If you take paid sick leave, your employer must pay you your salary. Your employer must also reimburse you for medical consultation fees if your MC was issued by a medical practitioner from a public institution or appointed by your company.
Medical reimbursement
In accordance with the Employment Act, if you have worked for at least 3 months:
- Your employer must pay for your medical consultation fee if:
- it results in at least one day of paid sick leave, and
- it arises from a medical certificate given to you by a medical practitioner from a public medical institution or appointed by your company.
- Some employers may provide medical benefits beyond what the Employment Act provides for. You should check your employment contract for details on these benefits.
- If you fall sick during public holidays, annual leave, rest days or non-working days:
- You will not be eligible for paid sick leave on those days.
- You will not be eligible to claim reimbursement for medical consultation fee.
Today, companies’ medical benefits schemes generally provide reimbursement for medical consultation fees beyond the employees' paid sick leave entitlements under the EA.
Employers are not required to grant paid sick leave or reimburse medical consultation fees for cosmetic procedures. The doctor performing the examination will decide whether a procedure is for cosmetic reasons. Your company policy may cover this as an employee medical benefit.
Salary during sick leave
If you are on paid hospitalisation leave, your employer has to pay you at your gross rate of pay. If you are on paid outpatient sick leave, your employer has to pay you at your gross rate of pay, excluding any shift allowance.
For monthly shift allowances, you should consult your employer and union on whether you can continue to receive the shift allowance during your sick leave period.
List of public medical institutions
The public medical institutions are:
- Admiralty Medical Centre
- Alexandra Hospital
- Ang Mo Kio – Thye Hua Kwan Hospital
- Bright Vision Hospital
- Changi General Hospital
- Institute of Mental Health/ Woodbridge Hospital
- Jurong Community Hospital
- Jurong Medical Centre
- KK Women's and Children's Hospital
- Khoo Teck Puat Hospital
- National Cancer Centre
- National Centre for Infectious Diseases
- National Dental Centre
- National Heart Centre
- National Neuroscience Institute
- National Skin Centre
- National University Hospital
- Ng Teng Fong General Hospital
- NHG Eye Institute
- Ren Ci Community Hospital
- Sengkang Community Hospital
- Sengkang General Hospital
- Singapore General Hospital
- Singapore National Eye Centre
- St. Andrew’s Community Hospital
- St. Luke’s Hospital
- Tan Tock Seng Hospital
- Yishun Community Hospital
- All polyclinics under NHG or Singhealth
- All polyclinics under the National University Health System