Quick answer

Philippine law does not grant every private-sector employee a separate, fixed number of paid sick-leave days. The usual statutory minimum is the five-day paid service incentive leave (SIL) after at least one year of service, which may be used for sickness, vacation, or other leave purposes. A contract, collective bargaining agreement (CBA), company handbook, or established company practice may provide better sick-leave benefits.

Qualified SSS members may also receive an SSS sickness benefit for an illness or injury that prevents work for at least four days. This is a social-insurance cash benefit, not an additional employer-funded leave allocation, and different notification and contribution requirements apply.

Government employees generally earn 15 days of sick leave with full pay each year, subject to Civil Service rules. Kasambahays and employees covered by special medical or family-related leave laws have separate protections.

An employee’s paid leave may run out, but exhaustion of leave credits does not automatically authorize dismissal. The legality of discipline or termination depends on the reason for the absence, compliance with reasonable notice and documentation rules, applicable disability or anti-discrimination protections, and the Labor Code’s strict requirements for termination because of disease.

Private-sector employees: what the law guarantees

The five-day service incentive leave

Article 95 of the Labor Code grants a covered employee who has rendered at least one year of service five days of paid SIL each year.

“One year of service” generally means 12 months, whether continuous or broken, counted from the employee’s starting date and including authorized absences and paid regular holidays. If the employer’s contract, policy, or established practice treats a shorter working period as a year, that period may qualify.

The Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code provide that unused statutory SIL is commutable to its money equivalent at the end of the year. An employer may satisfy this obligation through at least five days of paid vacation or sick leave that is equal to or more favorable than SIL.

SIL is not limited to illness. It may be used for sick, vacation, or other leave purposes, subject to reasonable company procedures.

Who may be excluded from statutory SIL

The statutory SIL rules contain exclusions, including:

Government employees governed by Civil Service rules
Managerial employees as legally defined
Field personnel and certain genuinely unsupervised workers
Employees already receiving the same benefit
Employees already receiving at least five days of paid vacation leave
Employees of establishments regularly employing fewer than 10 employees

A job title alone does not settle an exclusion. For example, calling someone a “manager” does not make the employee managerial if the employee’s actual duties do not satisfy the legal test. Likewise, field-personnel status generally depends on whether the employer can supervise or determine the employee’s working time and performance. The Supreme Court has applied these distinctions in SIL cases, including Auto Bus Transport Systems, Inc. v. Bautista.

Company sick leave may provide greater rights

Many employers grant 10, 15, or more sick-leave days, allow accumulation, or convert unused leave to cash. Those benefits are usually governed by the employment contract, CBA, handbook, written policy, or a sufficiently established company practice.

An employer generally cannot unilaterally remove a benefit that is expressly contractual or has been consistently and deliberately granted over a long period with the employer’s knowledge. Whether a practice has become enforceable is evidence-dependent, and the employee bears the burden of establishing the practice. The Supreme Court explains this rule in Home Credit Mutual Building and Loan Association v. Prudente.

Check the exact policy for:

When leave begins to accrue
Whether probationary employees are included
Whether leave is credited annually or monthly
Notice and approval procedures
When a medical certificate is required
Whether unused leave accumulates or expires
Whether unused leave is convertible to cash
Whether company sick leave is separate from statutory SIL

SSS sickness benefit for longer absences

The SSS sickness benefit is a daily cash allowance for a qualified member who cannot work because of sickness or injury. It is distinct from paid sick leave.

Under the current SSS sickness-benefit rules, a member generally must:

Be unable to work and be confined at home or in a hospital for at least four days;
Have at least three monthly contributions within the 12-month period immediately preceding the semester of sickness or injury;
Give the required notice to the employer or SSS; and
If employed, have used all current company sick leave with pay for the year, except where an SSS exception applies.

The daily allowance is 90% of the member’s average daily salary credit as calculated by SSS. It may be paid for a maximum of 120 days in one calendar year. SSS does not pay more than 240 days for the same illness; a continuing condition may instead be evaluated as a disability claim.

Important SSS notification deadlines

For an employed member under home confinement:

The employee must notify the employer within five calendar days from the start of confinement.
The employer must notify SSS within five calendar days after receiving the employee’s notice.

For hospital confinement, the current SSS guidance states that employee-to-employer sickness notification is not required for benefit purposes and that the employer may notify SSS within one year from hospital discharge. Even so, the employee should inform the employer as soon as reasonably possible to comply with workplace attendance rules and protect the claim.

Late notification can reduce or defeat the claim. When notice is filed beyond the five-day period, SSS may treat the confinement as beginning no earlier than the fifth day immediately before notification.

