In Chinese employment law, medical leave is a period of time an employee can claim to recover from illness or injury sustained off the job, during which they cannot be terminated.
Employers are required to provide sick leave wages, illness relief payments, and medical benefits under the Non-Work-Related Injury or Illness Employee Medical Leave Rules and the China Employment Contracts Act. Sick leave wages and illness relief payments during medical leave must be at least 80% of the local minimum wage. Medical leave can be extended beyond 24 months for employees recovering from a chronic illness with government approval. An employer may terminate an employee who cannot perform the original position, or a suitable alternative position offered by the employer, after extended medical leave with 30 days’ written notice or one month’s pay in lieu of notice.
Calculation
Medical leave entitlements can range from 3 to 24 months and vary by jurisdiction. For example, medical leave entitlement in Shanghai is based on how long the employee has been at the company and follows an “X+2” model, where “X” is the number of full years of service. New employees are entitled to three months in their first year and the entitlement increases by 1 month for each additional full year, up to 24 months. For calculation purposes, Shanghai treats one month of medical leave as 20.83 workdays, in line with the local standard number of working days per month. Leave begins accruing on the first day of absence and weekends and holidays are not counted. For instance, if an employee begins three months of medical leave on March 5, 2020, the medical leave period would extend over several calendar months and conclude before September 5, 2020.
Difference Between Sick Leave and Medical Leave
Medical leave and sick leave are distinct concepts. Sick leave is time off an employee takes for health reasons as part of physical recovery, while medical leave is a legal entitlement to a period of protected absence. The length of sick leave depends on illness severity, while medical leave follows statutory standards rather than illness-specific factors.
Further Reading
Learn more about Chinese law on employee sick leave and medical leave here.