You can get 21 days of additional leave for health reasons. Only a few people benefit from it

The basic leave entitlement does not include leave for health reasons, which may be used by a specific group of people. This means that in addition to the 23 or 26 days they are entitled to, some people can also use an additional 10, and in some situations even 21 days off as part of sick leave. However, the condition is that you have worked for one year – regardless of the number of employers and the breaks between periods of employment. The most important criterion, however, is that such a person has a disability certificate.

Who can take advantage of additional sick leave?

This right is available to people from certain disability groups. This applies to employees with severe or moderate disabilities. Such leave is a special type of leave, and this entitlement results from an act other than the Labor Code. This additional leave (paid) is granted pursuant to Art. 19 and art. 20 of the Act on Vocational and Social Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled Persons.

However, persons with a certified mild degree of disability are not entitled to such leave. The 10-day additional leave is also not due to persons who are entitled to annual leave exceeding 26 working days or to additional leave under separate regulations. “Every disabled person who has a certificate qualifying him or her as a significant or moderate degree of disability is entitled to additional leave of 10 working days, provided that he or she has worked for one year from the date of being classified as one of these degrees of disability. A disabled person acquires the right to another additional holiday leave on January 1 of each subsequent calendar year, provided that he or she is still employed,” indicate specialists from the Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled Persons.

How many days of additional leave are people with disabilities entitled to?

A person with a disability is entitled to such additional leave for 10 or 21 days. By default, it is 10 days, but in some cases it can be extended up to 21 business days per year. The idea is to extend such leave by staying on a rehabilitation stay (in order to perform medical or fitness treatments).

The employee must then provide the employer with an application to refer the patient to such a stay, completed by the attending physician (the stay must take place at the doctor’s request). “A disabled employee should submit to the employer a referral to a rehabilitation course on a date that will enable normal work to be carried out at the plant. However, the basis for payment of remuneration – calculated as the cash equivalent for annual leave – for the period of leave is a document submitted to the employer confirming the stay on the stay, issued by the organizer of the stay,” says the Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled Persons.

Paid leave may also be extended due to the following activities (if they cannot be performed outside working hours):

• performing specialist tests, therapeutic or improvement treatments,

• obtaining orthopedic supplies or repairing them.