Definition of a fake sick leave: how to check the authenticity and who is responsible for the fake document?

Sick leave certificates are among the most falsified documents, so the FSS strongly recommends that personnel officers carefully check them for authenticity. A certificate of incapacity for work gives the right to receive payment from the employer for sick leave, the amount of which depends on the length of service. This document can also cover illegal absenteeism. Often, the falsification of a sick leave certificate is detected after the data has been transferred to the Social Insurance Fund. This entails liability for both the employee and the employer. Therefore, it is important to know how to check the authenticity of a sick leave certificate.

When is employer verification necessary?

There is no specific deadline for the employer to verify sick leave. But the sooner he does this, the better .
After all, if a fake is discovered, the employer will be obliged to answer for the false sheet independently. The surest way to start checking is immediately after the employee submits this document. By checking the forms, you can easily identify a fake visually.

Verification procedure

How is sick leave checked at work? You need to understand that this document is a strict reporting form. Each form is entered into a specialized database. So it is almost impossible to buy this document legally or ask a doctor to issue it.

Most likely, it will not be entered into the database, and thus will not be paid for from public funds.

There are several ways to determine the authenticity of a document:

1. The document is published in the form of a standard form. In 2011, there were changes in appearance and the sick leave was completely changed. Previously, the form was in A5 size, now it is A4 size. In addition, the color and shape have changed.
   Any the form has a unique number consisting of 12 digits, blue-yellow color scheme. All fields must be filled out exclusively in capital letters using a black fountain or spruce pen. Alternatively, the document can be filled out on a computer. All these requirements are needed for quick entry into the electronic database.

   In addition, the certificate of incapacity for work has a watermark and additional color shading. On the new certificate of incapacity for work there is a field where you need to enter the outpatient card number, INN and SNILS. There are also fields on the form that the manager must fill out.

   It is difficult to fake all these points, but it is possible. Although now not only the accountant, but also the manager must sign this document at work. If an employee provides an old-style sick leave certificate after June 1, 2011, then such a document is invalid.

2. The certificate of incapacity for work must be issued and signed by an authorized person (medical worker keeping the medical history).
3. The employer must send any specialist from his department to clarify this data to a specific clinic. There they are required to provide him with a database containing information about a specific certificate of incapacity for work .
4. It is necessary to make an official request to the clinic to confirm the authenticity of the issued sheet. The document can be written like this: “A request to confirm the authenticity of the certificate of incapacity No. that we received...” The request must necessarily include: an attachment in the form of this leaflet, as well as the signature of management and the chief accountant.
5. Send an appeal to the FSS citizens. This institution regulates the verification of information in clinics and hospitals and makes inquiries about the legality of their actions in providing the certificate.
6. Make a request to your own security service , if available. But, as a rule, all self-respecting companies have this structure. Often these employees have connections with law enforcement agencies. Those, in turn, are guided by all the information about hospitals and clinics conducting legitimate activities.

Protecting the sick leave form

In 2011, the Ministry of Health and Social Development issued an order that established a uniform form for a certificate of temporary disability, regardless of the reason for its occurrence. Not only the visual signs have changed, but also the degree of protection. Watermarks and fibrous imprinted designs have appeared that are visible through ultraviolet light.

The new sample sick leave also has a barcode of 12 characters, but now they are not numbered consecutively, but using a special formula. Thanks to this data, you can immediately determine in which region the form was issued.

Signs of a fake

Employees of the authorized bodies are trying to track the issuance of sick leave, but ask all employers to be on alert, since many clinics issue the document without entering it into the database.
So let's figure out how to distinguish a fake sick leave from a real one? This can be done simply by knowing the signs of a fake:

1. The form completely lacks a watermark with the logo of the Russian Federation Foundation.
2. There is no protection (fibers) of several types: light green, blue and pink.
3. The box where doctors must enter dates for extending sick leave is white.
4. The paper quality does not meet established standards.
5. The name of the medical institution is incorrectly indicated on the document and does not correspond to the data in reality.
6. The presence of gross errors in the sick leave certificate. The period of detention in a medical institution is not indicated, the initials of the medical worker are indicated incorrectly, and such a specialist no longer works in a specific organization.
7. When entering a unique number into the database, the certificate of incapacity for work is not determined.
8. The seals do not correspond to a specific medical institution.

It would be a good idea to read the article “How to write the name of an organization on a sick leave certificate?” in order to be sure that the document is filled out correctly and to avoid subsequent problems.

