Covid Sick Leaves – 65% or Whole Salary?

The coronavirus numbers are growing and, in the past days, they’ve even broken records, so more and more citizens are on a sick leave. Although we have been facing the pandemic for a long time now, many are still wondering how companies pay their workers who are on a sick leave or in the mandatory quarantine.

The shortest possible answer is – the decision on the height of the salary is down to the employers, and the recommendation made by the state, which says that companies should pay 100% of the salary to employees on a sick leave, is still in effect.

In practice, this recommendation is implemented by the public sector, whereas this can’t be said for all private companies.

– The government’s decision which regulates this recommendation is still formally in effect, but it is only a recommendation and is not binding for the employer. Those employers that want to pay 100% of the salary to employees on a Covid-19 sick leave need to proscribe this by a general employer act (a rulebook on labor or a collective agreement at the employer) or the employment contract, as said in the decision. Otherwise, for sick leaves caused by Covid-19, at least 65% of the average salary in the 12 months before the month in which the temporary inability to work occurred is paid, and it can’t be lower than the minimum wage defined by the Labor Law – the lawyer Ksenija Ivetic Marlovic, a labor rights expert, explains for Blic Biznis.

According to the amendments to the government’s decree from January 17, 2022, home quarantine for Covid-19-positive close-contacts is shortened to five days.

Absence from work is proven by a doctor’s report on the temporary inability to work, but it can also be proven by a decision of a sanitary inspector, the organ in charge of the control of crossing the state border, the customs organ, or by a certificate from the register of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo za rad, zapošljavanje, boračka i socijalna pitanja Republike Srbije

Unija poslodavaca Srbije

Ksenija Ivetić Marlović

sick leave

isolation

self isolation

coronavirus

covid 19

decree

quarantine

quarantine duration

Labor Law