Sick leave in Croatia: who pays, how much and for how long

Sick pay in Croatia is split by a fixed line at day 42. For the first 42 days of each sickness absence, the employer pays the employee’s sick pay (naknada plaće) from its own funds. From day 43 the cost passes to the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO), under Articles 40 and 41 of the Compulsory Health Insurance Act (Zakon o obveznom zdravstvenom osiguranju).

The handover is a change of funding, not of paperwork. Even after day 42 the employer goes on calculating the benefit and paying it to the employee with the salary, then claims the money back. HZZO has to refund it within 45 days of receiving the claim, so a long absence ties up some cash between the payment and the refund.

There are no waiting days. Pay is due from the first day the employee is certified unfit for work, so a single day of illness on a Monday is a paid day. For budgeting, think of sick leave (bolovanje) as a cost that starts immediately and stays with you for six weeks per absence, rather than one that the state picks up after a short delay.

The 42-day count applies to each absence. An employee who is ill for two weeks in March and three weeks in October is on the employer’s budget for both; the employer does not get to carry one total forward across the year.

Workers employed through a Croatian contract are covered from their first day, because registration for pension and health insurance has to be in place before work starts. Payroll should be ready to process a certificate from the very first month, and a cautious budget sets aside a modest allowance for absence in the cost of every Croatian role from the outset, rather than treating it as something that only affects long-serving staff.

For ordinary illness the employee receives at least 70% of a base equal to his or her average pay over the last six months. The figure is a floor: a contract, work rules or a collective agreement may set a higher percentage, and the employer then pays that higher amount during its 42 days.

Some causes of absence attract 100% of the base instead. They are:

• complications of pregnancy
• injury at work and occupational disease
• caring for a sick child under 7
• organ or tissue donation
• isolation ordered as a carrier of infection

A floor also protects low earners. For a full month of full-time sickness, the benefit cannot fall below 80% of the state budget base, which works out at €353.15 in 2026. HZZO also applies an upper limit to the benefit it funds from day 43 onwards; ask us for the figure that applies before you plan around a long absence.

To put numbers on it: an employee whose pay over the previous six months averaged €3,500 a month would receive at least €2,450 for a full month of ordinary sick leave, which is 70% of that average. Pay for complications of pregnancy or a work accident would be the full €3,500. The look-back also dampens raises. Someone who moved from €3,000 to €3,500 a month shortly before falling ill will have sick pay worked out on an average that is still mostly the older figure.

New HZZO rules on refunds and on calculating the six-month average came into force on 16 April 2026. They change how the base is put together in some edge cases, which is one more reason to let payroll software that is updated for Croatian rules do the sum rather than a spreadsheet.

An employee who falls ill must contact his or her chosen doctor within three days. Report late and the employee loses sick pay for the days in between, which gives the rule real force. Certification of unfitness for work comes from that doctor, not from the employer or an internal form.

The employee must also let the employer know about the incapacity and how long it is expected to last, under Article 37 of the Labour Act (Zakon o radu). Payroll can only pay what has been certified, so agree early how certificates will reach whoever runs the Croatian payroll.

If something does not look right, the employer has a formal route. Article 46 of the health insurance act lets it ask HZZO to check whether a period of sick leave is justified. Using that route keeps the question with the fund’s doctors, where it belongs, and out of the line manager’s hands.

What an employer may not do is use the absence itself as a reason for dismissal. The Labour Act states plainly that temporary incapacity through sickness is not a valid ground, and the notice period in an ongoing dismissal stops running while the employee is on sick leave. Our guide to dismissal rules in Croatia explains how that pause works.

The benefit has an outer limit for a single condition. After 18 months of sick leave for the same diagnosis, payment drops to 50% of the last sick pay for as long as the absence remains medically justified. Exceptions apply for cancer, dialysis and transplant patients.

Parents get a separate right to paid absence when a child is ill. Care of a sick child under 7 is paid at 100% for up to 60 days per illness; for children aged 7 to 18 the limit is 40 days per illness. These periods are certified in the same way as the parent’s own sickness.

