Sick leave, work accidents and the CNAS in Algeria: daily benefits, procedures and deadlines

A severe flu, surgery, a fall on a building site or a motorbike accident on the way to the office: sooner or later an Algerian employee ends up holding a sick-leave certificate and asking two questions: *who pays me, and how much?* The answer sits in two laws from 1983 that are still in force, administered by the National Social Insurance Fund (CNAS): law 83-11 for sickness and maternity, law 83-13 for work accidents and occupational diseases. This guide turns them into figures, deadlines and concrete steps, and recalls what your employer may, and may not, do while you are away.

Who is covered, and for what

Every employee in an employment relationship, full-time or part-time, on a permanent or fixed-term contract, must be registered with the CNAS by the employer within 10 days of hiring (law 83-14 on the obligations of contributors). Registration opens four protections: healthcare (reimbursed at 80%, 100% for listed chronic conditions, through the Chifa card and third-party payment), daily benefits when you cannot work, maternity leave (14 weeks at 100%) and cover for work accidents and occupational diseases. The same contributions fund your future CNR retirement pension.

Sick leave: how much you receive

During sick leave your employer does not pay your salary: the CNAS pays you a daily benefit, calculated on your position salary (base salary plus the bonuses and allowances tied to the position, after social contributions and income tax). Some collective agreements or company agreements require the employer to top up the benefit to maintain full pay: check your agreement and your contract.

Example: a net position salary of DA 45,000.00 gives a daily salary of DA 1,500.00 (over 30 days). A 20-day leave entitles you to 15 × DA 750.00 + 5 × DA 1,500.00 = DA 18,750.00, or 62% of the month. If the same leave follows a hospital stay, it is paid 20 × DA 1,500.00 = DA 30,000.00. Public holidays and weekends falling within the leave are paid like any other day: the benefit is due per calendar day.

The steps, in order

1. 1

   See a doctor and get the sick-leave certificate

   The doctor fills in the three-part CNAS sick-leave form with the prescribed duration. Ask them to tick hospitalisation or long-term illness if that is your case: the rate depends on it from day one.

2. 2

   Inform your employer within 24 hours

   By phone, message or e-mail, then hand over the employer copy (in person, through a relative or by registered mail). Internal rules often set a 24- to 48-hour deadline; an absence not justified within it may be treated as misconduct.

3. 3

   File the CNAS copy within 48 hours

   At the CNAS agency your employer reports to (or your home agency, depending on the wilaya), excluding public holidays. A late filing exposes you to a reduction or refusal of benefits for the uncovered days. Keep the receipt or the stamped copy.

4. 4

   Accept the medical check

   The CNAS may summon you before its medical adviser or send an inspector to your home during the attendance hours printed on the certificate. An unjustified absence at the check suspends the benefit; a medical disagreement is challenged through an expert assessment.

5. 5

   Extend or return to work

   An extension is filed like the initial leave, before the current period ends. On return, your employer may ask for a fitness-to-return certificate; after a long leave, a therapeutic part-time return can be prescribed and compensated.

6. 6

   Check the payment

   Benefits are paid by CCP or bank transfer to the account you declared, usually a few weeks after filing. Your insured member area on the CNAS portal and the agency let you track the file. Do not confuse this with annual leave, which remains paid by the employer.

Work accidents and commuting accidents: stronger protection

Law 83-13 defines a work accident as any bodily injury caused by a sudden external event occurring within the employment relationship. It treats the commuting accident in the same way, between home and the workplace or the usual place of meals, as long as the journey was not interrupted for personal reasons. Whether the employer or the employee was at fault does not matter: compensation is automatic and more favourable than for sickness.

In practice: have the accident recorded the same day (doctor, emergency room), note the witnesses, require your employer to complete the work accident report in four copies, one of which comes back to you stamped, and let no one relabel the accident as "sickness" to avoid paperwork: you would lose half the benefit for the first 15 days and the full coverage of care. If the employer refuses to report it, go to the CNAS agency with the initial medical certificate and any evidence (schedule, badge, testimony); the labour inspectorate can also be involved.

Occupational disease: the list and the presumption

A disease is occupational when it appears in the tables set by regulation (metalworker’s hearing loss, conditions linked to silica, lead or asbestos, musculoskeletal disorders from certain repetitive movements…) and the employee was exposed to the risk for the required period. In that case the link with work is presumed: you do not have to prove it. The disease is reported to the CNAS with a descriptive medical certificate; compensation follows the work-accident scheme (100% benefit, full care, pension in case of disability). Outside the tables, recognition remains possible but requires an expert assessment establishing the direct link with the job. Workers in the South, in mines, construction and industry are the first concerned; your exposure record and your occupational medicine visits are the documents that count.

Your contract during the leave

• Suspension, not termination. Article 64 of law 90-11 lists sickness and accidents among the causes of suspension of the employment relationship: the contract continues, the job waits for you, seniority keeps running. Article 65 guarantees your reinstatement in your position or an equivalent one on return.
• No dismissal for being ill. A dismissal motivated by the leave itself is wrongful. An employer may, however, sanction an unjustified absence (certificate never sent) or misconduct committed during the leave (working elsewhere, for instance).
• Fixed-term contracts and probation. A fixed-term contract is not automatically extended by sickness: it ends on its date, and the CNAS keeps paying the benefit until recovery within the scheme’s limits. During the probation period, the employer may end the contract at any time, but not because of the illness.
• Annual leave. Sick days are not holidays: if illness strikes during your holidays, ask for the lost days to be carried over, as most collective agreements provide.
• Civil servants. The general civil service statute (ordinance 06-03) has its own sick leave rules, with pay maintained by the administration and reimbursed by the CNAS: filing deadlines are the same, rates depend on the statute.

Costly mistakes

• Filing the certificate late. Days before the filing may not be paid. If you are in hospital, a relative can file for you.
• Accepting an "arrangement" instead of an accident report. An envelope from the employer covers neither future care nor the pension if after-effects appear months later.
• Working during the leave, at home or elsewhere: loss of benefits, repayment of sums received and disciplinary misconduct.
• The sham certificate. Leave obtained without real illness exposes the employee (repayment, sanction) and the doctor (prosecution); the CNAS checks and cross-references data.
• Ignoring an incomplete CNAS declaration. A salary declared at the minimum wage while you earn twice as much halves your benefit. Check your statements in your insured member area and demand correction; your future pension is at stake too.

Frequently asked questions