How an employed member files

The employee should promptly give the employer:

The SSS medical certificate showing the complete diagnosis, recommended period of leave or recuperation, clinic address, contact details, and physician’s license number
Certified copies of relevant medical records
Laboratory, imaging, operative, or clinical records when needed for a prolonged condition

The employer submits the sickness notification through its My.SSS account. After approval, the employer ordinarily advances the benefit and seeks reimbursement from SSS. In the current online reimbursement process, the employee must confirm or certify receipt of the advance within seven working days from the SSS email notification. Failure to act can cause rejection of the employer’s reimbursement application.

Self-employed, voluntary, OFW, non-working-spouse, and separated members generally file through their own My.SSS accounts, subject to the rules and documentary requirements for their membership category.

Government employees

Under the CSC Omnibus Rules on Leave, MC No. 41, s. 1998, as amended, appointive government officials and employees who render the prescribed office hours—including permanent, temporary, and casual employees—generally earn:

15 days of vacation leave annually, and
15 days of sick leave annually with full pay

Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays are excluded from the leave count. Vacation and sick-leave credits may accumulate without the ordinary annual limit. Part-time employees generally earn proportionate credits. Contract-of-service and job-order workers may be governed by their contracts and separate government rules rather than the regular Civil Service leave system.

Government sick leave may be used for the employee’s illness or, under the applicable rules, illness of an immediate family member.

Filing and medical-certificate requirements

The employee should notify the immediate supervisor or agency head of the absence. Sick leave already taken should be filed immediately upon return using CS Form No. 6, Revised 2020.

A medical certificate is required when sick leave:

Is filed in advance because of an examination, operation, or medically advised rest; or
Exceeds five successive days.

If no medical consultation was obtained, the form calls for an affidavit. For an absence not exceeding five days, the agency may still require a medical certificate when it reasonably doubts whether sick leave is proper.

Agency-specific procedures may require additional documents, particularly for prolonged illness, hospitalization, return-to-work clearance, or a request for leave without pay.

Kasambahays

Under the Batas Kasambahay, a domestic worker who has completed at least one year of service is entitled to five days of paid SIL annually.

Unlike ordinary Labor Code SIL, unused kasambahay SIL:

Does not accumulate or carry over to the next year; and
Is not convertible to cash.

The household employer must also provide appropriate rest and assistance when the kasambahay becomes ill or is injured during service, without withdrawing basic benefits. Qualified kasambahays are covered by SSS and may claim sickness benefits under the applicable SSS rules.

Special leave that may apply instead of ordinary sick leave

An absence connected with pregnancy, surgery, caregiving, or violence should not automatically be charged to ordinary sick leave. Another law may provide a separate entitlement.

Surgery for a gynecological disorder

Section 18 of the Magna Carta of Women grants a qualified woman employee two months of special leave with full pay, based on gross monthly compensation, following surgery caused by a gynecological disorder.

The employee must have rendered an aggregate employment service of at least six months during the preceding 12 months. Medical certification and the other conditions in the applicable government or private-sector guidelines must be satisfied. The entitlement covers qualifying surgery, not every consultation or gynecological condition.

Maternity-related absence

The 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law generally provides:

105 days for live childbirth, regardless of mode of delivery;
An additional 15 paid days for a qualified solo mother;
An optional extension of up to 30 days without pay; and
60 days for miscarriage or emergency termination of pregnancy.

Eligibility, notice, SSS contribution requirements, employer salary differentials, and statutory exemptions should be assessed under the maternity law and its implementing rules—not ordinary sick-leave rules.

Solo-parent leave

A qualified solo-parent employee who has rendered at least six months of service, regardless of employment status, may receive up to seven working days of paid parental leave annually under the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act. This leave is for parental duties requiring or benefiting from the solo parent’s presence, including appropriate care of a child; it is not a general substitute for the employee’s own sick leave.

Leave for a VAWC victim

A victim covered by the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act may take up to 10 days of paid leave, in addition to other paid leave. It may be extended when the need for an extension is specified in a protection order.

Mental-health conditions and disability

A mental-health condition is an illness for leave and SSS purposes when the applicable medical and eligibility requirements are met. Philippine law does not currently create a separate nationwide allocation of “mental-health leave” for every private employee.

The Mental Health Act protects people affected by mental-health conditions from stigmatization and discrimination. If a physical or mental condition legally amounts to a disability, the Magna Carta for Persons with Disability may require reasonable accommodation unless it would impose an undue burden. Accommodation can include modified work schedules, reassignment to a suitable vacant position, equipment changes, or adjustments to workplace policies.

