Last updated · 14 February 2024
Prolonged sick leave
Illness and poor health suck.
Unfortunately, it is a natural part of life. Most of us will experience some kind of general illness over the course of the year, and some of us may have ongoing health conditions that may result in scheduled and unscheduled medical appointments or treatments.
Taking care of your health needs to be your priority and, therefore, a priority of Significa's.
This policy applies to both mental and physical health. Whilst we have some specific support in place for Mental health support when time off is required, the same rules apply when your physical health needs to be taken care of, too.
How much you share about your health is your decision – we appreciate health matters are private and often sensitive. However, the more we (your Manager and/or the People and Operations team) know, the better we can support you. We will treat all matters with discretion and sensitivity, as always.
Health comes first. Log off.
First of all, if you're feeling unwell, mentally or physically, you should let us know first and then take time off. Avoid working. Being well-rested and having recovered means you're able to return to work productively and effectively.
Depending on your circumstances, two types of leaves may apply: either short-term or long-term. In a nutshell, the difference lies in medical paperwork. For the first case, none is needed. We trust you, as stated on Maximum freedom, maximum responsibility, and if you say you need to log off, we're on board. For prolonged sick leaves, you’ll need your doctor to provide us with a medical note so Social Security can cover your salary in your absence.
Short-term sick leave.
We cover short-term leaves in the Leaves page, under, guess what, the Short-term sick leave section, which we paraphrase below to save you from the trouble of going back there:
Short-term sick leave is anything between 1 and 3 days. Due to legislation, these days are considered unpaid leave. Damn Social Security.
However, Significa will get your salary covered (excluding meal allowance). Again, Maximum freedom, maximum responsibility: this is fully based on trust and on your moral values. We are not licensed doctors. Therefore, we won’t be shoving a thermometer up your … anyways, we trust you, and we don't need any documentation. That's the bottom line.
Whether it be taking a break to support your mental health or fighting off a nasty flu and needing to lay low for a few days, having time to recover and return to work in a rejuvenated fashion is all that matters. On an important note, these short-term sick leave days won't be deducted from your holiday allowance.
In any case, we've put together Taking care of yourself and, more specifically, Health and safety , Mental health support within our Support hub to help you further on how to deal with circumstances like these ones.
Prolonged sick-leaves.
Long-term sick leave is anything over four days.
In this case, you must provide us with a medical note from your doctor. This note is really important because Catarina will use it to inform Social Security to pay you.
Your doctor will know, but this note must include the duration of your leave. Once you have it, please forward it to Catarina.
Social Security doesn't cover your first three days of leave unless you've undergone surgery or hospitalisation, had tuberculosis, or got sick during your Parental Leave period and carried on beyond it.
If that wasn't the case, they perceive the initial three days as a short-term leave, and, as a result, you won’t get paid by them. Anyhow, we will have you covered for these three days, excluding your meal allowance.
Social Security, however, doesn't pay your salary in full. Here's how much they pay you:
- Up to 30 days, Social Security will cover 55% of your salary.
- Between 31 and 90 days, Social Security will cover 60% of your salary.
- Between 91 and 365 days, Social Security will pay 70% of your salary.
- Over 365 days, Social Security will cover 75% of your salary
Returning to work.
Returning to work after an extended period of leave can feel strange and nerve-wracking, and we're here to support you in settling back in and finding your new rhythm.
Once you're ready to come back like Jordan, you can take a look at the Returning to Work page.
Reviewing absence.
Even though we trust you as a principle, there are a number of scenarios which may prompt us to speak to you about the time you are taking off within the context of a sick leave. These may include:
- You've been on short-term sick leave on different occasions in a short period of time without a doctor's note being presented.
- If there are any recurring patterns of short-term leave without a doctor's note being presented.
Your manager (potentially with one of the Partners) may request a meeting with you to discuss our concerns and request additional information from you. We encourage you to be as honest as you can about the situation so that we can put a plan together.
We may need to review your absence more formally if all the leaves start impacting your ability to perform your role at the level we expect.
In extreme situations, we may have to:
- Review your employment with Significa in cases of prolonged or persistent sick leave without a doctor's note.
- Take disciplinary action, which may lead to termination of employment, where we have reasonable grounds to believe that sickness absence has been taken on false grounds.