The effect of workers’ medical leave reports on retirement periods is a frequently asked question. First, it should be clearly explained whether and what the details are.
Conditions for Receiving Temporary Incapacity Allowance for Reported Sick Days
If a worker obtains a medical report from hospitals contracted with the Social Security Institution (SGK), the employer generally has the right to deduct wages for the days covered by the report. Responsibility for payments related to these days falls under SGK.
Article 37 of the Social Insurance Law requires that, to receive temporary incapacity benefits due to illness, insured persons must have paid at least 120 days of sickness insurance contributions in the year prior to the start of the incapacity. Those who have completed 120 insured days and whose insurance status continues are entitled to a temporary incapacity allowance starting from the third day of incapacity. In other words, under the law, no allowance is paid for the first two days of temporary incapacity.
How Is the Temporary Incapacity Allowance Obtained?
According to Article 89 of the Social Insurance Law, the temporary incapacity allowance for work accidents, occupational diseases, or illness is calculated differently depending on treatment. If the insured is treated as an inpatient in health institutions provided by the Institution, or sent to spas or thermal facilities provided by the Institution, the allowance is half of the daily earnings calculated under Articles 78 and 88. For outpatient treatment, it is two-thirds of the calculated daily earnings. Temporary incapacity allowances are paid weekly by the Institution after the relevant period. If the medical report is issued by a Ministry of Health facility or a private healthcare provider contracted with SGK, a temporary incapacity allowance is paid. Reports from private institutions that do not have an agreement with SGK do not automatically entitle the worker to the allowance; however, if such a report is subsequently approved by Ministry of Health hospitals, the temporary incapacity allowance can be granted.
Is the Employer Obligated to Pay for Reported Sick Days?
Employers have no obligation to pay wages or declare insured days for the first two days of medical leave, nor for the whole leave period in general. However, employers may choose to pay wages to employees during their medical leave as a discretionary goodwill gesture. There is no legal prohibition against paying wages while the employee is on leave. Although employees are barred from working while on medical leave, they may still receive wages if the employer decides to pay them.
- Will the worker’s insurance be cut if paid during leave? No. For insured persons receiving a temporary incapacity allowance from SGK, any wage difference paid by the employer for the leave period or full wages paid without considering SGK’s temporary incapacity allowance must still be subject to contributions and the insured must continue to be reported to SGK. This applies regardless of whether payments are made based on collective agreements, regulations, or as a discretionary gesture by the employer.
- Are reported sick days counted as service time? No. If employer-paid supplementary wages for the leave period are below the minimum daily earnings subject to contributions, the employer must top them up to the minimum daily earnings and pay contributions accordingly, including work accident and occupational disease insurance. The related period must be shown as days in the monthly premium and service declaration. Article 48 of Labour Law No. 4857 states that temporary incapacity allowances paid by SGK for days not worked due to illness may be deducted from the wages of monthly salaried workers. This provision grants the employer discretion to offset such allowances against monthly wages. Therefore, employers are not obligated to pay wages for employees on medical leave, and if wages are not paid, no insurance contributions are required from the employer for those days.
How Do Reported Sick Days Affect Retirement?
The answer to whether taking medical leave affects retirement is clear: yes, it does. Reported sick days are not counted toward retirement and are not included when accumulating premium days. Since employers are generally not required to pay for reported days, an employer who does not pay wages during medical leave reports those days to SGK as “01-Rest” and therefore does not pay premiums for the employee for those days. As a result, days reported to SGK as “01-Rest” are not considered in pension calculations. The question of whether consecutive reports are allowed depends entirely on medical grounds; if a competent health authority issues valid medical reports, the employee cannot legally be made to work during that period, and consequently SGK premium days will remain incomplete.
How Does a Disability Medical Report Affect Retirement?
For those with disabilities starting from October 2008 onward, there are three main conditions to qualify for retirement without an age requirement.
- Insured persons who had a disability or illness of 60% or more before they first started working, and who are not eligible for disability pension, may be granted an old-age pension provided they have been insured for at least 15 years and have at least 3,960 days of contributions for disability, old-age and survivors insurance.
- According to reports properly issued by authorized medical boards and supported by medical documentation, if the Institution’s Health Board determines a loss of working capacity between 50% and 59%, the insured may retire after at least 16 years of insurance and 4,320 contribution days. Those evaluated with a 40% to 49% loss of working capacity may retire as disabled without an age limit if they have been insured for at least 18 years and have 4,680 days of contributions. These conditions apply to those who started working on or after January 1, 2015, and the law includes phased rules via additional and temporary provisions. This clarifies how a disability report affects pension benefits.
- Insured persons who began working before October 1, 2008 and were eligible for tax reductions because of their disability are retired according to the Social Insurance Law No. 506, based on their insurance start dates and disability percentages. For those who started working before age 18, the reference date may be the completion of age 18 rather than their employment start date.
Retirement for Disabled Civil Servants
The transitional provisions in the law apply to former civil servants who began work before October 1, 2008.
- Civil servants who started in positions legally defined as disabled staff under Law No. 5434, or who had a disability report of 40% or more before entering public service even if they were not in a disabled post, may retire after 15 years (5,400 days) of service.
- Those with congenital disabilities who do not have a later report but can document at least 40% disability under prior regulations and who began working under Law No. 5434 before the enforcement of Law No. 5510 (October 1, 2008) may request retirement if they have at least 5,400 days of long-term insurance contributions or if retirement deductions have been paid. These individuals can retire upon application provided the contribution conditions are met.