If disability continues after the end of the paid sick leave, the employee is entitled to sickness benefit from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela).
Municipal sector and wellbeing services counties
In the municipal sector and wellbeing services counties, the maximum amount of paid sick leave is reviewed by calendar year, i.e. from January to December. All calendar days, i.e. days between Monday and Sunday, are combined.
The right to a full pay applies to a maximum of 60 days per year. When 60 days have been exceeded, the employee is still entitled to 2/3 of their pay for 120 days. Because the review is conducted per calendar year, employees are in principle entitled to full pay again at the start of the year.
Employment relationships governed by the Avaintyönantajat AVAINTA ry, emergency medical services or Finnish Student Health Service FSHS collective agreements
The maximum duration of paid sick leave is calculated similarly as in the municipal sector. In the emergency medical services sector, however, the right to sick leave pay ends when 60 calendar days have elapsed.
Other private sector collective agreements
The maximum duration of paid sick leave is determined per case of illness and not per year in most collective agreements. Furthermore, sick leave pay is graduated to reflect the length of the employment relationship: the longer the employment the longer the paid sick leave.
In the health services sector, for instance, employees with employment relationships longer than ten years have the right to a maximum of 56 calendar days, or eight weeks, paid sick leave per case of illness. If the employee returns to work, works for a minimum of one week and falls ill again, the calculation of paid sick leave days starts from the beginning again.
According to some collective agreements, the sick leave being paid in the event of falling ill again depends on whether the disability is caused by the same or a different illness.
If no collective agreement is applied to the employment
Sick leave pay is paid for a maximum of ten workdays at a time. In this event, Saturdays are usually included as workdays.
