Can you be dismissed while on sick leave, by country
What the statute says about ending a job while the employee is ill or injured. Norway bars dismissal because of sickness for the first 12 months and the Netherlands bars notice for up to two years, whereas Japan and the federal Canadian code protect only work-related illness or injury, and Australia protects only illnesses of a kind set by regulation. The United Kingdom Act treats health as a possible fair ground for dismissal, while Germany and Austria in the text quoted here only keep sick pay running after a dismissal.
Scope of this guide
Canada: the Canada Labour Code (federal sector) and the Ontario statutes that LawAsked has loaded. Other provinces are not compared.
| Country | Dismissal during illness | How long protected | Limit or consequence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Sick pay continues for its full statutory duration even if the employer dismisses during the incapacity | ||
| Australia | Employer must not dismiss for temporary absence because of illness or injury of a kind prescribed by the regulations | Only illness or injury of a kind prescribed by the regulations | |
| Canada | No dismissal because of absence from work due to work-related illness or injury, or because of taking medical leave | Medical leave of up to 27 weeks | Employer may assign a different position if the employee cannot do the old work after the absence |
| Germany | Sick pay is not cut off when the employer dismisses because of the incapacity to work | ||
| France | No dismissal because of state of health; during a work accident or occupational illness only for gross misconduct or a reason unrelated to it | For a work accident or occupational illness: the whole suspension of the contract | A dismissal in breach of the work-accident rule is void |
| Japan | No dismissal during absence for treatment of a work-related injury or illness | The absence and the following 30 days | Does not apply if the employer pays lump-sum compensation (art. 81) or a natural disaster makes continuing the business impossible |
| Netherlands | Employer cannot give notice while the employee is unable to work because of illness | Until the incapacity has lasted 2 years (6 weeks from state pension age) | Does not apply if the illness began after a request for permission to dismiss was received |
| Norway | No dismissal because of full or partial absence due to accident or illness | First 12 months after the incapacity began | A dismissal in that period is presumed to be caused by the sick leave unless shown otherwise |
| United Kingdom | Capability, defined to include health, is a potentially fair reason; fairness turns on whether the employer acted reasonably |
Country by country
Austria
- Rule
- Angestelltengesetz § 9
- This rule is in the Angestelltengesetz (salaried employees). The quoted section protects the pay entitlement; it does not itself bar the dismissal, so the first two columns are left empty.
- The pay entitlement also continues if the relationship is ended by mutual agreement during, or because of, the incapacity.
- The pay entitlement ends with the relationship if it ends by expiry of its term or a notice given before the incapacity.
Wird der Angestellte während einer Dienstverhinderung gemäß § 8 Abs. 1 bis 2a gekündigt, ohne wichtigen Grund vorzeitig entlassen oder trifft den Dienstgeber ein Verschulden an dem vorzeitigen Austritt des Angestellten, so bleibt der Anspruch auf Fortzahlung des Entgelts für die nach diesem Bundesgesetz vorgesehene Dauer bestehen, wenngleich das Dienstverhältnis früher endet.infolge einer früheren Kündigung aufgelöst wird Australia
- Rule
- Fair Work Act 2009 s 352 and s 772
- The regulations that say which illnesses and injuries count are not part of the text LawAsked holds, so the length of the protection is not shown.
- Section 772 repeats the rule for termination of employment generally.
An employer must not dismiss an employee because the employee is temporarily absent from work because of illness or injury of a kind prescribed by the regulations. temporary absence from work because of illness or injury of a kind prescribed by the regulations Canada
- Rule
- Canada Labour Code s 239 and s 239.1
- Federally regulated employers only (Canada Labour Code). Ontario provincial law is not part of this comparison for this rule.
- Section 239.1 covers work-related illness or injury; section 239 covers medical leave for personal illness or injury, organ or tissue donation, medical appointments and quarantine.
no employer shall dismiss, suspend, lay off, demote or discipline an employee because of absence from work due to work-related illness or injuryAn employer may assign to a different position, with different terms and conditions of employment, any employee who, after an absence due to work-related illness or injury, is unable to perform the work performed by the employee prior to the absence. Every employee is entitled to and shall be granted a medical leave of absence from employment of up to 27 weeks as a result of (a) personal illness or injuryan employer is prohibited from dismissing, suspending, laying off, demoting or disciplining an employee because the employee intends to take or has taken a medical leave of absence Germany
- Rule
- EntgFG § 8
- The quoted section protects the pay entitlement after a dismissal made because of the incapacity; it does not itself bar the dismissal, so the first two columns are left empty.
- If the relationship ends for other reasons before the pay period runs out, the entitlement ends with it.
