Registration of an electronic sick leave: procedure, conditions, actions of the employer

Why was a “digital” sick leave needed?

By introducing electronic sick leave, legislators pursued three main goals:

• simplify the interaction between the medical organization, the employer, the sick employee and the Social Insurance Fund;
• reduce the turnover of paper documents;
• increase control over the authenticity of certificates of incapacity for work and make their issuance transparent.

Despite the fact that issuing “digital” sick leave is a legally permitted medical government service, a doctor will be able to issue them only if three mandatory conditions are met:

1. The employee’s employer registered on the official departmental website of the Social Insurance Fund and opened a personal account there.
2. The medical institution connected to a special information system for issuing electronic certificates of incapacity for work.
3. The patient completed and signed consent to issue a digital document.

. The form is current as of January 2021.

If at least one of the above circumstances is absent, the employee will be issued a regular paper sick leave.

. The form is current as of January 2021.

What should a HR manager do if an employee has virtual sick leave?

First of all, the HR department must know whether the organization has the technical and software capability to process electronic personal information.

If the company does not yet carry out this work, ask the employee to exchange the electronic sick leave for a traditional paper one. The clinic does not have the right to refuse him - letter from the FSS dated 08/11/2017 No. 02-09-11/22-05-13462.

However, paperless technology for information interaction with the Social Insurance Fund is not at all complicated. Refer to the special page Electronic sick leave, instructions on the FSS website. There are links to download the automated workplace “Preparing calculations for the Social Insurance Fund” and services for updating the organization’s existing software with detailed instructions.

• Login to your personal account on the FSS website for an employee

• For the employer

After clicking the “Login” button to view the electronic sick leave certificate, the system will redirect you to government services for authorization.

The legislative framework

The issuance of electronic sick leave certificates and their completion in 2021 are regulated by several regulations:

Federal Law No. 86 of 05/01/2017 on amendments to certain legal documents, which put this system into effect (everywhere).

Federal Law No. 255-FZ of December 29, 2006 is the main law on insurance of employees in case of disability, pregnancy and childbirth. Article 13 is devoted to the service for issuing sick leave electronically.

Government Decree No. 1567 of December 16, 2017, which approved the instructions for interaction between the policyholder (employer), the insurer (FSS) and the medical institution.

Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development No. 624n dated June 29, 2011 on the procedure for issuing sick leave.

Electronic sick leave in 2021: pros and cons of an electronic sick leave, registration procedure

Sick leave certificates are primary accounting documents with a shelf life of at least five years (Clause 1, Article 29 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”). Federal Law of May 1, 2017 No. 86-FZ to Article 13 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006. No. 255-FZ “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity” and Article 59 of the Federal Law of November 21, 2011. No. 323-FZ “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation” was amended. From July 1, 2021, electronic certificates of incapacity for work – sick leave certificates – were introduced in Russia. Read about the benefits of electronic sick leave, as well as what the procedure for issuing and paying for electronic sick leave is in our article.

Advantages of an electronic certificate of incapacity for work

So, by Federal Law of May 1, 2017. No. 86-FZ provides for the possibility, from July 1, 2021, to use both paper certificates of incapacity for work and electronic ones, with the written consent of the insured person (employee). An electronic certificate of incapacity for work has a lot of advantages that greatly simplify the interaction of all participants in the process and allow them to quickly process information about due payments. An electronic sick leave certificate is generated in an automated information system, which is under the control of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation (FSS of Russia).

Advantages of electronic certificates of incapacity for work, in comparison with paper ones:

• all participants in the process will have access to the automated system and will be able to track the status of electronic sick leave: employers, Social Insurance Fund, medical institutions;
• electronic sheets cannot be faked or lost;
• reducing the risks of employers in receiving penalties for accepting for payment certificates of incapacity for work that do not meet the requirements of the Social Insurance Fund;
• the employer does not need to store sick leave forms (strict reporting);
• the patient may not come to the medical facility, or stand in line, but rather contact the doctor and inform him that he is going to work;
• the health worker does not need to waste time filling out the necessary paperwork/

By and large, the new electronic sick leave form is an analogue of a regular paper sick leave. The only difference between an electronic sick leave certificate and a paper one is that today all information is entered into a virtual database or electronic medical record immediately as soon as the employee applies for medical (medical) help.

