Leave to care for a sick relative, by country
What the statute gives an employee who has to look after a sick relative. Spain gives five days with pay and Canada three paid days out of five, while Norway, Japan and Austria set a few days a year without saying who pays. Canada, the United States and Spain also have a long leave of weeks or years for serious illness, and Austria alone limits its leave to a sick child.
Scope of this guide
Canada: the Canada Labour Code (federal sector) and the Ontario statutes that LawAsked has loaded. Other provinces are not compared.
United States: federal law only. State law is not compared.
| Country | Leave for a sick relative | Paid? | Relatives covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | One further week a year, once the first entitlement is used up | A sick child under 12 (own, foster, or a spouse’s or partner’s child in the household) | |
| Australia | 10 days a year of paid personal/carer’s leave; 2 days unpaid per occasion | Yes for the 10 days; no for the 2 days | Immediate family or a member of the household |
| Canada | 5 days a year; up to 28 weeks if death is a significant risk within 26 weeks; 37 weeks (critically ill child) or 17 weeks (critically ill adult) | First 3 of the 5 days paid after 3 months of employment | Family members as defined in the Employment Insurance regulations |
| Spain | 5 days for serious illness or hospitalisation; unpaid leave of absence of up to 2 years for a relative who cannot manage alone | The 5 days: yes | Spouse, partner or relatives to the second degree; for the 5 days also anyone living in the same home |
| Japan | 5 working days a year (10 if two or more family members need care) | Spouse (including de facto), parents, children and a spouse’s parents | |
| Norway | Up to 10 days a calendar year; 60 days for a relative in the last phase of life | Parents, spouse, cohabiting or registered partner; a chronically ill or disabled child after the year they turn 18 | |
| United Kingdom | A reasonable amount of time off for emergencies; carer’s leave of at least a week in any 12 months, set out in regulations | Spouse, civil partner, child, parent, household member, or anyone who relies on the employee for care | |
| United States | Up to 12 workweeks in 12 months | The leave may be unpaid | Spouse, son, daughter or parent with a serious health condition |
Country by country
Austria
- Rule
- Urlaubsgesetz § 16
- Only sick-child care is stated in the text available here. The paragraph before this one, which sets the first entitlement, is not in the ingested text, so the main amount is not shown.
- The extra week is available only when no pay for the absence is owed under another law, collective agreement or contract.
bis zum Höchstausmaß einer weiteren regelmäßigen wöchentlichen Arbeitszeit innerhalb eines Arbeitsjahreswegen der notwendigen Pflege seines im gemeinsamen Haushalt lebenden erkrankten Kindes Australia
- Rule
- Fair Work Act 2009 ss 96, 97, 102
- The 10 days are shared with the employee’s own sick leave and accrue through the year of service; casual employees are excluded from that paid entitlement.
- The 2 unpaid days apply for each occasion when a family or household member needs care because of illness, injury or an unexpected emergency.
an employee is entitled to 10 days of paid personal/carer’s leave to provide care or support to a member of the employee’s immediate family, or a member of the employee’s household An employee is entitled to 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave for each occasion Canada
- Rule
- Canada Labour Code ss 206.3, 206.4, 206.6
- Federally regulated employers only (Canada Labour Code). The long leaves need a certificate from a health care practitioner.
- The five days also cover other family reasons, such as education or urgent matters, and can be taken in several periods.
up to five days in every calendar yearcarrying out responsibilities related to the health or care of any of their family membersthe employee is entitled to the first three days of the leave with pay a leave of absence from employment of up to 28 weeks to provide care or support to a family member a leave of absence from employment of up to 37 weeksa leave of absence from employment of up to 17 weeks Spain
- Rule
- Estatuto de los Trabajadores art. 37.3.b and art. 46.3
- The 2-year leave of absence (excedencia) may be longer if a collective agreement says so and keeps the job for the first year; the text quoted does not say whether it is paid.
- Applies to employees generally.
podrá ausentarse del trabajo, con derecho a remuneraciónCinco días por accidente o enfermedad graves, hospitalización o intervención quirúrgica sin hospitalización que precise reposo domiciliario del cónyuge, pareja de hecho o parientes hasta el segundo grado de duración no superior a dos años, salvo que se establezca una duración mayor por negociación colectivaDurante el primer año tendrá derecho a la reserva de su puesto de trabajo. Japan
- Rule
- 育児・介護休業法 第十六条の五, 第二条
- This is the short care leave (介護休暇) for a family member who needs constant care because of injury, illness or disability. The act also provides a separate, longer care leave (介護休業), not compared here.
- The statute does not say whether the leave is paid.
一の年度において五労働日（要介護状態にある対象家族が二人以上の場合にあっては、十労働日）を限度として 配偶者（婚姻の届出をしていないが、事実上婚姻関係と同様の事情にある者を含む。以下同じ。）、父母及び子並びに配偶者の父母をいう Norway
- Rule
- Arbeidsmiljøloven § 12-10
- The 60 days are for nursing a close relative at home in the final phase of life. The Act does not say who pays during the leave.
har rett til permisjon i 60 dager for pleie av den enkelte nærståendeArbeidstaker har rett til permisjon i inntil 10 dager hvert kalenderår for å gi nødvendig omsorg til foreldre, ektefelle, samboer eller registrert partner. United Kingdom
- Rule
- Employment Rights Act 1996 ss 57A, 80J
- Section 57A covers the emergency time off; s 80J requires regulations to set carer’s leave for a dependant with a long-term care need (illness over three months, disability, or old age).
- The Act does not say whether either leave is paid; the carer’s leave details are in regulations that are not ingested.
take a reasonable amount of time off during the employee’s working hoursa spouse or civil partner , b a child, c a parent, d a person who lives in the same household as the employee the employee is entitled to at least a week’s leave during any period of 12 months United States
- Rule
- Family and Medical Leave Act 1993 § 102 (29 U.S.C. § 2612)
- Federal law only. The leave can be taken intermittently when medically necessary. Eligibility depends on the employee and employer meeting the Act’s thresholds, which are not shown here.
an eligible employee shall be entitled to a total of 12 workweeks of leave during any 12-month periodIn order to care for the spouse, or a son, daughter, or parent, of the employee, if such spouse, son, daughter, or parent has a serious health condition.may consist of unpaid leave Countries not in this table yet
Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden are not shown: their care-leave statutes (for example the German Pflegezeitgesetz or the Dutch Wet arbeid en zorg) are not among the acts ingested, and the ingested text of those countries does not set out the entitlement.
How this table was built
Every row is taken from the official, consolidated text of the statute, which LawAsked loads from each government’s legislation service.
Each figure is tied to a passage quoted word for word from that text. When the page is served, it checks that every quoted passage is still in the current text of a law that is in force; if a law is amended and its wording changes, that row is hidden until a person reviews it again.
The table shows the statutory minimum only. Collective agreements, awards and individual contracts often give more than the statute, and some countries let a collective agreement set different terms.
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LawAsked, “Leave to care for a sick relative, by country”, https://lawasked.com/guides/carers-leave (reviewed October 25, 2026).
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