Der Anspruch auf Fortzahlung des Arbeitsentgelts wird nicht dadurch berührt, daß der Arbeitgeber das Arbeitsverhältnis aus Anlaß der Arbeitsunfähigkeit kündigt.oder infolge einer Kündigung aus anderen als den in Absatz 1 bezeichneten Gründen, so endet der Anspruch mit dem Ende des Arbeitsverhältnisses France
- Rule
- Code du travail art. L1132-1, L1226-7, L1226-9, L1226-13
- The strict rule (L1226-9) applies to employees injured in a work accident other than a commuting accident, or suffering an occupational illness.
- For ordinary illness the quoted protection is the general rule against dismissal because of state of health (L1132-1); the statute text quoted does not set a period for it.
- Discriminatory dismissals under L1132-1 are void (L1132-4).
aucun salarié ne peut être sanctionné, licencié ou faire l'objet d'une mesure discriminatoireou en raison de son état de santé, de sa perte d'autonomie ou de son handicap Toute disposition ou tout acte pris à l'égard d'un salarié en méconnaissance des dispositions du présent chapitre ou du II de l'article 10-1 de la loi n° 2016-1691 du 9 décembre 2016 relative à la transparence, à la lutte contre la corruption et à la modernisation de la vie économique est nul. est suspendu pendant la durée de l'arrêt de travail provoqué par l'accident ou la maladie l'employeur ne peut rompre ce dernier que s'il justifie soit d'une faute grave de l'intéressé, soit de son impossibilité de maintenir ce contrat pour un motif étranger à l'accident ou à la maladie Toute rupture du contrat de travail prononcée en méconnaissance des dispositions des articles L. 1226-9 et L. 1226-18 est nulle. Japan
- Rule
- Labour Standards Act art. 19
- The protection covers injury or illness suffered in the course of work (業務上), not illness in general.
- The same article gives the same protection to women on maternity leave, and the exception for impossible business continuation needs the approval of the administrative authority.
使用者は、労働者が業務上負傷し、又は疾病にかかり療養のために休業する期間及びその後三十日間並びに産前産後の女性が第六十五条の規定によつて休業する期間及びその後三十日間は、解雇してはならない使用者が、第八十一条の規定によつて打切補償を支払う場合又は天災事変その他やむを得ない事由のために事業の継続が不可能となつた場合においては、この限りでない Netherlands
- Rule
- BW 7 art. 670
- Periods of incapacity that follow each other with a gap of less than four weeks are added together, unless they cannot reasonably be thought to come from the same cause.
- Pregnancy and maternity periods are counted separately in the same article.
De werkgever kan niet opzeggen gedurende de tijd dat de werknemer ongeschikt is tot het verrichten van zijn arbeid wegens ziekte, tenzij de ongeschiktheid: a. ten minste twee jaren heeft geduurdzes weken voor de werknemer die de in artikel 7, onderdeel a, van de Algemene Ouderdomswet bedoelde leeftijd heeft bereikteen aanvang heeft genomen nadat een verzoek om toestemming als bedoeld in artikel 671aworden perioden van ongeschiktheid tot het verrichten van arbeid, anders dan bedoeld in de vorige zin, samengeteld, indien zij elkaar met een onderbreking van minder dan vier weken opvolgen Norway
- Rule
- Arbeidsmiljøloven § 15-8
- The employee who relies on the protection must notify the reason for the absence within a reasonable time, and if the employer requires it must document the total sick leave with a medical certificate.
- After the first 12 months this section gives no protection; the general dismissal rules of the act continue to apply.
Arbeidstaker som helt eller delvis er borte fra arbeidet på grunn av ulykke eller sykdom kan ikke av denne grunn sies opp de første 12 månedene etter at arbeidsuførheten inntrådte.skal anses å ha sin grunn i sykefraværet dersom ikke noe annet gjøres overveiende sannsynligOm arbeidsgiver krever det, må det samlede sykefravær godtgjøres ved legeattest. United Kingdom
- Rule
- Employment Rights Act 1996 s 98
- This is the general unfair-dismissal section. It does not itself bar dismissal during sickness; the first two columns are left empty.
- Disability discrimination law (Equality Act 2010) is not part of the text LawAsked holds, so it is not shown here.
relates to the capability or qualifications of the employee for performing work of the kind which he was employed by the employer to domeans his capability assessed by reference to skill, aptitude, health or any other physical or mental qualitythe employer acted reasonably or unreasonably in treating it as a sufficient reason for dismissing the employee Countries not in this table yet
The United States, Spain and Sweden are not shown. For the United States no ingested federal statute (FMLA, ADA) was found that states a rule on dismissal during sick leave in a form that can be quoted here; for Spain the ingested Estatuto de los Trabajadores names only pregnancy and childbirth illnesses as grounds for a void dismissal, and for Sweden the Lag om anställningsskydd has no sickness-specific dismissal rule among the ingested sections.
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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The table and the CSV are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit LawAsked and link to this page. Quoted statute text stays under the terms of its official source.
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LawAsked, “Can you be dismissed while on sick leave, by country”, https://lawasked.com/guides/dismissal-during-sick-leave (reviewed October 25, 2026).
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