Labor Law Expert Clarifies Sick Leave Rules for Medical Appointments

The popular "Labor Law" page clarifies the drama over whether a medical appointment requires sick leave or personal leave, revealing principles to remember, citing a Ministry of Labor consultation comparing an employee taking leave for dialysis.

The case: a woman submitted a sick leave note due to a medical appointment, but HR told her to write it as "personal leave" and provide verification.

On this matter, the "Labor Law" page, by Assoc. Prof. Net Saraphong, Faculty of Law, Ubon Ratchathani University, provided insight. He stated that according to reports, the employee requested sick leave but HR insisted on personal leave. The employee objected, even citing AI saying "could be sick leave or personal leave."

Key principle: to take sick leave, "you must be sick when submitting the leave form," but if you have no symptoms when submitting, it is not sick leave.

1) If taking sick leave to follow up on symptoms due to a chronic illness, where the doctor's appointment is for treatment, monitoring, or rehabilitation of a chronic disease/accident, it is considered part of medical treatment per the doctor's diagnosis. This case likely involves an employee who is currently ill with a doctor's follow-up appointment; this must be granted as sick leave. HR telling the employee to take personal leave would likely be incorrect.

Note: If an employee takes leave for a general health check-up or a doctor's follow-up for a condition that has already been cured, this cannot be sick leave.

Therefore, the medical certificate must be read clearly to see what it states. In truth, the facts are not yet clear because the medical certificate's content has not been seen.

This is comparable to a Ministry of Labor consultation ruling that an employee taking leave for dialysis three days a week as ordered by a doctor is considered sick leave because "the employee still feels ill and unwell" and their physical condition is incomplete. If leave does not exceed 30 days, the employee must receive wages.

Note: The employer having the employee take personal leave or annual leave and using traditional holidays is not correct per labor law (Labor Law Consultation No. RW 0505/1604, dated June 14, 2017).

2) But if taking leave for a health check-up, meaning the employee is not sick at the time of submitting the leave, even if it is a scheduled appointment with an appointment book or letter for an annual check-up or a doctor's appointment for cosmetic enhancement, the employee is not sick at the time of leave; this must be personal leave, considered necessary personal business the employee must attend personally.

However, if the check-up reveals illness or the cosmetic procedure results in an infected wound, then sick leave can be taken.