How does sick leave work in Hungary?

What does it mean to be sick?

Related to employment, being sick means that you have a health-related condition that temporarily makes you unfit to work. You caught a cold, had surgery, had a flare-up of a chronic disease, or broke your leg in an accident – these will all make you eligible for sick leave.

When you are sick, you should not be working. It will delay your healing, and you will not be as productive as otherwise anyway. If you have an infectious disease, you should not be infecting your colleagues either. Depending on your position, you might be allowed to work for home, e.g. if you have a sore throat and cannot talk, but you feel well enough to perform other task that do not involve talking – but this depends heavily on your company culture. You should check your company’s policy and consult your supervisor on the issue.

If you work from home while sick, that is regular work, and you should receive your wages like for any other working day. If you are too sick to work, you should go on sick leave, which is a type of paid time off in Hungary. You will receive compensation either from your employer or the Hungarian state, although it will be somewhat reduced compared to your regular pay.

Get a doctor’s note from your GP

While working in Hungary, you are paying social security contribution from your salary, which makes you eligible for free healthcare. You should find a general practitioner or family doctor who is willing to take you while you are still healthy, so you will know who to turn to when you become sick.

If you feel too sick to work, you will need to get a note from your general practitioner that will provide you exemption from work. Of course, your doctor will also be able to tell you what steps you should take to recover soon. You should either visit or call your doctor on the first day of sickness so the doctor can indicate that you are unable to work in the online database of the National Health Insurance Fund. When you are healthy again, you can call your doctor to let them know, and they will give you the notice indicating the first and last day of work exemption – which you will need to submit to your employer.

Sick leave is paid time off

You cannot control how long you remain sick. During sick leave, your job is to rest and to recover, and the process cannot really be hastened. While you are out sick, you still have bills and groceries to pay for – so you will receive a sick leave allowance. You can be on sick leave allowance for up to 1 year – after that, it makes sense to start looking for other options.

Sick leave allowance is calculated based on your absence pay, which is how salary is called in cases when an employee is exempt from work for any reason. Its sum will depend on various factors, such as how long you have been sick, who pays the allowance, where you are treated, and how you got sick. It also has an upper limit, which is gross HUF 21,467/day in 2026.

• On the first 15 days of your sick leave, your sick leave allowance is paid by your employer, at 70% of your salary.
• If you remain sick longer, covering the allowance is shared between your employer and the state, which means you will receive a separate payment from the Treasury. In these cases, you get 60% of your salary if you are recovering at home, or 50% if you are staying at a hospital.
• If you had a workplace accident that renders you unable to work, you get 100% of your salary for as long as you recover (up to 1 year).

Sick leave allowance is taxable income, so you have to pay the 15% personal income tax after it (but not the 18.5% social security contribution – of course, your regular tax benefits still apply to it).

Parental sick leave

If you have small children, you might need to stay at home with them if they get sick. In that case, again, it will depend on your position and the company culture at your employer whether you can work from home or you need to take these days off. Same as you, your child will require a doctor’s note to be submitted to the school later. When you ask for the note, you must ask for a special note for yourself from the same doctor, which you will need to submit to your employer.

Parental sick leave is available as long as your children are below 12. Above that age, children are expected to be able to take care of themselves while parents are at work. The number of parental sick leave days is limited as follows:

Parental sick leave allowance is always paid by the state, at a rate similar to regular sick leave:

• at 60% if the child is treated at home AND if the parent has been insured for more than 730 days
• at 50% if the child is treated at a hospital AND/OR if the parent has been insured for less than 730 days

Know your rights while working in Hungary

If you are not well enough to work properly, it is in everyone’s best interest for you to stop working, not infect colleagues, rest, and recover. While you work in Hungary, you enjoy the same protections as Hungarian nationals, including paid time off, wage supplements, and sick leave, so take advantage of that and focus on recovery without worrying about bills.

Helpers Hungary is dedicated to supporting people living, working, and doing business in Hungary. Our focus is on company setup and residence permit applications while we do our best to help people navigate Hungarian bureaucracy. When you need assistance, do not hesitate to contact us.