Sick Leave Policy | DPD Ireland

DPD Ireland does not have a private sick leave scheme therefore any part- or full-time employee who satisfies the eligibility criteria (as set out below) will be entitled from 1 January 2023 to a statutory payment (Paid Sick Leave) in line with the Sick Leave Act 2022.

Statutory

Paid Sick Leave Days (Sick Leave Act 2022)

2023 - 3 days' statutory paid sick leave

2024 - 5 days' statutory paid sick leave

2025 - 7 days' statutory paid sick leave

2026 - 10 days' statutory paid sick leave

DPD Ireland's Additional Paid Sick Leave Days

In addition to the employees entitlement to statutory paid sick leave. DPD will pay the following additional sick leave days;

2023 - 2 days' additional paid sick leave (total 5 days paid sick leave includes statutory)

2024 - 2 days' additional paid sick leave (total 7 days paid sick leave includes statutory)

2025 - 2 days' additional paid sick leave (total 9 days paid sick leave includes statutory)

The entitlement to paid Sick Leave will be triggered on the first day of the employee’s absence due to illness or injury on a day on which he or she would ordinarily have worked but is incapable of doing so due to illness or injury.

Employees are entitled to take this leave in a single block of consecutive days or separate days.

The rate of payment for each day of paid Sick Leave is your normal gross day/hourly rate (excludes any overtime or commission) calculated as set out below.

The Company may in its absolute discretion and without creating any expectation, precedent or entitlement, decide to continue to pay the Employee where appropriate review, in the light of medical evidence and the continuation of the employment of the employee. It is paid at the discretion of the employer, and the organisation reserves the right to withhold all or part of the sick pay.

Where the employee is eligible to claim social welfare, application must be made to the Department of Social Welfare for the appropriate benefit.

Eligibility Criteria

To qualify for paid Sick Leave an employee must;

have 13 weeks continuous service
submit a certificate signed by a registered medical practitioner stating that the employee named in the certificate is unable to work. This certificate must be in English.
have ordinarily worked that sick leave day but is incapable of doing so due to the certified illness or injury
be within their Paid Sick Leave entitlement within a calendar year. The sick pay year is the calendar year, so it runs from 1 January to 31 December. The first days of illness or injury shall be the employees first statutory sick leave day, and any subsequent statutory sick leave days shall be construed accordingly
contacted his or her manager directly, on the first day of illness or injury (see notification of sick leave below for further details)

Rate of Payment

The rate of daily payment for each day of Paid Sick Leave is your normal gross daily wage and calculated in accordance with S.I. No.607 of 2022 which is based on the type of employment contract that is in place.

Salaried/ Fixed set of hours' contracts

Where an employee has a fixed wage, salary, allowance or bonus for each week, month or any other fixed period, or a fixed hourly or other time rate for a set number of hours (or other period of time) per week, month or any other fixed period; the gross amount payable shall be your standard daily hours last worked by him or her before the statutory sick leave day.

Variable hours contracts

Where an employee’s pay is calculated by reference to a fixed hourly or other time rate for available number of hours (or other period of time) per week, month or any other fixed period: the gross amount payable shall be the normal gross hourly rate that would have been payable to the employee had he or she worked the statutory sick leave day; before the statutory sick leave day commences, multiplied by the number of hours that he or she was due to work on the statutory sick leave day.

Where the employee is neither employed on a fixed or variable hours

Where an employee’s pay is not calculated by reference to any of the matters referred to above the gross amount payable in respect of statutory sick leave shall be the sum that is equal to the normal gross average hourly rate of pay of the employee, calculated over –

the period of 13 weeks ending immediately before the statutory
if no time was worked by the employee during that period, the period of 13 weeks ending on the day on which time was last worked by the employee before the statutory sick leave day commences, multiplied by the number of hours that he or she was due to work on the statutory sick leave day

In all cases the calculation the average hourly rate of pay includes any regular bonus or allowance which does not vary in relation to the work done by the employee but excludes any overtime or commission.

Notification of Sick Leave

In the event of incapacity to work due to illness or injury your supervisor or manager must be contacted directly. The reason for the absence must be given, and where possible an anticipated date of return to work should be given. Voice messages, emails or text messages are not acceptable, nor is leaving a message with another staff member.

For day staff you must advise your Manager/Supervisor on the first day of absence no more than 30 minutes after your official starting time.

For night staff you must advise workforce planning or management directly on the first day of absence before 6 pm or start of pre-sort, whichever time is earliest, in order for alternative arrangements to be made.

Failure to follow our notification procedure, without a valid reason, may disqualify the employee from payment for the absence.

Medical Certificate

A medical certificate must be sent to your Manager/ Supervisor for absences due to sickness in excess of two days. However, if you wish to avail of paid sick leave a medical certificate is required from day 1 of your absence.

