Payment of sick leave according to the new rules: changes to Federal Law-255 and the Labor Code of the Russian Federation

The Russian Ministry of Labor reminds that on April 10, 2021, the rules for providing sick leave will change.

The procedure for electronic sick leave has been adjusted, although employers and medical institutions have not yet had time to fully adapt to the original version of the procedure. Now the terms and payments for sick leave will change.

As a result, it will be necessary to include the SNILS number in the document, but correcting the electronic document will be even more difficult. The changes will also affect the procedure for issuing certificates of incapacity for work in the case of caring for sick children and relatives.

The importance of correct filling

A certificate of incapacity for work is a strict reporting form. It must be filled out in accordance with established rules and regulations. Failure to enter information correctly can result in unpleasant consequences for the employer:

• The FSS will refuse to pay for sick leave, and then the employer will have to give the money to the employee from his own pocket, and then deal with the FSS in court;
• if the employee refuses to make the required payments, the employee will go to court and will most likely win the case.

Therefore, it is better for the responsible specialist to study the rules and regulations in advance, and only then proceed to filling out the document.

What is sick leave?

No employee is immune from possible illness. Having an official job allows him to receive compensation for a certificate of incapacity for work. This possibility gave rise to the need to use a single form of sick leave throughout the Russian Federation.

The current form of certificate of incapacity for work has been used since 2011. It is used in all regions of the country without exception. A sick note looks like this (clickable image):

Sick leave

The form contains columns that are filled out by the medical institution and the employer. Initially, the document is issued to the employee by a medical institution. How to take sick leave for an employee of an organization, read more in the article How to take sick leave.

The creation of a single form made it possible not only to unify the document format, but also to protect against forgery. The document has several degrees of protection, which eliminates the possibility of forgery and copying.

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.

Issue rules

A sick leave certificate can be issued by the attending doctor, paramedic, or dentist.

The certificate of incapacity for work is issued on the day the application occurred, or on the day the sick leave ends. It can be issued by the attending doctor, paramedic, or dentist. Ambulances and hospital emergency departments do not have such powers. The following have the right to apply:

• people performing work under labor agreements;
• those who become ill or injured during the 30 days following the suspension;
• clergy;
• members of cooperatives;
• insured members of households, individual entrepreneurs, lawyers, small indigenous communities.

Find out whether it is possible to obtain a sick leave certificate other than at your place of registration, as well as where to obtain it and the procedure for opening it, from our new article.

The following cannot claim sick leave:

• undergoing treatment with the consent of military commissariats;
• convicts;
• people with chronic diseases not in the period of their exacerbation;
• students of schools, colleges and universities (such persons are issued a certificate, but during the period of practical training they can also receive a certificate of incapacity for work for a fee).

Is it possible to issue an electronic sick leave?

You can often hear the question from ordinary employees of an organization: I am sick, how can I take sick leave? Actually, the registration procedure itself is the same. The person must go to a medical facility. There the document will be drawn up by a specialist. Moreover, just a year ago there was no alternative to a paper document in most regions.

Federal Law No. 86-FZ of May 1, 2021 allowed medical institutions to use not only paper, but also electronic sick leave certificates. Some “pilot” regions have been using this document format since 2014.

After the law comes into force, sick employees may express a desire to receive an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (ELN), but there is one limitation: it is necessary that the participants in the information interaction system be:

• the medical institution to which the employee applied;
• employer.

By the end of 2021, more than 150,000 ELNs were issued, and almost a quarter of all medical institutions became participants in the system. This demand for electronic sick leave is explained by several factors:

• less work with paper documents;
• reducing the time required to fill out a document;
• eliminates the possibility of forgery of sick leave;
• there is no need to create accounting documents or organize the storage of papers;
• such a sheet will not be lost;
• verification is simplified for all parties;
• automatic accounting of forms and generation of reports on them;
• the employer can check information about a sick employee before he is discharged;
• You can correct the information through your personal account by making an appropriate request, without contacting a medical institution;
• responsible specialists do not have to travel to the Social Insurance Fund to submit sick leave certificates.

Important : to use ELN, the patient who applies must give written consent.

Stamps in the usual sense are not affixed to the electronic form. For this purpose, electronic enhanced qualified signatures are used. Each doctor has his own.