The procedure for switching to electronic sick leave in 2018

An employer who decides to switch to an electronic document must:

1. Notify subordinates, make them aware that they can also control the maintenance of sick leave and payments accrued on its basis.
2. Notify the accounting department, noting that paper certificates of incapacity for work are still valid.
3. Make adjustments to the company's accounting policy that will allow electronic sick leave certificates to be accepted for processing.
4. Register a personal account for working with electronic sick leave certificates on the official website of the FSS of Russia fss.ru. To do this you need to do the following:

• Obtain an electronic digital signature (EDS) compatible with the Social Insurance Unified Information System (you can purchase an EDS at any accredited company - certification center). Important! When purchasing an electronic signature, an employer needs to make sure that it is suitable for working on the website of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation.
• Register on the Government Services Portal of the Russian Federation Gosuslugi.ru (registration of the employer-director as an individual and confirmation of his account by contacting the Service Center, receiving a code by e-mail, using a Universal electronic card). This will allow you to have access to all sections of the portal.
• Create a legal entity (or individual entrepreneur) account through your personal account.
• All employees must register and have their own personal accounts on the Government Services Portal of the Russian Federation Gosuslugi.ru.
• Conclude an agreement with your branch of the Foundation on cooperation. To do this, you must submit an agreement signed by the employer to the Fund branch (the agreements can be found on the website of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation fss.ru).
• After completing all of the above actions, the employer can begin working as an insured in his personal account. A list of sick leaves for all employees will be displayed there.

The employer also needs to issue an order to introduce electronic sick leave in the company. The law does not oblige employees to use the new sick leave form, so they can independently choose in which format to submit their sick leave. If the company (employer) has refused to use electronic sick leave certificates, it can accept paper versions the old fashioned way. Only in this case, the employer must remember to warn employees that electronic sick leave will not be used in the company, and even if one of the employees issues an electronic sick leave, they will have to reissue such a sheet to the previous paper version.

Similar

How it works

A medical institution opens an electronic hospital document according to the following scheme:

1. An employee, having visited a doctor’s office, informs him of his desire to take out an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (in short – ESL). At the same time he:
   informs the doctor about the participation of the employer-insurer in the information exchange of information necessary for the formation of “digital” sick leave;
2. fills out and signs an application for consent to issue a document in electronic form;
3. presents SNILS or reports its number.
4. The doctor sends an online request to the information system (Social Insurance) to assign a number to the document. Having received it, the health worker, using specially developed software, fills out the ELN. The sick leave number is provided to the insured person (patient).
5. Having completed the steps to issue an electronic sick leave, the doctor certifies it with a digital personal signature.
6. The medical institution certifies the generated document via the network with its own signature and sends it to Social Insurance.

If an employee’s illness has been prolonged and a certificate of incapacity for work needs to be extended, it is supplemented with new entries as necessary. After the sick leave is closed, a corresponding entry is made in the ENL, the document is certified with the digital signature of the doctor and the clinic, and then sent to Social Insurance.

This service is provided to patients of medical organizations free of charge. All information is transmitted through special secure channels, which are considered inaccessible to prying eyes or data correction by an outsider.

Who can apply?

• Citizens engaged in official labor activities , including priests, individual entrepreneurs and lawyers;
• People who become ill or injured within thirty days from the date of termination of the employment contract;
• Civilians who were officially recognized as unemployed and registered with the employment service;
• Women who were fired due to the termination of the activities of individual entrepreneurs, liquidation of the enterprise, termination of the powers of lawyers or notaries, as well as during pregnancy for up to twelve months, from the moment they received official unemployed status.

Actions of HR officers upon receipt of ELN

Having learned the number of the electronic certificate of incapacity for work, the employee reports it to the employer. Using it and the SNILS number of the employee himself, HR officers or accountants electronically request sick leave data from the Social Insurance Fund. For it to be displayed on the screen, you need to click on the “GET LN” button.

Important note! The employer gains access to the employee's digital sick leave certificate only after the document is closed by the medical organization. He will not be able to view the current ELN.

When the employer's representative receives the electronic document, he enters the missing information into it and corrects it if something is filled out incorrectly (he sees a message about this inside the system). For him, the program has an eloquent tab: “To be filled out by the employer.” In particular, he adds:

• name of the company where the insured person works;
• the part-time employee or main employee is the owner, a citizen who has been issued sick leave;
• his TIN;
• surnames with initials - the head of the company and the chief accountant;
• the average salary of the insured employee and his length of service;
• period of incapacity;
• the date he started work, and other information.

