This is a comparative review of sick leave and wage replacement policies among countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (EOCD), an organism that Chile joined recently. This review also deals with the main transfor-mations applied to the system to improve its effciency and the variables that explain such changes. The Chilean system is analyzed from the perspective of substitution rates, waiting time and protection length. According to these parameters, Chile is located below countries such as Scandinavian countries, that provide a universal protection, and over those countries that provide a focalized protection according to worker’s needs.