotiated with a recognised trade union or staff association, or

(d) any individual or other group arrangement.