You cannot receive sick leave pay in the following cases:
- The maximum duration of paid sick leave is full, meaning that you have already been away from work because of an illness for a certain number of days. When your paid sick leave ends, you can usually receive sickness allowance from Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. Read more about paid sick leave.
- You have caused your inability to work intentionally or by being extremely careless. Generally, you will still receive sick leave pay as normal if you have injured yourself while playing sports or while drunk, for example.
- You have not provided your employer with a medical certificate from a doctor about your inability to work.
- You have provided your employer with a medical certificate, but it does not state what illness or disability you have. The medical certificate must state the diagnosis in words or in the form of an ICD code. In principle, you are entitled to sick leave pay regardless of the diagnosis. Read more about medical certificates. The page is in Finnish.
- Your employer suspects that your medical certificate is not reliable, but you refuse to see another doctor. However, the employer must have a very good reason to suspect that the certificate is not reliable.
- You are unable to work because you have undergone a medical procedure unrelated to taking care of your health. For example, if you undergo a cosmetic surgery, your employer does not have to pay you for the period of time that you are unable to work.