Accommodation is fact-specific. It does not automatically guarantee the employee’s preferred arrangement or indefinite paid leave. A useful request should identify the functional limitation, expected duration, and medically supported adjustment that may allow safe work.

Medical certificates, privacy, and return-to-work clearance

A private employer may enforce a reasonable, consistently applied rule requiring notice, a medical certificate, or return-to-work clearance. Failure to comply can weaken the employee’s claim that an absence was authorized. In Paduata v. MERALCO, the Supreme Court recognized the importance of complying with a known company rule requiring timely medical documentation.

The certificate should cover the dates of incapacity and the information legitimately needed to evaluate leave or fitness for work. It should not be altered, backdated, or obtained solely to excuse an absence that the physician did not evaluate.

Health information is sensitive personal information under the Data Privacy Act. Employers may process necessary medical information when supported by law or another valid basis, but should limit access, use it only for legitimate purposes, and protect it from unnecessary disclosure. An employer is not automatically entitled to circulate an employee’s diagnosis or obtain the employee’s entire medical history.

SSS is an important exception: its sickness-benefit evaluation expressly requires a complete diagnosis and may require supporting clinical records.

Can an employee be dismissed for being sick?

Illness does not make an employee immune from reasonable attendance rules. Unauthorized absences, false medical documents, refusal to communicate, or repeated failure to follow a valid leave procedure may lead to discipline when the facts satisfy a lawful ground and due process is observed.

However, an employer cannot simply label a documented medical absence as abandonment. Abandonment requires both an unjustified failure to report and clear conduct showing an intention to end the employment relationship. Prompt notice, leave applications, medical records, and attempts to return to work can be important evidence against an abandonment claim.

Termination because of the disease itself

Article 299 of the Labor Code permits termination because of disease only when:

The employee has a disease whose continued employment is prohibited by law or prejudicial to the employee’s health or the health of co-employees; and
A competent public health authority certifies that the disease cannot be cured within six months even with proper medical treatment.

If the disease can be cured within six months, the implementing rules direct the employer to place the employee on leave and reinstate the employee to the former position when normal health is restored. That leave is not necessarily paid after available paid credits have been exhausted.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly treated the public-health certification as indispensable, including in Omanfil International Manpower Development Corp. v. Mesina and Fuji Television Network, Inc. v. Espiritu. A company doctor’s unsupported conclusion or the employer’s own assessment is not an adequate substitute.

For a valid disease-based termination, the employer must also provide the legally required notices and separation pay of at least:

One month’s salary; or
One-half month’s salary for every year of service,

whichever is greater. A fraction of at least six months counts as one whole year.

Separate rules may govern seafarers, overseas workers, public employees, and employees under special statutes or contracts.

If the illness or injury may be work-related

Report a suspected occupational illness or workplace injury immediately. In addition to sick leave and ordinary SSS benefits, the worker may qualify under the Employees’ Compensation Program, which covers work-connected sickness, injury, disability, or death.

Preserve evidence showing the connection between work and the condition, including:

Accident or incident reports
Workplace medical-clinic entries
Exposure records and safety data
Duty schedules and job descriptions
Names of witnesses
Photographs or videos of the hazard
Medical findings and the physician’s work-causation opinion
Employer communications about the incident

Private-sector claims are generally administered through SSS, while government-sector claims are administered through GSIS. The SSS Employees’ Compensation Program page provides current benefit and filing information.

Practical steps when you become unable to work

Obtain medical care. Ask the physician to state the dates you are unable to work, the expected recovery period, and any restrictions or recommended accommodation.
Notify the correct person promptly. Inform your supervisor and HR through the channel required by policy. If a call is required, make the call and follow it with a written message.
Ask how the absence will be classified. Confirm whether it will be charged to company sick leave, SIL, vacation leave, a special statutory leave, leave without pay, or an SSS-compensable period.
Submit complete documents on time. Keep proof of submission, such as an acknowledged copy, email receipt, ticket number, or screenshot.
Protect the SSS deadline. For home confinement, do not wait until returning to work; notify the employer within five calendar days from the start.
Request accommodation in writing if needed. Propose a medically supported return date, temporary schedule, remote-work arrangement where feasible, reduced physical duties, or another concrete adjustment.
Get written confirmation. Ask HR to confirm approval, leave dates, remaining credits, pay treatment, and return-to-work requirements.
Keep communicating during prolonged illness. Provide reasonable updates before the approved leave ends. Do not assume silence will be treated as an extension.

