Compensation during illness
If you are ill and are employed, your employer pays 80 per cent of your salary (sick pay) during the first fourteen days, with a reduction equivalent to one fifth of a weeks sick pay. If you are off sick longer than fourteen days, you should apply to the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) for sickness benefit.
If sickness benefit is approved, it corresponds to just under 80 per cent of your salary up to a maximum of 10 price base amounts. (In 2023, this ceiling is SEK 525,000). You can read more about price base amounts on the Swedish Social Insurance Agency website (in Swedish).
You are then also entitled to additional compensation from your employer through our collective agreement. This amounts to 10 per cent of your salary up to the price base amount and just under 90 per cent of that part of your salary which is above that amount (with no ceiling). If you receive part-time sick pay, your compensation is adjusted proportionately.
Read more at Ersättningskollen. Here you can find out how much money you can receive if you become sick or have an accident.
If you fall ill while you are unemployed, the Social Insurance Agency can pay compensation. The level of compensation, however, may not exceed the maximum compensation that you are entitled to receive from the unemployment insurance system. This means that the benefit ceiling in this case is lower than that for those in employment. If you are unemployed, you must declare to Akademikernas a-kassa that you are sick, because you cannot receive unemployment benefit and sickness benefit for the same period. No additional compensation can be paid if you are not employed.
If you have a scholarship, special rules apply. Contact SULF for advice.
If you would to supplement your protection further, your membership of SULF entitles you to take out additional insurance through Folksam. These insurance policies can provide further compensation for longer sick leave periods.