Sick leave and the medical period in Beijing for foreign employees

Identify the Beijing rule and do not generalize it

The Beijing Wage Payment Provisions apply to employers and employees within the municipal scope stated in the rule, including the listed enterprise and labor-contract relationships. Article 21 is the local sick-pay anchor. Beijing HRSS then explains the national medical-period matrix and its accumulation windows. The employee should confirm the actual contract-performance location, legal employer and payroll entity before applying this guide. A Beijing-registered parent company, Beijing hospital or Beijing home address does not by itself make Beijing the governing wage route when the employee actually works under another city's employment arrangement.

Do not import Shanghai's 60-to-100-percent coefficients, six-month disease-relief transition, 20.67-day medical-period conversion or six-month local medical subsidy into Beijing. Conversely, do not export Beijing's total-service matrix and holiday-inclusive continuous counting to Shanghai. A same-group transfer, labor dispatch, remote-work arrangement or assignment can create a location and employer question that needs verified facts. Ask the responsible authority or qualified employment professional where the contract is performed and which mandatory local standard applies before final payroll or termination action.

This Beijing guide is city-specific and must not be generalized outside Beijing.

Calculate the Beijing sick-leave wage without inventing a coefficient

Start with the labor contract and any applicable collective contract. Identify the agreed sickness-wage method, calculation base, daily or monthly treatment and payroll period. Beijing's municipal rule requires the employer to follow that agreement and sets a minimum floor; it does not prescribe a general percentage of ordinary salary above the floor. If the contract is silent or ambiguous, obtain the employer's published wage system and a written calculation rather than assuming that a national or Shanghai table fills the gap automatically.

The current Beijing monthly minimum wage is 2,540 yuan. Eighty percent is 2,032 yuan, which is the headline current full-month minimum under Article 21. State the arithmetic and effective date in the payroll note. For a partial month, record the employer's lawful divisor, scheduled workdays, supported sickness days, other paid work and any overlap. Do not divide 2,032 by an arbitrary calendar number. A more favorable contract or collective agreement remains relevant, and a later minimum-wage change changes the floor without rewriting the sick-leave policy.

Keep the Beijing floor, deductions and net-pay claims precise

Beijing's minimum-wage notice says employee social-insurance and housing-fund contributions are outside the monthly minimum wage, as are overtime and specified special-condition allowances. The sick-pay provision itself does not provide a complete foreign-worker net-pay example. Payroll should therefore show gross sick-leave wage, the contractual calculation, the statutory floor comparison, tax, employee contributions actually applicable to that worker and final payment as separate rows. Do not advertise 2,032 yuan as a guaranteed universal take-home amount.

A foreign employee may have a social-security agreement certificate affecting one or more contribution branches, while another employee may participate fully. Housing-fund participation can also require separate confirmation. These differences do not permit the employer to erase the Beijing wage floor or replace a higher contractual amount. Request the payslip, calculation base, supported days, contribution record and exchange treatment if any part of salary is contractually expressed in another currency. A commercial insurer's income-replacement payment is separate unless a valid agreement lawfully coordinates it.

Select the correct national medical-period row in Beijing

Beijing uses two verified service measures. If total actual working years are under ten, service with the current employer under five years gives three months and five years or more gives six months. If total actual working years are ten or more, current-employer service under five gives six months; five to under ten gives nine; ten to under fifteen gives twelve; fifteen to under twenty gives eighteen; and twenty or more gives twenty-four months. Build a dated service chronology rather than accepting an unexplained HR total.

Total actual working years and current-employer years are not interchangeable. Preserve earlier labor contracts, social-insurance records, separation certificates, payroll or other lawful proof of prior work, and the current employer's start date. Investigate mergers, group transfers, dispatch, unpaid gaps and non-employment arrangements rather than rounding casually. The matrix identifies a protected duration, not a promise that every medically unsupported absence is protected. A clinician describes medical need; the employer records supported absence; the legal framework and verified ledger determine medical-period use.

• Under 10 total years and under 5 current-employer years: 3 months.
• Under 10 total years and at least 5 current-employer years: 6 months.
• At least 10 total years and under 5 current-employer years: 6 months.
• At least 10 total years and 5 to under 10 current-employer years: 9 months.
• At least 10 total years and 10 to under 15 current-employer years: 12 months.
• At least 10 total years and 15 to under 20 current-employer years: 18 months.
• At least 10 total years and at least 20 current-employer years: 24 months.