Instructions: check by external signs

Visual verification is an instant identification of authenticity at the time of receipt of a sick leave certificate. This is done at work - in the office of an accountant or director. Here's how to check sick leave at work:

• compare the submitted certificate of incapacity for work with those forms that were accepted and paid for by the Social Insurance Fund (that is, which are proven to be genuine);
• check all required attributes - watermarks, microfibers, microtexts;
• shine the document through ultraviolet light (you can use a device to check money);
• check the barcode;
• try the thickness of the paper.

Certificates of incapacity for work are strict reporting forms. Its form was approved by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development No. 347n dated April 26, 2011.

They are printed in a special printing house, so they are all identical and have certain visual features. The rules for filling out the sheet are uniform and enshrined at the legislative level (Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development No. 624n dated June 29, 2011). Here's what to check immediately upon receiving the document:

The sick leave certificate has a high protection class (class B), so checking its authenticity by visual signs is not difficult. But this is not always enough. To identify authenticity, use special services of the FSS.

Official resource of the FSS

The sick leave determines the status of the worker and is the basis for payment of compensation. The HR employee needs to know some of the nuances of checking such a document. At the moment, there are four ways to determine authenticity, but the fastest and easiest is considered to be checking a sick leave certificate on the FSS website.

All people who steal forms cannot enter the sheet data into this database. Therefore, by entering a unique code, you can see its absence and verify that the form was purchased illegally. This information is updated monthly and the HR employee is required to check the data upload information daily.

How to check sick leave in the Social Insurance Fund? All that is required from the employee is to enter the number indicated in the “header” of the form and click “check” .
If the document is reflected, it is genuine. This method is valid, but it is advisable to carry it out in combination with other methods.

Virtual hope

Irina Bukina , head of the insurance department for temporary disability and maternity of the FSS of Russia , said, specialists come across false documents several times a week. At the same time, FSS specialists are perplexed what the citizens who purchase these same sheets hope for. After all, each form has a unique number, so it won’t be too difficult for the fund’s specialists to spot the “linden” among the correct hospital records.

“It is worth noting that people selling hospital certificates have nothing to do with medicine. We looked at sites that provide similar services on the Internet. Total fraud. The license numbers indicated on such sites always turned out to be non-existent,” Bukina said.

People selling sick certificates have nothing to do with medicine. We looked at sites that provide similar services on the Internet. A complete scam...

FSS specialists place special hopes on electronic sick leave. The introduction of a “virtual” certificate of incapacity for work should minimize the number of fake sick leaves. “We would really like to see paper medical records replaced by electronic ones for a sufficient portion of the country’s population by the end of 2014,” said Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova . – We have already taken significant steps in this direction: three heavy-duty servers have been created and properly protected (two working and one backup), which will contain all the information about all the medical histories of the country’s residents, a special system for saving personal data has been created so that no one worries regarding information leaks."

Check by number

How to check the authenticity of a sick leave certificate by number on the Internet? Any sick leave has its own unique numbering.

It is painted black and has its own protection. For many HR departments, tactile or visual inspection is sufficient to detect counterfeiting.

This number is convex and you can tactually identify each symbol indicated on the form. In a fake it is not felt and is located evenly on the certificate of incapacity for work.

Using this number you can make requests to the FSS website, as well as to clinics and hospitals. But these methods are not limited to just these two. Authenticity is often determined by the details indicated on the sheet.

You may also be interested in the article “Deciphering sick leave certificates,” from which you will learn about other special medical designations in the strict reporting form.

Ways to check

There is no single verification methodology. There are many ways to spot a fake. Some of them give clear results immediately, others require time. If an accountant has the opportunity, it is better to use not one, but several verification procedures. To identify a fake, you can:

• conduct an analysis of the visual compliance required by this strict reporting form;
• contact the medical institution that issued the form;
• check the certificate of incapacity for work by number online through the territorial branch of the Social Insurance Fund;
• send a letter to the regional Social Insurance Fund with a request to verify sick leave;
• check by barcode: run your finger over the surface of the barcode or illuminate the form in an ultraviolet lamp.

The most effective way is to control counterfeits through the Social Insurance Fund. Sometimes only external verification is enough; counterfeit forms differ significantly from the original ones.

Determining authenticity in a medical institution

The head of the company where the person who provided the sick leave certificate works has the right to write an official appeal to the clinic to verify the authenticity of the sick leave certificate .

If a medical organization refuses to provide data, then you must submit an application to the Federal Social Insurance Fund.

To draw up an official application, you need to know all the details that must be specified:

1. Name of the clinic or hospital.
2. Personal data of the employee.
3. Details of the organization with legal form.
4. Date of document creation.
5. Other information about the person who wrote the request.
6. Personal signatures of the manager.
7. Applicant's stamp.

