Sick pay in Albania: the employer’s 14 days and ISSH benefit
Albania splits the cost of illness between employer and state. The first fortnight is yours to fund; after that the Social Insurance Institute pays, at a rate set by the worker’s insurance record.
How a sick-leave absence is funded
Two payers share the cost of illness in Albania. Labour Code Article 130 makes the employer responsible for the opening fortnight of a certified illness, at no less than four-fifths of salary. After that ISSH, the Social Insurance Institute, pays benefit at 70% or 80% of a six-month average daily base, and the whole paid certificate period is capped at six months.
Stage one: the first fortnight is on the employer
For the first 14 days of an illness, the employer pays. Article 130 of the Labour Code sets the minimum at 80% of the employee’s pay, for the days covered by a medical certificate.
The figure is a floor. An employment contract or a collective agreement can promise more, up to full pay during short illnesses, and some employers offer that to attract candidates. Whatever the contract says, the cost of these two weeks falls on the employer and goes through the normal monthly payroll.
In money terms the first fortnight is modest. Fourteen days at 80%, counted against a 30-day month, is roughly ALL 18,667 (€203) for someone on the ALL 50,000 minimum and about ALL 74,667 (close to €812) for an engineer earning ALL 200,000. Because the employer pays it, it is reported on the monthly listëpagesa alongside the rest of that month’s pay. See our guide to Albanian payroll and the monthly listëpagesa for how that filing works.
For budgeting, treat these two weeks as an ordinary salary cost that happens to be paid while the employee is at home. A team of five rarely sees a material impact; a team where several people fall ill in the same winter month will notice it in that month’s payroll total.
Stage two: ISSH sickness benefit from day 15
From the fifteenth day of incapacity, the Instituti i Sigurimeve Shoqërore (ISSH, the Social Insurance Institute) takes over. Its sickness benefit is not a percentage of the current salary but of an average: the average daily net assessed base over the previous six months.
The rate depends on the worker’s insurance history:
- Up to 10 years of insurance: 70% of the average daily net base.
- More than 10 years of insurance: 80% of the average daily net base.
- Maximum paid certificate period: 6 months, counting the employer’s first 14 days.
Two features of the formula matter in practice. Because the base is net rather than gross, the benefit is lower than a gross-salary percentage would suggest. And because it averages the last six months, a recent pay rise feeds through only partly.
ISSH publishes the rules and claim procedures on issh.gov.al. The Institute, not the employer, pays this benefit, so from day 15 the cost of the absence leaves your payroll.
Here is how a five-week absence plays out for an analyst with twelve years of insurance. Days 1 to 14: payroll carries the cost, at the statutory 80% or above. Days 15 to 35: ISSH pays 80% of the average daily net base, because the analyst has more than ten insured years. A colleague with eight years of insurance off for the same period would receive 70% from ISSH for the second stretch. In both cases the employer’s cost stops at day 14 unless the contract promises a top-up.
Medical certificates and second opinions
No certificate, no sick pay. The employee must provide a raport mjekësor (medical certificate) covering the absence, and the Labour Code lets the employer ask for a check by a second doctor where there is doubt.
That right to a second examination is useful but should be used with care. A request made on every certificate looks like harassment; one made where the pattern of absences genuinely raises questions is a normal part of managing attendance. Keep the request in writing and give a reason.
Certificates also matter for timing. The certificate period drives both the employer’s 14 days and the start of ISSH benefit, so the dates need to be recorded accurately and passed to payroll in the same month. A late or missing certificate can leave an employee unpaid for days that should have been covered, which is the quickest way to damage trust with a new hire.
Health data is sensitive. Store certificates with restricted access and share only what payroll needs, which is usually the dates and the type of incapacity rather than the diagnosis.
For remote employees outside Tirana, in Vlorë or Korçë for example, agree in advance how the certificate reaches you: a scan on the first day followed by the original, or whatever your payroll provider needs. The rule does not change with distance, but the logistics do.
Protection from dismissal while unwell
An employee on paid incapacity cannot be dismissed. Article 147 bars termination during a period of paid sickness of up to one year and during leave. Any decision to end a contract has to wait until the employee is back or the protected period has run its course.
Illness also stops the clock on notice already given. If an employee falls sick during their notice period, the notice is suspended and resumes when they recover, so the leaving date moves back. For an employer that means a planned exit date is never certain while the employee is unwell.