Evidence to preserve

Keep copies of:

Employment contract and job offer
Current and earlier leave policies
CBA provisions
Leave-credit records and payslips
Leave requests and approvals
Emails, texts, chat messages, and call logs
Medical certificates, prescriptions, test results, and hospital records
SSS contribution and claim records
My.SSS transaction numbers and notices
Return-to-work or fit-to-work certificates
Requests for accommodation and employer responses
Notices to explain, disciplinary notices, and termination documents
Evidence showing how similar leave requests were handled

Keep original documents whenever possible. Maintain a dated timeline while events are fresh.

Common mistakes

Assuming every private employee automatically receives 15 paid sick-leave days
Confusing five-day SIL with a separate five-day sick-leave allocation
Waiting until return to work before giving the five-day SSS home-confinement notice
Treating an SSS benefit as additional company sick-leave pay
Ignoring the company’s call-in, medical-certificate, or return-to-work procedure
Submitting a certificate that does not cover the actual absence dates
Assuming leave continues automatically after the approved period
Signing a resignation, quitclaim, or “voluntary separation” without understanding it
Giving HR the only copy of a medical record
Failing to report a possibly work-related condition
Assuming exhausted leave credits automatically mean lawful dismissal
Posting sensitive medical details publicly instead of using the employer’s proper confidential channel

When help is urgent

Seek prompt assistance if:

You receive a notice to explain, abandonment notice, or termination notice while medically unable to work.
The employer refuses to accept timely medical documents or directs you to resign.
You are terminated because of a diagnosis without certification from a competent public health authority.
Your condition may be work-related and no incident or exposure report has been made.
An SSS notification deadline is about to expire.
Your employer failed to report or remit SSS contributions.
A disability-related accommodation is rejected without meaningful consideration.
Your diagnosis is disclosed to coworkers or outsiders without a legitimate reason.
You are pressured to sign a quitclaim, waiver, or blank document.
The illness creates an immediate workplace safety or public-health risk.

For private-sector disputes, raise the matter with HR or the union in writing. If unresolved, a worker may file a Request for Assistance through the DOLE Assistance and Referral Management System or onsite with the appropriate DOLE, NCMB, or NLRC office. SEnA covers issues such as termination, suspension, and money claims. Filing for conciliation does not erase substantive prescriptive periods, so obtain legal advice promptly when dismissal or substantial unpaid benefits are involved.

Government employees should first use their agency’s HR and administrative remedies and consult the Civil Service Commission or qualified counsel about the correct review or appeal procedure.

Frequently asked questions

Is sick leave paid in the Philippines?

For private employees, only if paid leave is available under SIL, a company policy, contract, CBA, established practice, or a special law. Qualified members may receive an SSS sickness benefit after meeting its conditions. Government employees generally earn 15 paid sick-leave days annually.

Can a probationary employee take sick leave?

Yes, if company policy grants it or another law applies. The employee normally has not yet earned statutory SIL because SIL generally requires one year of service. SSS sickness-benefit eligibility depends on contributions and the other SSS conditions, not regular-employment status alone.

Can an employer require a medical certificate for one day of absence?

A private employer may do so under a reasonable, known, and consistently enforced policy. For government employees, a certificate is ordinarily mandatory for more than five successive days or leave filed in advance, but the agency may require one for a shorter absence when there is reasonable doubt.

Can vacation leave be used when sick leave is exhausted?

It depends on the employer’s policy or CBA. Statutory SIL can be used for sickness, but a separate company vacation-leave allocation may have its own approval rules. Obtain written approval instead of assuming the absence will be converted automatically.

Does a doctor’s certificate automatically guarantee approval?

No. It is strong evidence of illness but must cover the relevant dates, satisfy the policy or statutory requirements, and be submitted on time. The employer may verify authenticity or request necessary clarification, while respecting medical confidentiality.

Can an employee be dismissed after using all paid sick leave?

Not merely because the credits are exhausted. Further absence may become unpaid and must still be properly requested and documented. Discipline or termination requires a valid legal ground and due process. Disease-based termination must meet the separate requirements of Article 299.

Is there a separate mental-health leave entitlement?

There is no universal private-sector allocation with that name. A documented mental-health condition may be covered by ordinary sick leave, SIL, SSS sickness benefit, or disability-accommodation rules, depending on the facts.

Can unused private-sector SIL be forfeited?

Ordinary statutory SIL is commutable to cash if unused at year-end. A more generous company leave plan may have different rules if it fully satisfies the statutory minimum. Kasambahay SIL is different: unused days neither carry over nor convert to cash.

Official references

This article provides general Philippine legal information, not legal advice for a particular case. Rights and procedures may depend on the employee’s sector, status, contract, CBA, company rules, medical evidence, and dates. Official sources and current procedures were checked as of 7 August 2026.