Apply Beijing's prescribed accumulation period and holiday rule

The corresponding accumulation periods are three months within six, six within twelve, nine within fifteen, twelve within eighteen, eighteen within twenty-four and twenty-four within thirty months. Start the ledger from the first relevant sickness-absence day and record each supported interval. The protected entitlement is consumed as qualifying medical-period days accumulate inside that prescribed period. The national wording does not itself establish a perpetual rolling lookback. If the prescribed period ends before the entitlement is exhausted and later absence occurs, confirm the current Beijing handling with HRSS or another responsible authority rather than inventing a reset rule.

For continuous Beijing sickness absence, weekly rest days, other holidays and statutory public holidays inside the interval count as sick days for medical-period consumption. This is a major boundary from Shanghai. Preserve start and end dates and calculate continuous calendar days consistently. For intermittent absences, record only the qualifying intervals within the prescribed period that began on the first relevant sick-leave day. Do not mix annual leave, maternity leave, work-injury suspension of work with pay or unsupported absence into the ledger merely because the employee was not at work.

Handle difficult disease and formal capacity questions cautiously

Beijing's official explanation cites the national mechanism under which certain difficult diseases, with examples such as cancer, mental illness and paralysis, may receive a suitable extension when recovery has not occurred within twenty-four months and the required enterprise and labor-authority approval is obtained. The examples are not an automatic diagnosis list and the extension is not self-executing. Start the inquiry early, obtain the current district process, preserve specialist evidence and request a written decision.

When complete loss of working capacity or another formal statutory capacity question is genuinely at issue, Beijing district labor-capacity assessment committees now handle the initial non-work illness or disability assessment. A treating clinician's restriction is important but not the same as that statutory assessment. From January 2025, eligible enterprise pension participants assessed as completely unable to work may use the disability-allowance route; older pages describing automatic early retirement or withdrawal are no longer a safe statement of current policy.

Use reasonable Beijing certificate and recheck rules

Beijing has no citywide rule found in this review requiring every sickness certificate to come from a Tier IIIA hospital, an employer-designated hospital or a hospital inside Beijing. The employer can define clear evidence and notice procedures in a lawfully adopted and communicated rule and can investigate a document where there is a reasonable basis. Check the institution, visit, clinician, dates, seal and consistency with the absence. Ask a focused question rather than demanding unrelated records.

The 2024 Beijing typical case warns against excessive designated rechecks after earlier checks confirmed the absence. A special recheck should have a rational trigger, should not obstruct treatment and should address additional travel and medical expense created by the employer's request. The employee should cooperate with a reasonable authenticity inquiry and keep evidence of continuing visits. False certificates, incompatible outside work or refusal to follow a clear lawful process can create a different case, but suspicion alone is not proof of serious misconduct.

Plan the Beijing post-period employment decision

Before the projected expiry date, reconcile service, the dated accumulation ledger, certificates, payroll and any extension request. Invite the employee to discuss current functional limits and return to work. If the employee can perform the original work, continue the contract subject to ordinary administration. If the employee cannot, identify reasonable alternative work compatible with current health restrictions. Record the job description, physical and cognitive demands, location, schedule, pay, training and the employee's response.

Only when the medical period has ended and the employee cannot perform either the original work or work reasonably arranged by the employer does Labor Contract Law Article 40(1) become a possible route. It requires thirty days' written notice or one month's wage in lieu and economic compensation, with other protections and procedures still considered. Medical-period expiry is not automatic termination and does not prove inability. A fixed-term contract that expires during the protected medical period is ordinarily extended under Article 45, subject to the separate foreign-work-authorization boundary.

Use the correct Beijing complaint and dispute route

First ask for the employer's written position: accepted absence dates, pay base, floor comparison, medical-period row and window, remaining balance, certificate concern, alternative work and proposed employment action. A calculation dispute may be resolved internally if the inputs are exposed. Preserve the contract, policy, consultation and publication evidence, certificates, submission receipts, attendance, payslips, bank credits, service history, permit dates and all notices.

Beijing 12333 can provide policy and service guidance. An alleged wage, minimum-wage, rest or leave violation may fit labor-security inspection. A private dispute over wages, contract performance, medical-period protection, termination, compensation or reinstatement commonly requires labor arbitration, followed by litigation where permitted. Do not assume that an internal grievance or inspection report is the arbitration application. Calendar the national one-year arbitration limitation and obtain evidence of formal filing or interruption rather than waiting for the illness to end.

