Sick leave is time off from work that workers can use to stay home because they are sick. Paid sick leave is a requirement in many nations around the world. Most European, many Latin American, a few African and a few Asian countries have legal requirements for paid sick leave. Already in 1500 BCE, at least some of the workers who built the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs received paid sick leave as well as state-supported health care.^[1]

Sick pay is money paid to a person who is not able to work because they are ill. This may come from the business they normally work for, from health insurance, or from social security. To get the money most people will need a sick note from a medical doctor to show that they cannot work.

In the United Kingdom general practitioners had to give people sick notes since the National Insurance Act 1911.^[2] They could get 10 shillings a week Sickness benefit for 26 weeks.