Under the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) Act 1948, sickness benefit is not payable for the first few days of certified illness. What is the statutory waiting period before sickness benefit payments begin?
- A 3 days ✓
- B 2 days
- C No waiting period, payment starts from day 1
- D 7 days
Correct answer: A. 3 days
Explanation
Sickness benefit carries a waiting period of 3 days: the first three days of certified incapacity are unpaid, and payment starts from the fourth day if incapacity continues. This discourages trivial claims while protecting genuinely sick workers. Seven days is a tempting distractor because it resembles qualifying-period concepts in other schemes, but the ESI statute fixes the figure at exactly 3 days.
Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.
High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP
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