What you get if you are dismissed or your contract ends while on sick leave
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Pick the cause of your leave, enter what you were getting and the unemployment benefit you would be due: you will see what you get each month and how many benefit months are deducted.
Your sick pay and unemployment
€1,100/month
You stay on leave paid at the unemployment rate, and that time is deducted from the benefit (art. 283.1).
| During the leave you get monthly | €1,100 |
| Benefit months deducted afterwards | 6 |
80% of the IPREM: €480 a month with the €600 IPREM. Meanwhile the SEPE keeps paying your contributions.
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · Rules and agreements read in the BOE on 29 October 2026
If your contract ends while you are off sick, through dismissal or because it expires, the leave does not stop: you stay on temporary incapacity until discharge. What changes is the amount and its effect on unemployment benefit, under article 283.1 of the General Social Security Act. If the leave is for ordinary illness or a non-work accident, from the day of dismissal you get the same as your unemployment benefit would pay, and the remaining time on leave is later deducted from that benefit as already used. If it is for a work accident or occupational disease, you keep the sick pay you had and nothing is deducted. With a base of 1800 euros and unemployment benefit of 1100 euros, 6 months of illness leave after dismissal are paid at €1,100 and cost 6 months of benefit; after a work accident, at €1,350 with none deducted.
The rule in article 283.1
Article 283.1 of the General Social Security Act distinguishes by the cause of the leave. For common risks, someone on sick leave when their contract ends keeps receiving temporary incapacity benefit at an amount equal to the unemployment benefit until discharge; they then become unemployed, if the contract ended for one of the reasons that give a right to unemployment benefit, and receive it as if it had started on the day of dismissal, minus the leave time already passed. Meanwhile, the public employment service pays your contributions, including the share normally paid by the worker.
For occupational risks, a work accident or occupational disease, you keep receiving sick pay at the amount already granted and, when discharge comes, unemployment benefit starts without deducting the leave time. It is a significant difference: the cause written on the sick note decides whether you lose months of benefit. If you have doubts about it, see work accidents.
| Cause of the leave | Monthly pay after dismissal | Benefit months deducted |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary illness or non-work accident | €1,100.00 | 6 |
| Work accident or occupational disease | €1,350.00 | 0 |
A worked example
With a base of €1,800, long leave for ordinary illness is paid at 75%: €1,350.00 a month. If you are dismissed and the unemployment benefit you would be due is €1,100, from that day you get €1,100.00. After 6 months, on discharge, the unemployment benefit starts with 6 months fewer. On leave after a work accident with the same base you would stay at €1,350.00 a month with the full benefit waiting for you. The amount of unemployment benefit depends on your recent contribution bases and your dependants; enter yours in the calculator.
Your sick pay after dismissal
Your sick pay and unemployment
€1,100/month
| During the leave you get monthly | €1,100 |
| Benefit months deducted afterwards | 6 |
Who pays you after dismissal
Under a contract, the employer advances sick pay through payroll on behalf of the INSS or the mutua: this is the delegated payment in article 6 of the Order of 13 October 1967. Without a contract there is no payroll, so the paying body pays you directly. It is worth checking that it has your bank details and that no month is left unpaid in the changeover. The general rules are in who pays sick leave.
The agreement top-up and the final settlement
The top-up the employer was paying almost always ends with the contract: many agreements expressly limit it to the time employment continues, as you can see in the agreement top-up. The final settlement and any severance pay are calculated separately. If instead you were already on unemployment benefit when you went off sick, the case falls under paragraph 2, which we explain in sick leave while unemployed.