Find out what options are available when an employee’s paid sick leave is exhausted, including unpaid leave and UIF.

What happens when sick leave has been exhausted?

We know the law allows for quite a large allocation of paid sick leave days. It is very seldom that employees use it all up. But what happens if the whole allocation of sick leave has been used up?

Just a reminder for context : An employee who works five days a week, the sick leave entitlement will be 30 days in a three-year cycle.

Once all the sick leave for the cycle has been exhausted, there are two scenarios:

The first scenario is where the employee is absence due to illness for short periods, up to no more than seven days at a time. In this case the employee’s absence due to illness will be unpaid. However, the employee may apply for annual leave. The employer has the discretion to approve the application for annual leave.

The second scenario is where sick leave has been exhausted and the employee is absent for more than seven days at a time. If this is the case, the employee has the option to claim illness benefits from the UIF. As you can imagine, this may be worthwhile in cases of long-term illness. For more details on UIF illness benefits, see the link below.

https://www.gov.za/services/services-residents/world-work/uif/illness-benefits-uif

The relevant sections of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, can be found at https://labourwise.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Extract-from-the-Basic-Conditions-of-Employment-Act-of-1997.pdf

For further assistance, contact us at https://labourwise.co.za/contact-us