Sick leave and the medical period in Shanghai for foreign employees

Apply the Shanghai expiry warning before doing payroll

At the 16 July 2026 review date, the Enterprise Wage Payment Measures are extended only through 15 August 2026 by 沪人社规〔2021〕8号. The 1995 coefficient notice and the 2000 floor notice are extended to the same date by 沪人社规〔2021〕6号. An April 2026 website republication of an older instrument is not a new extension. Payroll, HR and editorial teams should record the version date beside every calculation and check the official normative-document database and HRSS announcements again by 10 August.

If no successor or extension is published, do not continue presenting the current formula as binding after 15 August merely because an absence began earlier. Identify any transition clause, effective date and treatment of existing absences in the new instrument. The Shanghai medical-period rule is different: its validity has been extended through 30 June 2030. That longer status does not rescue an expired wage rule. Sick-pay calculation and medical-period protection must be version-controlled separately.

Mandatory review by 10 August 2026: current Shanghai sick-pay instruments expire on 15 August 2026.

Identify the Shanghai calculation base

Under the current Enterprise Wage Payment Measures, begin with the normal-attendance monthly wage corresponding to the employee's position. Exclude year-end bonus, commuting, meal and housing subsidies, middle or night-shift allowance, high-temperature allowance, overtime and other special payments identified by the rule. If the labor contract states the monthly wage but actual performance differs, use the actual position-linked wage. If the contract is silent, use the collective-contract amount where available.

Only where neither the labor contract nor collective contract supplies the amount does the 70-percent fallback apply to the employee's normal-attendance monthly non-overtime wage. The calculation base cannot be below the Shanghai minimum wage. Do not reduce every employee's wage to 70 percent before applying the sickness coefficient; that creates an unsupported double discount. Preserve the contract, actual payroll, position, collective agreement, excluded items and written base determination for each pay period.

Apply the current coefficient for six months or less

For continuous sickness absence of six months or less, the current coefficients depend on completed continuous service with the current enterprise: under two years, 60 percent; two to under four, 70 percent; four to under six, 80 percent; six to under eight, 90 percent; and eight years or more, 100 percent. Shanghai HRSS confirms that the service term means years with the current enterprise, not the employee's total career history.

Verify the current employer and exact start date. A group transfer, merger, dispatch, labor-contract change or non-employment engagement can affect which service is recognized and may require legal analysis. Apply the coefficient only after confirming whether the absence remains within the first continuous six months. Do not choose the coefficient from age, nationality, total social-insurance years, medical-period months or seriousness of diagnosis. A more favorable employer rule can continue to apply under the 1995 notice.

• Under 2 current-enterprise years: 60 percent.
• 2 to under 4 years: 70 percent.
• 4 to under 6 years: 80 percent.
• 6 to under 8 years: 90 percent.
• 8 years or more: 100 percent.

Move to disease relief only after continuous absence exceeds six months

When continuous illness or non-work-injury absence exceeds six months, the current Shanghai instrument describes the payment as disease relief or illness relief rather than the first-stage sickness wage. The coefficients are 40 percent for current-enterprise service under one year, 50 percent for one to under three years and 60 percent for three years or more. Record the transition date and do not apply the lower schedule merely because the employee has used six months of medical-period protection intermittently.

The six-month pay transition and the Shanghai medical period are not the same clock. One concerns continuous sickness absence for the wage coefficient; the other accumulates qualifying sick workdays under the N-plus-two protected duration. An employee can therefore require two separate ledgers. Ask how a return, new certificate, relapse or short attendance affects continuity under the applicable rule and facts. Do not reset or continue the six-month clock without a documented basis.

• Under 1 current-enterprise year after six continuous months: 40 percent.
• 1 to under 3 years after six continuous months: 50 percent.
• 3 years or more after six continuous months: 60 percent.

Apply the current floor and optional city-average cap

Shanghai's current monthly minimum wage is 2,740 yuan. The 2000 notice sets a floor of 80 percent, producing a current full-month benchmark of 2,192 yuan. The notice says that employee pension, medical and unemployment contributions and housing-fund contributions are outside that minimum standard. Payroll should show the formula result, floor comparison, applicable contribution treatment, tax and final payment separately. Do not describe 2,192 yuan as 80 percent of ordinary salary or as a universal foreign-worker net amount.

The 1995 notice says that when the calculated illness treatment exceeds the prior-year Shanghai average monthly wage, the enterprise may pay at that average. Shanghai HRSS reconfirmed in December 2025 that this is permissive and that a more favorable enterprise rule should be followed. Identify the exact published average, relevant year and employer rule before using a cap. Do not turn a discretionary maximum into an automatic reduction or use an average from another city.

Use 21.75 for wages and count only sick workdays

The current working formula is calculation base divided by 21.75, multiplied by the applicable coefficient and the supported sickness days. The 21.75 figure is the national monthly paid-day conversion used by the Shanghai wage measure. For a standard five-day employee with a certificate covering Monday through Sunday, the current Shanghai answer counts five sickness days for pay because the two weekly rest days are removed. Statutory public holidays inside the interval are also excluded.

Use the employee's actual lawful schedule and record partial days, shift changes, other paid work and overlapping leave carefully. Do not use calendar days merely because the medical certificate states a continuous date range. Do not use 20.67 as the wage divisor: that figure serves the separate medical-period ledger. When a certificate spans two payroll months, allocate supported workdays to the correct month and apply any wage-base or minimum-wage change effective in that period.