Some absences go straight to HZZO from the first day rather than after 42. Complications of pregnancy and maternity leave are funded by the fund from day one. For work injury and certain family-care cases, the employer pays the employee and then claims a refund for the whole period, so it does not carry the cost for the first six weeks.

Employers sometimes want to help an employee through a long illness financially. Payroll can add a support payment, capped at €600 a year and free of tax and contributions, to an employee who has been off sick for more than 90 days. Anything above that amount is taxed like salary.

Days of certified sickness are not counted as annual leave (godišnji odmor). If an employee falls ill during a booked holiday and has a certificate, those days stay in the leave balance, and leave that could not be used because of illness may be taken after the employee returns, beyond the usual 30 June carry-over date.

Public holidays and paid-leave days are excluded from the leave count in the same way as certified sick days, under Article 79 of the Labour Act. Someone on a five-day week is owed no fewer than 20 days of leave each year, and how much of it the employee has used depends only on the days actually booked as leave.

For managers, the practical point is to keep sick days and leave days apart in whatever system records absence. Mixing them up leads to wrong leave balances, which in turn lead to wrong payouts when someone leaves, since unused leave is paid out at the end of employment.

Leave connected with having a child is not sick leave, and the employer does not fund it. Maternity leave (rodiljni dopust) starts 28 days ahead of the due date and lasts until the baby reaches six months; 98 days of it are compulsory, and HZZO pays 100% of the base throughout. Paternity leave (očinski dopust) gives the father 20 working days, or 30 for twins or more, taken in one block before the child turns six months, at 100% paid by the state.

Parental leave (roditeljski dopust) follows from the child’s sixth month and can be used until the child is eight. For a first or second child, each parent has four months, two of which cannot be transferred; the benefit is 100% of the base for the first six or eight months, capped at €3,001.79 a month in 2026.

The employer’s role is administrative and protective. It receives notice (at least 15 days for paternity leave and 30 days for parental leave), gives written consent to parental leave within 8 days, and may not dismiss the employee during any of these periods or for 15 days afterwards. Complications of pregnancy before maternity leave, by contrast, are sick leave at 100%, funded by HZZO from the first day.

With an employer of record, sick pay is calculated and paid inside the ordinary Croatian payroll cycle, because the EOR is the legal employer. We receive the doctor’s certificates, calculate the six-month base, pay the right percentage, report it on the monthly JOPPD, and file the refund claims with HZZO once an absence passes day 42.

Your costs follow the law: the employer-funded first 42 days of each absence form part of the employment cost, and what HZZO refunds after day 42 offsets it. When we prepare a quote, we show sick pay as a possible cost rather than a fixed line, because it depends entirely on what happens in the year.

Sick pay connects to two wider topics. The 16.5% employer health contribution is what funds HZZO in the first place; our overview of social security in Croatia explains who pays what. And the way absence appears on the monthly report is covered in the explainer on how the JOPPD report works.

For a company still preparing its first Croatian contract, the onboarding sequence before a first payslip shows how insurance registration before day one makes the employee eligible for all of this from the start. For a broader look at employer duties, see our guide to employing in Croatia, or go to Employer of Record Croatia for the services overview. HZZO’s own forms and guidance are at hzzo.hr.

Q01Who pays sick leave in Croatia?+

A.Each absence is funded by the employer itself for its first 42 days. From day 43 HZZO bears the cost; the employer continues the payments and then recovers them from HZZO, which has 45 days to reimburse.

Q02How much is sick pay in Croatia?+

A.For ordinary illness, 70% or more of average pay across the preceding six months, and 100% for pregnancy complications, work injury, occupational disease and certain other cases. The 2026 floor for a full month is €353.15.

Q03Are there waiting days before sick pay starts?+

A.No. Sick pay is due from the first day of certified incapacity for work.

Q04Can I dismiss an employee for being on sick leave?+

A.No. Temporary incapacity through sickness is not a valid reason for dismissal under the Labour Act, and any notice period already running pauses during sick leave.

Q05How long can an employee stay on sick leave?+

A.Up to 18 months on the same diagnosis at the normal rate. After that the benefit falls to 50% of the last sick pay while the absence remains medically justified, with exceptions for cancer, dialysis and transplants.