The protection is linked to paid incapacity and lasts up to a year. The sickness benefit itself runs for a shorter period, a maximum of six months including the employer’s fortnight. Long illnesses can therefore reach a point where benefit has stopped but the dismissal bar still applies. If you face that situation, take advice before acting, and record every contact with the employee about their return.
None of this prevents an honest conversation about long-term capability once the protected period ends, but the procedure and reasons have to stand on their own. Our article on notice and severance in Albania sets out the meeting, the written decision and the payments involved.
Sickness, annual leave and family illness
Days off sick count as working time for annual leave. Under Article 92(3), an employee keeps accruing the 22-working-day minimum during illness, so a long absence does not reduce the following year’s entitlement.
Falling ill during a holiday is treated generously too. If an employee becomes sick while on annual leave and has a certificate, the leave is postponed: the sick days are counted as sickness, not as holiday, and the unused leave days are taken later (Article 93).
Holiday planning shifts as a result. Because leave must be used by the end of March of the following year at the latest, someone signed off sick through November and December can start January with a heavy balance that must be cleared fast. Plan cover for the first three months of the year with that in mind, and check balances in the autumn.
A child’s illness is handled separately. Parents of children under three are entitled to up to 15 paid days a year to care for a sick child, with a medical certificate, plus up to 30 unpaid days. More broadly, a parent is allowed paid absence of up to 12 days each year for the necessary care of dependent children (Article 132).
Maternity sits outside the sick-pay scheme altogether. An insured mother with a year of contributions draws ISSH maternity benefit for as long as 365 calendar days, and the Code bars her from working in the five weeks before birth and the nine weeks after it. Our guide to ISSH pension and health contributions explains how the contribution record that feeds these benefits is built.
A sickness policy that works for a small Albanian team
A short written policy prevents most disputes. For a team of one to ten people in Albania, it usually needs to cover the following points.
- Who the employee tells, and by what time on the first day, when they cannot work.
- How and when the medical certificate reaches the employer.
- Whether you pay more than the statutory 80% for the first 14 days, and for how long.
- How the handover to ISSH benefit from day 15 is handled, and who sends the paperwork.
- When the employer may request an examination by a second doctor.
- How sickness during annual leave is reported so the leave can be rescheduled.
- Contact during a long absence: how often, by whom, and with what purpose.
- Whether any top-up you offer also applies during the probation months.
If you are deciding whether to top up statutory pay, cost it against the employer-paid fortnight only. Topping up beyond day 14 means paying on top of an ISSH benefit, which needs careful payroll handling and should be agreed in writing in the contract.
Return to work deserves a line too. A short conversation on the first day back, to confirm the employee is fit and to agree any temporary adjustments, catches problems early and gives you a record if absences become frequent. It does not need to be formal; it needs to happen every time.
Finally, put the policy in writing and share it at onboarding, before anyone has been ill. New hires expect to see how sickness is handled in the same welcome pack as their contract and payslip schedule; our guide to the onboarding timeline shows where it fits.
How sick pay is handled when you employ through an EOR
Once your hire is employed by Employer of Record Albania, the employer-side duties for sickness sit with the EOR, which is the legal employer: paying the first 14 days through the monthly payroll, collecting certificates, coordinating the handover to ISSH benefit from day 15 and tracking the impact on leave and notice. You see the absence and the cost; the paperwork in Albanian is handled for you.
What stays with you is the day-to-day side. Your manager is usually the first to hear that someone is unwell, so the arrangement runs smoothly when that message is forwarded to us the same morning and we chase the certificate. You also decide, before anyone is ill, whether the contract offers statutory pay or a top-up. That choice shows up on your invoice: the salary line for the opening fortnight follows whichever rate you picked; once ISSH takes over the line drops to nothing, or to the top-up if you promised one.
The sick-pay cost itself is part of the salary bill, not an extra fee. Salary and contributions are billed at cost, and our own service fee sits beside them, from €599 for each employee every month. If you are still deciding how employment through an EOR would work, start with our plain-English overview, and use our EOR checklist for Albania to compare how providers deal with absence and benefits.
Frequently asked
Q01How much sick pay does an employer pay in Albania?
Q02When does ISSH start paying sickness benefit?
Q03How long can paid sick leave last?
Q04Does an employee need a doctor’s note from day one?
Q05Does sick leave reduce annual leave?
Let us run sick pay and ISSH claims for you.
Absence paperwork, medical certificates and the ISSH handover are part of the payroll service we run for the people we employ for you. Describe the role, and our reply will walk through how an absence would be handled from the first certificate onwards.