Shanghai sick pay after the August 2026 rule expiry: basis, floor and calculation

First identify whether the absence falls before or after the rule change

This page concerns illness or non-work injury for Shanghai enterprise employees. Shanghai HRSS confirmed on 19 August 2026 that the service-band notice, 沪劳保发〔95〕83号, expired on 15 August 2026. The separate local minimum-treatment notice, 沪劳保保发〔2000〕14号, also reached that expiry date and was not included in the July renewal notice. The old table therefore cannot by itself establish a mandatory percentage for sickness absence from 16 August 2026 onward.

For older pay periods, preserve the rules and terms applicable at the time. For absence crossing the change date, record the application date and each pay period; do not assume either a blanket reduction or that the old table necessarily continues. Work-injury pay, maternity benefits and the duration of protected medical leave are separate questions.

Read the contract and policy before accepting a cut

Look for an express percentage or fixed amount in the employment contract, collective agreement and valid sick-leave policy. A promise to pay 80% of an established job-wage basis is different from a clause that merely refers to applicable local law. Record the exact wording and effective dates, including any proposed change. A Labour Contract Law Article 35 change to agreed contractual terms requires agreement and a written record; changing a company policy requires checking the Article 4 consultation and publication process. Expiry of the external notice does not by itself answer whether an existing contractual promise was changed lawfully.

AnJie Broad’s September 2026 analysis describes unsettled local treatment after the expiry, including absence spanning the change. That professional analysis is not a new binding pay schedule. Where the contract is silent or the transition is disputed, request the employer’s current legal basis and ask Shanghai HRSS or the competent arbitration committee about your actual period and terms.

Establish the current wage basis independently of the percentage

The Shanghai Enterprise Wage Payment Measures effective from 1 August 2026 set the holiday-pay basis at the normal-attendance monthly wage for the job. Section 9 starts with the job wage agreed in the contract; if actual performance differs, use the actually performed job wage. If the contract is unclear, check the collective agreement. Only where neither specifies the monthly job wage does the stated 70% fallback apply. It is not a universal 30% reduction from every salary. The basis cannot be below Shanghai’s minimum wage. The measure excludes overtime, annual bonuses and specified allowances from this basis.

Section 14 gives the daily conversion as monthly wage divided by 21.75, and hourly wage as daily wage divided by eight. These conversion rules do not reinstate the expired service-band percentages. For part-month absence, request the actual roster, sick-pay days, treatment of rest days and public holidays, normal-pay component and the contractual method; do not deduct every calendar day at a sick rate without checking.

The minimum is a floor, not the amount everyone should receive

National guidance in 劳部发〔1995〕309号 Article 59 provides a minimum of 80% of the local minimum wage for sickness pay or sickness relief during the prescribed medical period. At Shanghai’s monthly minimum of 2,740 yuan, announced from 1 July 2025, that reference is 2,192 yuan for a full month. Use the rate applicable to the month concerned if the minimum changes. This is not 80% of your own salary. A valid higher contractual entitlement still needs to be checked before accepting only that floor.

Keep gross sickness pay, personal social-insurance or housing-fund deductions and net payment in separate columns. The expired 2000 Shanghai notice contained its own contribution-related minimum treatment; do not present that old provision as automatically current. Ask payroll to identify its present deduction and minimum-comparison basis. A full-month reference cannot simply be used as the pay for a few days of absence.

Worked example: a clear contractual entitlement

Assume an employee takes the whole of September 2026 as approved sick leave within the protected medical period. The correctly established monthly job-wage basis is 6,000 yuan, and a valid, unchanged contract expressly provides sickness pay at 80% of that basis. The gross sick pay is 6,000 × 80% = 4,800 yuan. It exceeds the 2,192-yuan full-month minimum reference. If payroll substitutes 2,192 yuan solely because the old notice expired, the gross difference to question is 4,800 − 2,192 = 2,608 yuan; first show the contract and confirm whether it was validly changed.

If the actual gross payment is 4,800 yuan and authorised personal deductions total 700 yuan in this example, the net payment is 4,100 yuan. That is a different reconciliation from comparing 4,100 with the gross contractual amount. Conversely, a hypothetical contractual calculation of 3,000 × 60% = 1,800 yuan falls below the 2,192-yuan minimum reference and requires a floor check; 60% here is an assumed contract term, not a current Shanghai service band. Partial months and disputed changes require their own facts.

Request the inputs that make the calculation reproducible

Keep the medical certificate, leave request and approval, roster, contract, old and new policy versions, pay statements and bank receipts. Record the period paid rather than only the transfer date. You can write: “For my sick leave from [date] to [date], please provide the job-wage basis and its contract or actual-pay evidence, the applicable sickness-pay clause and effective date, counted days, calculation, gross amount, every personal deduction and the minimum-treatment check. If treatment changed after 15 August 2026, please identify the change, legal basis and contractual or policy procedure. My attached calculation gives [amount]; please explain the difference of [amount] and the correction date.”

Use the wage-check tool to reconcile amounts and the work log to retain a dated sequence. Avoid including unrelated medical details in an ordinary payroll request; provide the evidence needed to support the leave under the applicable process.

Escalate the specific pay dispute while preserving your deadline

If payroll admits an error, obtain the corrected statement and payment date. If it disputes the terms or refuses a calculation, identify the exact pay period, clause and gross shortfall in a complaint to the local human-resources authority or a monetary claim to the labour arbitration committee with jurisdiction. Shanghai 12333 can identify the appropriate service; a general advice call is not a filed arbitration claim. A complaint does not automatically settle a contested contractual interpretation.

Preserve the delivered pay request and filing receipts, and use the arbitration article below to distinguish ordinary claims from the special rule for unpaid remuneration during employment. Do not wait indefinitely for a new local percentage schedule. Continue the proper sickness-reporting process and obtain individual advice promptly if dismissal, medical-period expiry or a disputed unilateral change is also involved.

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