Sick leave in Estonia: who pays for which day
The financial side of sick leave confuses people because the payer changes twice mid-illness. The first three days are paid by nobody, the next five by the employer, and only then does the Health Insurance Fund step in. That three-part split is why a short illness hits your wallet disproportionately hard.
Updated: 2026-08-02
Three periods on one sick note
The rate is 70% of average earnings for both the employer and the Fund, but the allocation of days differs.
- Days 1-3: no benefit at all. These are on the employee.
- Days 4-8: paid by the employer at 70% of average, up to five days.
- Day 9 onwards: paid by the Health Insurance Fund at 70%, with a daily cap.
- All benefits are taxable income, so income tax still comes off.
Example: 2,000 EUR gross
Average calendar-day pay is 2,000 / 30.4375 = 65.71 EUR. On an eight-day sick note the employer pays for five days: 5 x 65.71 x 0.7 = 229.98 EUR gross, and nothing at all arrives for the first three.
That makes an illness of three to four days proportionally the most expensive one: all or nearly all of it falls in the uncompensated zone. Over a longer illness the 70% covers a steadily larger share.
The Health Fund daily cap
The Fund's benefit has a daily ceiling, 126.87 EUR per day in 2026. It does not affect most employees.
The cap only starts to bind above a gross salary of roughly 5,517 EUR a month. Above that the benefit is no longer 70% of your income but falls below it, which is worth knowing if a long treatment is ahead.
What this means in practice
First, a couple of days off sick is effectively unpaid leave, however right the decision to stay home is. Second, if your workplace has a collective agreement or a voluntary employer top-up for the first days, that is a real financial benefit worth asking about when negotiating.
Third, the benefit is based on your socially-taxed income from the previous calendar year, not on today's salary. If you have recently had a large rise or changed jobs, the benefit can come out lower than expected.
Calculate your own sick leave
The sick pay calculator splits the leave into the three periods and shows how much comes from the employer and how much from the Health Insurance Fund. Use the salary calculator for the net figures.