Calculate Shanghai's N+2 medical period

Shanghai uses a city-specific current-employer rule rather than the national total-service matrix applied in Beijing. During the first year with the current employer, the medical period is three months. Thereafter, each additional completed full year adds one month, up to twenty-four months. The practical expression is N+2, where N is completed whole years with the current employer, subject to the three-month minimum and twenty-four-month maximum.

An employee with more than one year but less than two completed years still has three months. At two completed years the period becomes four months; at three completed years, five months. Preserve the current employer's legal identity and start date. A new employer ordinarily resets the Shanghai service calculation even if total career service is long. Longer terms in a collective contract, labor contract or employer policy prevail. Do not import this Shanghai formula into Beijing or another city.

Use 20.67 workdays for Shanghai medical-period consumption

Current official Shanghai guidance uses 20.67 sick workdays as one medical-period month after national statutory holidays increased from eleven to thirteen. The calculation is 365 days minus 104 rest days minus 13 statutory holidays, divided by twelve. Rest days and statutory holidays are excluded. Thus a four-month medical period corresponds to 82.68 qualifying sick workdays under the published method. Maintain the ledger from the first sickness day and add supported workdays across continuous and intermittent intervals.

Do not use the older 20.83 figure, which reflected eleven statutory holidays. Do not use 21.75, which is the wage conversion divisor. State both numbers and purposes in the HR file to prevent cross-use. Reconcile each certificate, employer absence record and schedule entry. The medical period is protection against specified dismissal routes, not a bank of automatically approved paid leave. Unsupported absence, work injury, maternity leave and other categories should not be inserted without a legal basis.

Use current Shanghai hospital-choice and certificate boundaries

The 1995 notice contains old designated-hospital language, but later Shanghai HRSS guidance says an absolute designated-hospital or Tier IIIA-only requirement lacks legal basis where the employee receives treatment from a medical institution authorized by the health authority and a qualified professional. The employee retains reasonable hospital choice. The employer may still define lawful submission procedures and may verify a genuinely doubtful certificate. Read the old instrument through that later interpretation rather than copying its wording into a modern handbook.

Check the employee's identity, actual visit, diagnosis or treatment basis, recommended rest dates, institution seal or electronic verification and consistency with the absence. Request medical records only where proportionate. No citywide maximum number of days per certificate or uniform overseas-document rule was located. For an overseas certificate, use a pre-published reasonable translation and authenticity process and consider the employee's medical circumstances. Automatic rejection or automatic acceptance is unsafe.

Continue valid sickness pay after medical-period expiry when employment remains

Shanghai HRSS expressly distinguishes the sickness-wage entitlement from medical-period protection. The medical period limits protection from specified employment action; it is not the only time during which valid sickness wages can exist. If the employment relationship continues and the employee supplies valid medical evidence under a lawful process, expiry alone does not authorize the employer to stop sickness pay. Continue to apply the current wage rule, subject to its legal validity and any later replacement.

This does not mean the employee has absolute immunity from every employment decision or can remain absent without evidence. The employer may begin the post-period analysis, but must keep payroll, medical evidence, capability and employment action as separate records. If the three sick-pay instruments expire on 15 August 2026 without a clear successor, obtain current official or qualified advice on the post-expiry wage rule rather than treating the absence as unpaid by default.

Complete alternative-work analysis and Shanghai payments before dismissal

After the medical period, determine whether the employee can perform the original work. If not, identify and offer reasonable alternative work compatible with current functional restrictions. Document duties, schedule, location, physical and cognitive demands, training, pay and the employee's response. The employer cannot satisfy the requirement merely by saying that no other position exists without examining actual available work. A clinician's recommendation informs capability but does not make the legal termination decision.

Only if the employee cannot perform the original and employer-arranged alternative work may Labor Contract Law Article 40(1) be considered, together with thirty days' written notice or one month's wage in lieu and economic compensation. Shanghai additionally requires a medical subsidy of no less than six months of the employee's wage for that specified dismissal route. Keep this separate from the narrower medical-subsidy issue that may arise in certain fixed-term expiry and labor-capacity-grade cases. Do not apply it to every separation automatically.

Use the Shanghai municipal dispute route for legally employed foreigners

Request the employer's written calculation base, coefficient, sickness workdays, floor comparison, medical-period N, 20.67 ledger, certificate concern, alternative-work record and proposed action. Preserve contracts, employer rules and adoption evidence, certificates, submissions, attendance, payslips, bank credits, work permit, residence permit and social-insurance records. A transparent reconciliation may resolve a divisor, service-date or holiday-count error before formal proceedings.

Shanghai 12333 and the one-stop mediation route can provide guidance and early resolution. Labor-security inspection may address specified wage and leave violations. Arbitration handles many private employment disputes; under the current jurisdiction rule, disputes involving legally employed foreign nationals are assigned to the Shanghai Municipal Labor and Personnel Dispute Arbitration Commission through 2028. Calendar the national one-year limitation and obtain a formal receipt. An HR complaint, online draft or mediation inquiry is not automatically an accepted arbitration application.

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 Shanghai 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 Shanghai 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, Shanghai 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 Shanghai labor-capacity committee, arbitration commission 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.