Based on the entered data, the benefit due to the employee due to disability is automatically calculated by the program. The employee receives payment for sick leave, and data on its amount is reported to the insurer - to the Social Insurance Fund.

Registration of sick leave: sample 2021

Information on the certificate of incapacity for work should be entered in a certain sequence in compliance with the rules discussed above. In order to correctly issue a sick leave certificate by the employer, the sample attached to this article can be used as a visual example. The following procedure for entering information is recommended:

1. Information about the company.
2. Type of work (main or part-time).
3. Registration number from the FSS and subordination code.
4. TIN and SNILS of the insured person.
5. Work experience (if less than a month, zeros are entered).
6. Column N-1 (in case of injury at work).
7. Return to work date.
8. Indicators about the employee’s earnings (taken from the company’s accounting department; you can read about the calculation of average daily earnings and sick leave benefits in this and this article). The amount of accruals is reflected in two parts: at the expense of the enterprise and at the expense of the Social Insurance Fund.
9. Signatures of management and chief accountant with transcripts. If there is no accountant in the company, both columns are filled in by the manager.
10. Company seal (if any).

Advantages and disadvantages of electronic registration

On the one hand, the reduction of paperwork and the high degree of reliability of the electronic document are its undeniable advantages over paper counterparts. However, this method still has many disadvantages.

Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of issuing sick leaves in electronic form

Also read:

Digital medicine is a reality of the near future Doctors are required to issue electronic prescriptions to their patients Personal data of patients in medical organizations: processing requirements and responsibility

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Registration procedure

The legislation establishes not only a list of organizations that can issue certificates of incapacity for work and the requirements for them, but also the procedure for indicating all information in the document. For the employee, the algorithm of actions will be as follows:

1. if you feel unwell or ill, contact a medical institution and ask for a sick leave certificate;
2. after discharge, receive a certificate of incapacity for work, check on the spot whether all dates and information are entered correctly;
3. write a statement at your place of work and attach a sick leave certificate.

This is where the employee’s actions end. Next, his application is accepted, a certificate of incapacity for work is filled out by a personnel specialist or another employee who is assigned these duties. Then the accountant calculates the amount of compensation, tears off the bottom part of the form and submits the document to the Social Insurance Fund.

The FSS reviews the submitted documents. If everything is fine with them, then sick leave is paid. For more information about the deadlines for accrual and transfer of funds by the employer and the Social Insurance Fund, see the article Payment of sick leave.

Actions after leaving sick leave

Initially, you need to contact your doctor, who will perform a re-examination. If all signs of the disease have passed, he will close the sick leave. This document must be brought to the accounting department of your enterprise, but no later than six months.

But it is recommended to do this earlier, since sick leave can only be paid for official sick days.

If this period is exceeded, illegal absenteeism is registered, which may lead to sanctions from the employer.

When is it not issued?

You must be aware that this document is issued only if the employee is temporarily unable to work, or if his close relative is sick and he is forced to care for him.

Sick leave certificates are not issued in the following cases:

• While in custody or under administrative arrest;
• In the absence of signs of temporary disability;
• During a worker’s visit to health procedures or examinations (manipulations) on an outpatient basis;
• If temporary disability occurs during maternity leave, caring for children under three years of age, or unpaid leave;
• During medical examinations and examinations (also in occupational disease centers).

New sample sick leave

Features of filling out sick leave by an employer

As Order No. 624n of the Ministry of Health and Social Development states, a temporary disability document can only be filled out in black ink. List of office supplies that should be used to enter information on the sheet:

• gel ink pens, rollerballs;
• pens on a capillary ink supply system (rapidographs, liners);
• fountain pens.

Since the authority to complete the document lies with two organizations, employees of medical institutions can also make mistakes when entering data, using inappropriate ink or stationery. If some of the medical data was entered in violation of the rules established by law, then it is better to request another copy of the sheet in order to avoid claims from the FSS authorities.

Based on the experience of judicial practice, filling out a form with a ballpoint pen is a formal defect, which cannot serve as a basis for declaring it invalid, nor an obstacle to the payment of benefits. Judicial authorities oblige social service employees to accept such forms for consideration. Nevertheless, the law allows the use of only those accessories, the list of which is reflected in the Order.