DPD Ireland requests the following details in the medical certificate which will be held in the strictest confidence and subject to our data protection and retention policies.

name and address of the doctor and medical council number
name and address of the employee
the opinion of the doctor that the patient is incapacitated due to illness/accident
the expected duration of incapacity
the date of the issue
the doctors signature

Subsequent certificates must be submitted where the absence continues beyond the period covered by the initial certificate. If the absence extends beyond one week, the employee must communicate with his or her manager at least once a week to inform them of his or her medical status and likely return date. Follow up certificates should be submitted on a weekly basis.

During an employee’s absence, the organisation has the right to request an independent medical examination and report on the fitness of the employee. The doctor will forward the assessment report to the organisation.

For the avoidance of doubt, there is no entitlement to paid statutory sick leave or any additional and/or discretionary sick leave for uncertified illness or injury.

Treatment

Where there may be a health and safety implication or risk, an employee undergoing medical treatment for a condition, must inform the organisation of this treatment, especially if he or she is required to use prescription medication.

Return to Work

A certificate of fitness may be required before returning to work. This will normally be from the employee’s own doctor but the organisation may require a certificate be obtained from the company doctor.

The Company, may, at its discretion, conduct Return to Work meetings after any period of absence.

State Illness Benefit

For employee information purposes, any employee who is in receipt of statutory Paid Sick Leave from their employer will not be entitled to State Illness Benefit on the same day.

Currently, there is no payment of State Illness Benefit for the first 5 days of illness. These are known as ‘waiting days’ (Sunday is not counted as a waiting day.) There are no waiting days if you were getting certain other social welfare payments within 5 days of the start of

your illness.

To qualify for Illness Benefit, you must:

Be aged under sixty-six years of age
Be medically certified as unfit for work by a medical (GP)
Have enough social insurance (PRSI) contributions
Apply within 6 weeks of becoming ill

State Illness Benefit after Waiting Days

For any periods of continuous illness outside of statutory Paid Sick Leave ie. DPD Ireland’s additional paid sick leave days and/or any discretionary paid sick leave days.

Where the employee is eligible to claim social welfare, application must be made to

the Department of Social Welfare for the appropriate benefit. Details on how to apply is available here.

The employee must provide payroll with confirmation of the amount awarded via email payroll@dpd.ie. The employee retains the social welfare illness benefit awarded. DPD will make the necessary adjustment and top up the employee’s salary for the additional paid sick leave days only, to their normal daily gross pay.

The organisation retains the right to deduct the equivalent of the social welfare payment where the employee fails to submit their social welfare entitlement to the organisation. The organisation further retains the right to only pay the difference between gross pay and the standard rate of illness benefit in respect of those employees who do not qualify for illness benefit or who choose not to avail of illness benefit in order to retain some other social welfare primary payment.

If your sickness or absence is due to the negligence of a third party and you are successful in recovering compensation for loss of earnings, you are expected to refund the sick pay back to the organisation.

Abuse of this Policy

Your employment rights are protected during sick leave. You are treated as being in employment while you are on sick leave. You will not be victimised or penalised for claiming your rights under sick leave legislation.

However, employees found to be abusing their entitlement under this policy will be subject to the organisation’s disciplinary process and may also suffer loss of any discretionary benefit under this scheme.

Sickness and Annual Leave

If you are sick on any day of annual leave and a medical certificate is furnished to the organisation for every day of illness or injury, you may retain that leave day and take it at

a later date, to be agreed as per normal annual leave notification procedures. Late notification after the illness/injury or on return from holidays will disqualify an employee from transferring to sick leave. Your manager/supervisor must be advised of the illness or injury at the time of the illness or injury.

Appointments

Wherever possible, medical appointments should be arranged in your own time. Alternatively, and with minimum disruption to the working day, your manager may agree with you that the hours are made up at another time.

Where this is not possible, you should notify your manager of an appointment at the earliest opportunity. The manager may request to be given the medical certificate confirming the appointment.

Records

DPD Ireland is legally obliged to keep proper records for each employee. The records must be maintained for four years and include information in relation to each employee who availed of Paid Sick Leave. The information that must be included in the records are the employee’s period of employment, the dates of Paid Sick Leave in respect of each employee and the rate of payment made in respect of this leave in relation to each employee.

Review

DPD Ireland will review this policy on a regular basis in line with relevant legislative and regulatory developments and reserves the right to make any changes as required from time to time. Any changes will be communicated to employees.

Employees with any queries in relation to this policy should direct their enquiries to the People team, people@dpd.ie

Useful Contact Numbers and Emails

People Team

Email - people@dpd.ie

Payroll

Email - payroll@dpd.ie

Workforce Planning

Email - workforce.planning@dpd.ie

Phone - 0879032907

Employee Assistance Programme

Website - www.layaeap.ie

Phone Number - 1800911909