Sick leave pay in Colombia

v1Ejemplo de AXIOMA
What someone on sick leave from a common illness receives, and who pays it: the employer, the EPS or the pension fund.
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Composición del método

Las fórmulas se ejecutan de arriba abajo. Un paso usa el resultado de otro anterior cuando lee una variable con el mismo nombre.

Entradas
  • Salary or contribution base
  • Minimum wage for the year
  • Days of sick leave
  • The first two days

  1. Paso 1: Fórmula Value of a day

    Usa
    • Salary or contribution baseentrada
    Produce
    valor_dia

  2. Paso 2: Fórmula Daily minimum wage

    Usa
    • Minimum wage for the yearentrada
    Produce
    piso_dia

  3. Paso 3: Fórmula What the employer pays

    Usa
    • Days of sick leaveentrada
    • The first two daysentrada
    • Value of a daydel paso 1
    • Daily minimum wagedel paso 2
    Produce
    pago_empresa

  4. Paso 4: Fórmula What the EPS pays

    Usa
    • Days of sick leaveentrada
    • Value of a daydel paso 1
    • Daily minimum wagedel paso 2
    Produce
    pago_eps

  5. Paso 5: Fórmula What the pension fund pays

    Usa
    • Days of sick leaveentrada
    • Value of a daydel paso 1
    • Daily minimum wagedel paso 2
    Produce
    pago_fondo

  6. Paso 6: Fórmula Total sick pay

    Usa
    • What the employer paysdel paso 3
    • What the EPS paysdel paso 4
    • What the pension fund paysdel paso 5
    Produce
    total_incapacidad
Resultados
  • valor_dia
  • piso_dia
  • pago_empresa
  • pago_eps
  • pago_fondo
  • total_incapacidad

PruebaEjecutar método
Listo
Asigna valores a las entradas del método y comprueba lo que produce cada paso.
Valores de entrada
salario
smmlv
dias_incapacidad
dias_iniciales
As the law says: two thirds
Resultadototal_incapacidad
Ejecuta el método para ver el resultado.

How it is worked out

Work out what the employer, the EPS and the pension fund pay for sick leave from a common illness, with the 2026 minimum wage floor.

The first two days of sick leave from a common illness are paid by the employer and from the third by the EPS, the health insurer: two thirds of the salary up to day 90 and half from day 91 to 180. From day 181 the pension fund pays the same half. No day can be paid below the daily minimum wage: 58,363.50 pesos in 2026.

The formulas that run, in order

  1. Value of a dayvalor_dia = salario / 30
  2. Daily minimum wagepiso_dia = smmlv / 30
  3. What the employer payspago_empresa = min(dias_incapacidad, 2) * (dias_iniciales == "completo" ? valor_dia : max(valor_dia * 2 / 3, piso_dia))
  4. What the EPS payspago_eps = max(min(dias_incapacidad, 90) - 2, 0) * max(valor_dia * 2 / 3, piso_dia) + max(min(dias_incapacidad, 180) - 90, 0) * max(valor_dia / 2, piso_dia)
  5. What the pension fund payspago_fondo = max(min(dias_incapacidad, 540) - 180, 0) * max(valor_dia / 2, piso_dia)
  6. Total sick paytotal_incapacidad = pago_empresa + pago_eps + pago_fondo

Each formula reads what the earlier ones produced, by its name. The fields arrive with an example filled in: put your own numbers in and run it again.

What if the calculation were yours?

This calculator is not hand-written: it is an Axioma method, formulas that run one after another. Open it to see every step, adapt it to your case or run it for a whole payroll from a spreadsheet.

Open this method in the editor

Ten days off sick on a 3 million salary

On a salary of 3,000,000 pesos a day is worth 100,000, and sick leave pays two thirds of it: 66,666.67 pesos a day. The employer pays the first two, 133,333.33 pesos, and the EPS the next eight, 533,333.33. That is 666,666.67 pesos for the ten days, 333,333.33 less than the salary for those days.

If the company chooses to pay the first two days in full, as many do though the law does not require it, they come to 200,000 and the total rises to 733,333.33. The EPS pays the same either way: its share starts on day three.

The minimum wage floor

In judgment C-543 of 2007 the Constitutional Court held that sick pay can never be below the minimum wage. In 2026 that is 58,363.50 pesos a day, so anyone earning under 2,626,357.50 pesos a month —one and a half minimum wages— gets the floor rather than two thirds of their salary.

The floor matters most from day 91, when pay drops to half the salary. On 3 million, half is 50,000 pesos a day, below the minimum, so days 91 to 180 are paid at 58,363.50. That is why 120 days off on that salary add up to 7,750,905 pesos and not 7,500,000.

Beyond 180 days

From day 181 to 540 the pension fund pays the same half salary with the same floor, provided the EPS issued a favourable rehabilitation opinion before day 120. If it did not, the EPS keeps paying until it does. After 540 days the EPS pays again in the cases set out in Decree 780 of 2016.

On a 6 million salary and 200 days, the employer pays 266,666.67, the EPS 20,733,333.33 and the pension fund 2,000,000 for the 20 days past 180: 23,000,000 in all. Extensions for the same cause keep counting from the first day of leave, and do not put two more days on the employer.

What this calculation assumes

The base is the contribution base of the month before the leave began, which for a fixed salary is the salary; with a variable salary the employer uses the average of the last year for its two days. For the EPS to pay, the worker needs at least four weeks of contributions right before the leave starts.

This is for a common illness or an accident outside work. Leave caused by a work accident or an occupational disease is paid by the ARL, the occupational risk insurer, from the next day and at 100 % of the contribution base. Maternity and paternity leave are not worked out this way either.

Frequently asked questions

Who pays the first two days of sick leave in Colombia?
The employer. From day three the EPS pays, under article 3.2.1.10 of Decree 780 of 2016. The law sets the same two thirds of salary for those two days that the EPS pays, though many companies choose to pay them in full.
How much does the EPS pay for sick leave in 2026?
Two thirds of the previous month’s contribution base up to day 90 and half from day 91 to 180, never below 58,363.50 pesos a day, the 2026 daily minimum wage. The worker needs at least four weeks of contributions before the leave.
Is sick leave on the minimum wage paid in full?
Yes. Someone on the minimum wage receives their full salary for each day of sick leave, 58,363.50 pesos in 2026, because sick pay cannot be lower than the minimum. The same goes for any salary under 2,626,357.50 pesos a month.
What happens to sick leave after 180 days?
From day 181 to 540 the pension fund pays it, at half the salary with the minimum wage floor, if the EPS gave a favourable rehabilitation opinion before day 120. If it did not, the EPS keeps paying. Beyond 540 days the EPS pays again.