According to the explanations of the Social Insurance Fund, data can be entered either in handwritten or typed text. A combination of printed and handwritten writing is also acceptable.

What to do if you get sick while on vacation?

If an employee receives temporary incapacity at the time of official paid leave, it will be extended, which will also be paid by the employer.

It is also possible to transfer vacation pay to other days, in agreement with the employer.

The above rule does not apply to vacations at your own expense.

Sick leave is not paid, and it is opened only after the citizen officially returns to the workplace after such a rest.

Sick leave deadline

The maximum length of time for which an employee is issued a sick leave form directly depends on the basis for its receipt.

In most cases, its duration is fifteen days when issued by the attending physician, and ten days when issued by a paramedic or dental technician. However, according to the conclusion of the expert commission, the duration of sick leave may increase.

If an employee is caring for an incapacitated family member, the duration of sick leave directly depends on the age category of the person being cared for:

• Children under seven years of age - for the entire period of treatment of the child (no more than sixty days a year), and if the disease is included in the special list of the Ministry of Health, then no more than ninety days;
• Children from seven to fifteen years of age - the maximum duration of sick leave is fifteen days with the possibility of extension with the help of a commission of doctors;
• Citizens over fifteen years of age - for up to three days for any disease, with the possibility of extending for up to seven days;
• When carrying a child and giving birth - one hundred and forty calendar days a year for a standard pregnancy and one hundred and ninety-four for the birth of two or more children at the same time.

Electronic sick note

Reflection of sick leave information in internal documents

Submission of sick leave by an employee requires the HR specialist to correctly accept the document. The responsible employee must not only correctly fill out the certificate of incapacity for work, but also fill out/draw up other internal documents of the enterprise.

The organization draws up an order to assign benefits to a sick employee. The basis for this is the provided sick leave. The document does not have a single form, so companies draw it up independently, making sure to indicate information about the organization and the employee.

It is important to correctly reflect the sick leave certificate in other papers. First of all, in the accounting sheet. Additionally, the organization can keep a sick leave log.

Reflection of sick leave in the accounting sheet

A time sheet is a mandatory document of the enterprise, with the help of which the work time of each employee is tracked. Any failure to appear is displayed on the time sheet and justified by the employee. Moreover, for each reason there is its own designation in the form of a number or letter.

Employee illness is perhaps the most common reason for absence. To display it in the timesheet, one of the following markings can be used:

• «19»;
• "B".

You can use any of these options if the benefit is accrued to the employee. However, the letter designation is more popular, since the decoding “B - disease” is easier and faster to remember. In addition to the reasons for non-appearance, the time worked is also indicated. The number “0” is used for illness. You can even leave the column blank.

The largest number of questions regarding entering information about sick leave into the time sheet arises due to the fact that employees do not know whether days off are included in the sick leave. Read more about this in the article Calculation of sick leave: formula and examples. There is also a comment regarding holidays.

The general order of reflection implies that all days from the beginning to the end of the illness are marked in the report card with the letter “B”. All payments are made based on the total number of days on sick leave.

Important : if sick leave is issued for pregnancy and childbirth, then the personnel specialist uses a different marking in the form of the letter “P”.

In some cases, employers do not pay sick leave, but they still need to record the employee’s absence. For example, this is possible if an external part-time worker received benefits at another place of work. In this case, the letter “T” or the number “20” is entered on the report card.

Sick leave register

The sick leave logbook is not used in all enterprises. They are usually relevant for large organizations where it is important to systematize a large number of documents. The law does not establish a uniform form for such a journal, therefore all issues regarding its maintenance and the appointment of responsible persons are decided by each enterprise separately.

Keeping a log of sick leave allows you to quickly obtain information on the number of sick people and the duration of the disease. In addition, the document allows you to verify information with the accounting sheet and enter missing information there. It may look like this (picture is clickable):

Sick leave register

Who issues and what documents are needed for registration?

This document is valid and must be paid only if it is issued by attending physicians, paramedics and dentists.

According to current legislation, it cannot be provided by doctors, emergency medical workers, blood transfusion station employees working in the emergency department and a number of other medical institutions.

To be able to provide sick leave to citizens, the institution in which the doctor operates must be licensed. Otherwise, sick leave is not valid and compensation is not calculated.

The registration procedure requires the presentation of only a passport or other document confirming the patient’s identity.

According to the law, an insurance policy and any other documents will not be required.