LRD guides and handbook June 2016

Law at Work 2016

Chapter 8

Sick pay and pregnancy 


[ch 8: page 268]

A woman who is absent from work when pregnant due to a pregnancy-related illness is entitled to the same contractual sick pay as any other employee (North Western Health Board v McKenna [2005] IRLR 895). The fact that her illness is pregnancy-related does not entitle her to full-pay-sick-pay, unless her contract expressly allows this.


Employees who fall ill while on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave cannot claim sick pay while on leave.