Sick leave for hospitality staff in Ireland: statutory sick pay explained

A chef rings in at 7am with a temperature, a lounge waiter texts that she's been up all night, and a kitchen porter just doesn't show. Sick days are part of running a pub, restaurant or hotel. Since 2023, Ireland has had a legal minimum for sick pay that every employer must pay, and since 2024 that minimum has been five days a year. This guide covers what you owe, who qualifies, how to work out the daily rate for hospitality staff on changing hours, the records you need, and how to keep the roster covered.

Statutory sick pay in 2026: the short version

The rules are in the Sick Leave Act 2022, which started on 1 January 2023 with three days. The Sick Leave Act 2022 (Increase of Statutory Sick Leave Days) Order 2024 raised it to five days from 1 January 2024, and Citizens Information and the WRC still give five days in 2026.

Who qualifies

To get statutory sick pay, a person must:

• be an employee (part-time, full-time, on probation, an apprentice, an agency worker, or over State Pension age all count)
• have 13 weeks' continuous service with you before they go sick
• be certified by a medical practitioner as unable to work

Someone who leaves and comes back to you within 26 weeks keeps their earlier service: the gap doesn't break continuity. If a person has two jobs, say a chef who also does weekend shifts in a hotel bar, they can get five days from each employer once they've done 13 weeks with each.

A new starter who goes sick in the first 13 weeks has no right to statutory sick pay from you, though they may qualify for Illness Benefit.

Part-time and casual staff

Part-timers get the same five days as full-timers. The difference is in the daily rate, which depends on the work pattern:

1. Set hours at a fixed rate (for example, 4 hours every working day): 70% of normal daily pay, or €110 if lower.
2. Variable hours at a fixed rate: 70% of what they would have earned on the day they were sick, or €110 if lower.
3. Anything else: work out their average hourly rate over the last 13 weeks (total pay divided by hours), multiply by the hours they were rostered to work that day, and pay the lower of that figure or €110.

For most hospitality part-timers, it comes down to one question: what were they rostered to work on the day they were sick? That's why a published roster you can look back on matters. If the roster lived on a whiteboard that has since been wiped, you're guessing.

"Casual" staff are a grey area. If the person is an employee with 13 weeks' continuous service, the label on their contract doesn't remove the right. If you're unsure whether someone is an employee, see our guide to zero-hours and banded hours.

Working out the daily rate: examples

These are illustrative examples using made-up staff.

Full-time bar manager on set hours. Gráinne works 8-hour days at €17.00 an hour, so her normal daily pay is €136.00. Seventy per cent is €95.20, under the cap, so she gets €95.20 for each statutory sick day.

Head chef on a high rate. Darren works 10-hour days at €24.00 an hour: €240.00 a day. Seventy per cent is €168.00, but the cap is €110, so he gets €110 a day.

Part-time lounge staff on variable hours. Aoife is paid €14.50 an hour and her hours change weekly. She was rostered for 6 hours on the Saturday she was sick: 6 × €14.50 = €87.00. Seventy per cent is €60.90.

Normal pay with regular extras. Normal daily pay includes regular bonuses or allowances that don't change week to week, but not overtime or commission. Where pay varies because of regular extras, use the average over the 13 weeks before the sick leave.

Medical certificates and waiting days

The employee must be certified by a registered medical practitioner as unfit to work. Citizens Information says they should be certified from day 1, and you can't apply waiting days before statutory sick pay starts. You can't require them to take annual leave instead of sick days if they have a certificate.

Many hospitality employers are more generous in practice, for example paying a single uncertified day. That's allowed: your own scheme applies instead of the statutory one if, viewed as a whole, it's more favourable. You can't give less.

The calendar year and carry-over

The sick pay year is the calendar year. Days can be taken together or one at a time, up to five in the year. Unused days don't carry into the next year, and a single period of statutory sick leave can't run across 31 December into January. Someone still sick at the year end moves on to Illness Benefit if they qualify; if they come back to work at any point in the new year, they get the new year's five days.

Illness Benefit from day 6

Once statutory sick pay is used up, an employee with enough PRSI contributions can claim Illness Benefit from the Department of Social Protection. Citizens Information says it starts from day 6 where the person has been off sick for more than five days. If they've already used their five statutory days and fall sick again later in the year, Illness Benefit can start from day 4, after the usual three waiting days.

You don't pay Illness Benefit, but staff will ask you about it. Point them to the Department of Social Protection and Citizens Information.

Sick leave, annual leave and public holidays

• Annual leave: a certified sick day during annual leave isn't counted as annual leave, and annual leave keeps building up during certified sick leave. See our annual leave guide.
• Public holidays: a full-timer off sick on a public holiday can get sick pay or Illness Benefit for it, or you can treat them as not on sick leave that day and pay them as normal. Long-term absences (more than 26 weeks for ordinary illness) lose the public holiday benefit. See our public holidays guide.
• Probation: you can pause a probation period during sick leave and add the days on at the end.

Records you must keep

The WRC sets out what an employer must record for statutory sick leave:

1. the period of employment of each employee who took statutory sick leave
2. the dates and times of each statutory sick leave absence
3. the rate of statutory sick pay paid

Keep these records for four years. The WRC says employers who fail to keep accurate records may be convicted and fined up to €2,500. Statutory sick leave records are on the list of things WRC inspectors check, alongside working hours and annual leave. Our WRC inspection guide covers what else they ask for.

A simple sick leave log per employee does the job:

Rostering cover without a scramble

The legal part is the easy bit. The hard part is a Saturday night with a chef down. A few habits make it easier:

• Know who's available before you need them. If staff keep their availability up to date on their phones, you can see at a glance who's free on Saturday instead of ringing round.
• Keep a cross-trained bench. Note who can cover the pass, who knows the cellar, and who can run the floor.
• Change the published roster, not a WhatsApp message. When someone covers, update the roster so everyone's phone shows the change and you have a record of who actually worked.
• Record sickness against the roster. That gives you the hours they were due to work, which you need for part-timers' daily rate.
• Watch rest periods. Calling someone in after a late close can breach the 11-hour daily rest. See split shifts and rest breaks.

How ShiftComplete helps

ShiftComplete is built for hospitality rosters. Staff set availability on their phones weeks ahead, so you can see who's free when a sick call comes in. You drag the shift to the cover, publish, and the new roster appears on everyone's phone. Holidays are recorded so you don't call in someone who's away. With clocking in switched on, you get hours worked against the roster and a spreadsheet of hours per person.

It costs €1.99 per active staff member per month, free for 60 days, with no card and no contract.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, check Citizens Information and the WRC.