From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmaternity/sick/compassionate leavematernity/sick/compassionate leavetime that you are allowed to spend away from work because you have had a baby, because you are ill, or because of a personal problem such as the death of a relative → leave
Examples from the Corpus
maternity/sick/compassionate leave• I could take the afternoon off from work as sick leave.• These work-force-centered benefits helped businesses retain their most valuable employees. Sick leave policies changed.• Accumulating days for sick leave proved to be a trap.• Generally a trend of sick leave or requests for transfers by other women who have worked for this person will emerge.• When they go on sick leave, their aggregate take-home pay is actually higher than when they are on the job.• She was then shown a picture taken at the farewell party at Champion Spark Plugs just before Paula went on maternity leave.• If the technology is not firm-wide train an extra secretary to cover for others who are on holiday or sick leave.• Joe and Eileen were given short compassionate leave and Stephen came home for the funeral. 