How to manage your sick leave

Based on the Hong Kong Employment Ordinance, an employee is eligible to accrue two days of sick leave in a month

However in order to get paid sick leaves, the person will have to meet two criteria:

1) The sick leave taken is no less than four consecutive days

2) The employee has accumulated a sufficient number of paid sick days

In other words, the first criteria for an employee to meet is to take four consecutive days of sick leave; and in order to meet the second criteria, the person will have to complete two full months of duty to accumulate four days of sick leave. Once both criteria are met, the employee will be eligible to receive 80% of his/her salary on these sick days.

The common misunderstanding is that some employees believe that they are entitled to have two days of paid sick leave in a month starting from the beginning of their contract. But if the employer only follows the standard Employment Ordinance with no other benefits, then this will not be the case. Therefore before signing a contract with the new employer, it is important that you understand such terms, as this can be tricky and unfavourable to you. 

However some companies do have flexibility depending on the situations and offer extra paid sick days e.g. having five days of paid sick leave per year with no sick leave certificate needed.