Use urgent clinical care before employment administration

Call 120 or seek urgent medical care when symptoms may be serious, rapidly worsening or unsafe to manage while waiting. The treating clinician and responsible medical institution decide diagnosis, treatment, admission, discharge and immediate safety advice. The employee should not wait for Beijing HR, a payroll calculation, a medical-period ledger, a commercial insurer or an immigration adviser before necessary emergency care. Preserve the ambulance, emergency, diagnosis, prescription, test, admission and discharge records because they may later support the absence file, but clinical care remains a separate process from employer leave and employment decisions.

A hospital visit or emergency record does not automatically create employer approval, a paid sick-leave day, a statutory medical period or a return-to-work conclusion. It is medical evidence generated by a qualified professional. The employee or authorized helper should notify the employer through the available channel as soon as reasonably possible, without delaying treatment. If the event may be a work injury or occupational disease, preserve the workplace facts and use the separate work-injury, occupational-health and suspension-of-work-with-pay route rather than silently converting it into ordinary non-work illness leave.

Clinical urgency, provider evidence, employer leave, payroll, the statutory medical period and employment action are separate records.

Separate the provider document from the employer absence record

A medical certificate, diagnosis certificate or leave certificate should be grounded in an actual visit and the medical institution's record. Check the employee's name and identity number, visit date, institution and department, issue date, recommended rest dates, signature or seal and any document number. Ask the provider how a correction is made if dates or identity fields are wrong. Do not ask a clinician to certify legal entitlement, calculate the Beijing medical period or state that the employer must approve leave; those are not clinical conclusions.

The employer separately records the sick-leave request under the labor contract and a lawfully adopted, communicated policy. That policy can define a reasonable notice channel, document deadline, extension process and verification method, but it should not contradict the municipal rule or demand unnecessary medical information. Preserve the employee's submission message, delivery receipt, HR response, absence code, payroll entry and any request for clarification. Silence, a manager's oral comment or an app upload does not necessarily prove final employer acceptance, so obtain a traceable response where practical.

Protect health information and request only what is necessary

Diagnosis, treatment, medication, disability and work restriction details are medical information and may be sensitive personal information. The employer should identify a specific lawful purpose, collect the minimum necessary information, restrict access and retain it securely. Payroll usually needs supported dates and the applicable pay rule; a manager may need functional restrictions; neither role automatically needs the complete medical record. The employee should avoid posting records in a broad work group and should ask who receives a translation, whether the original will be returned and how long the file will be retained.

Reasonable verification is different from unlimited disclosure. A focused confirmation of institution, clinician, visit and rest dates can address authenticity without demanding unrelated history. If an overseas medical document is involved, Beijing has no universal citywide rule guaranteeing automatic acceptance or rejection. A pre-published employer policy may reasonably address translation and verifiability, but the response should remain proportionate and fact-specific. A private insurer's request, hospital records request and employer leave request are separate purposes and should not be combined into one uncontrolled consent.

Create a return-to-work record for the actual role

Before return to work, compare the treating clinician's current recommendation with the employee's actual duties, schedule, travel, lifting, driving, exposure and workplace risks. A certificate that says the employee may leave hospital or no longer needs bed rest is not the same as fitness for every job. The employer may ask for a focused return-to-work medical document or work restriction when justified, but should avoid demanding a broad diagnosis history. Discuss temporary adjustments, reduced physical load, scheduling, remote work or another appropriate job where the law and contract permit.

Record the proposed date, functional restriction, duration, review date, exact duties considered and each alternative offered. Neither the clinician nor HR should make the other's decision: a clinician gives clinical and functional advice; the employer makes a lawful employment decision for the actual workplace; the Beijing district labor-capacity committee or other responsible authority or labor-capacity committee makes any formal statutory determination within its jurisdiction. If the employee cannot perform the original work, the analysis must not jump directly from a medical certificate to termination. Alternative work and the statutory procedure remain separate stages.

Keep foreign-worker authorization and social insurance separate

A foreign-national employee should verify the legal employer, labor or assignment contract, Foreigner's Work Permit, work-type residence permit, social-insurance registration and any social-security agreement certificate. Work time, rest, leave and social insurance are governed by applicable mandatory standards and the actual employment arrangement. The sick-leave record does not automatically extend or renew a work permit or residence permit. Immigration renewal, contract extension and employer sick-leave administration must be handled separately and early enough to avoid an authorization gap.

Match the passport name, Chinese name if used, passport number, work-permit record, payroll and social-insurance identity. When a passport changes, preserve the official link between old and new documents rather than opening an unconnected absence or insurance file. A treaty may change one or more contribution branches but does not by itself remove employer wage obligations or medical-period analysis. If authorization may expire during a protected absence, obtain qualified immigration and employment advice; this guide is not legal advice and cannot promise continued employment beyond lawful authorization.