Next, a request is written: “I ask you to check document No. for authenticity .

Sample request to a clinic or hospital about the authenticity of a sick leave certificate:

Request to the FSS

How to check the authenticity of sick leave certificates in the Social Insurance Fund? A request is made in free form with a request for examination of the document. The following information is required in the request: number and date of issue, full name of the organization, OGRN and address of the medical institution.

Next, the original document is attached and sent to the fund. If the FSS determines that it is false, request written notification.

Sample application to the Social Insurance Fund to confirm the authenticity of the sick leave certificate:

The importance of checking a sick leave certificate for authenticity

There are times when you don’t particularly trust sick leave.

Example: two days before the end of the next vacation, an employee with someone submits to the accounting department a sick leave certificate and a request to extend the vacation for a couple of weeks.

Example 2: an employee submits a letter of resignation and the next day reports that he has been issued sick leave for a period of 10-12 days. How to believe in these coincidences? In our time of free enterprise, when everyone tries to use their talents and opportunities, sick leave has also become a source of bargaining and counterfeiting.

So, there are two types of “fake” sick leave:

• 1st sick leave issued by doctors of a medical institution out of friendship or for money. Formally, this is an absolutely legal document. It will be original from the point of view of the Social Insurance Fund and tax authorities.
• The 2nd sick leave, purchased without going through a medical institution, is a fake. In this case, there may also be two options: real, but stolen forms, filled out by the person offering his services; completely false document.

It is very important to determine the authenticity of a sick leave certificate in a timely manner:

• Firstly , the territorial branch of the Social Insurance Fund to which your company is assigned will not accept sick leave with any violations for financing. You will simply pay for the employee’s absenteeism “out of your own pocket.”
• Secondly , you cannot indicate the amount of this sick leave on the expense side of the balance sheet in order to reduce the tax base. Therefore, pay a large (i.e., excess) amount of tax to the budget.

So how to check sick leave, what verification methods exist?

Execution of documents retroactively

Is it possible to take, open or issue a sick leave certificate retroactively? A certificate of incapacity for work is issued only from the date on which the patient contacted a medical professional. But despite this, some institutions offer to buy sick leave from them with a certificate of incapacity for work from the date you need .

How to make sick leave retroactively? To do this, you can buy one of the types of fake sheets: a ready-made sick leave form and a new form. What is their difference?

Ready-made fake sheet

This is a document issued by a medical institution without being entered into the database for a specific monetary reward . This point may or may not be intentional. The fact is that all medical institutions purchase forms from a specialized company, but the human factor has not been canceled.

All forms can be illegally resold, but the clinic will not know about it. Therefore, in this case, the medical institution is not responsible for fake sick leave certificates.

You may also be interested in the article “How do you extend sick leave?”, because sometimes, after an illness, you want to legally rest at home for a couple more days.

Blank form

You can buy such a sick leave sheet and fill it out yourself. This offer is not uncommon on the Internet. Many companies offer to purchase such a form from them and fill it out yourself on behalf of the medical institution.

This is a trick of scammers that is aimed at an unknowing contingent of people. Such information is easily verified and a false document is identified; one of the consequences for a fake sick leave is to bring the employee to criminal liability .

What to do if the sick leave is fake

If you submit a fake sick leave, there are two scenarios:

1. If the forgery is detected immediately and payment for such a certificate of incapacity does not go through. Everything is simple here. The organization loses nothing, declares the forgery at its own discretion, and punishes the culprit at its discretion.
2. If the accountant processed and paid for a fake sick leave. Usually such violations are detected by the FSS. If payment is made, the FSS will simply compensate the policyholder’s expenses. The employer recovers damages from the employee, but the amount of recovery cannot exceed 20% of his earnings. Anything more is collected through the court.

What to do with the violator depends on the decision of management. If the manager is loyal to the employee, he will limit himself to a warning. You cannot be fired for providing a fake sick leave certificate.

Responsibility for falsifying a certificate of incapacity for work

What kind of fake sick leave will be? It is this kind of certificate of incapacity that can lead you not only to financial losses, but also to a real term of imprisonment or correctional labor.

Employee Responsibility

Practice shows that very often employees provide fake sick leave for work. But not everyone knows what responsibility this entails:

1. Criminal - compulsory, correctional labor; forced labor; arrest, restriction of freedom.
2. Material - fine, compensation for damage.
3. Disciplinary - reprimand, reprimand, dismissal.

Employer's liability

For failure to check the strict reporting form, a legal entity may be subject to a fine of up to 80,000 rubles . We also recommend reading the article “How to open a sick leave certificate if you are not sick?”, in which we will talk about various ways to take time off when you are not sick.