After entering all the information, the sick leave certificate is sent not to the employer, but to the unified Social Insurance information system. After this, the employer enters information through his personal account. Calculations of compensation for sick leave when using ELN can be carried out by:

• Social Insurance Fund workers in “pilot” regions;
• the patient’s employers in other regions (they are obligated to calculate and pay benefits, that is, the money first comes from the Social Insurance Fund, and then is transferred to the employee).

Who pays for sick leave?

The employer is an intermediary between employees and the Social Insurance Fund in the matter of filling out and submitting sick leave. Who makes contributions to the employee? As a general rule, the obligation to pay sick leave is assumed by:

• employer – he pays for the first 3 days of illness;
• FSS – compensates for the remaining days.

There are also cases in which the Social Insurance Fund assumes responsibility for full payment of sick leave. This applies to the following situations:

1. sick leave for pregnancy and childbirth - compensation is due for 140 days;
2. caring for an adult family member.

If, in a specific situation, an employee is interested in who will give him compensation, he must first figure out how long sick leave is issued for. It all depends on the severity of the disease and who is filing the sick leave. Read more about this in the article How to take sick leave.

In the case when an employee quits and registers with the Employment Center, and then gets sick, the federal fund becomes the payer. The amount of the benefit itself in such a situation is assigned in accordance with the law.

Damage for a fake sheet

The legal framework of the country provides for the following types of liability for the provision of false medical documents:

• material - the employer has every right to demand compensation for expenses that were paid for sick days (Part 4, Article 15 of Federal Law-255);
• disciplinary - implies a reprimand in the first case, and in more serious cases the violator faces dismissal under Art. Labor Code of the Russian Federation;
• criminal - imprisonment for up to two years, forced labor or arrest for up to six months (Part 1, Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

You need to know the mechanism for documenting days missed due to illness. After all, the correct execution of sick leave will help to avoid misunderstandings with the employer and will make it possible to receive cash payments in a timely manner for the period allotted for treatment.

Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Forgery, production or sale of counterfeit documents, state awards, stamps, seals, forms”

Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation “Termination of an employment contract at the initiative of the employer”

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

Principles of compilation

The procedure for issuing sick leave when you get to the employer occurs in the following lines:

1. Company name. You must indicate the name of the company: briefly or in full. If the word is long and does not fit in the space provided, then you need to shorten it. After all, you cannot transfer information to other sections or go beyond the fields. Each word must be separated by one cell. It is important to note what kind of work this is - main or part-time;
2. State registration. The Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation provides registration numbers to all organizations. Here it is also entered into the form;
3. Subordination. The code of the specific FSS branch to which the company belongs is displayed;
4. INN and SNILS of the employee. This section is not always filled out, since the citizen may not have an identification number;
5. Form n 1. Enter the serial number of the document drawn up in the case of a recorded case of injury at work during the performance of one’s official duties;
6. Start time. Indicated if, before the worker entered the enterprise, the agreement with him was terminated;
7. Benefit accrual period. The date, month and year of the start and end of the insured event are indicated;
8. Average daily earnings. The average income per day in the workplace is calculated using a special formula;
9. Amount of benefit. This paragraph records the amount paid by management and the share of payments to the Social Insurance Fund. The list ends with the total number of receipts;
10. Last names and signatures. At the end, the signatures of the director and chief accountant are entered with a transcript of their data. Everything is certified by a seal.

Read also:​Budget classification codes for 2021

Calculation of sick leave

The organization bears the responsibility not only for accepting and filling out sick leave, but also for calculating it. This is usually done by an accountant. The calculations use a special formula for calculating sick leave. It has not changed in 2021. You will find step-by-step instructions for calculating the amount of sick leave pay for an employee in the article Calculating sick leave: formula and examples.

The main change compared to the previous year is a change in the billing period and, accordingly, an increase in the maximum permissible calculation base. In this regard, the maximum sick leave payment in 2021 has also changed.

When making calculations, accountants take into account a combination of several factors. The final amount of the benefit is influenced by the size of the average daily wage, length of service and the reason for receiving sick leave (in some situations, not 100% of the benefit is paid, but a smaller part). The length of service for sick leave in 2021 is used to calculate the coefficient. You will find their explanation in the article Calculation of sick leave: formula and examples.

From January 1, the minimum wage increased to 9,489 rubles. It will be taken into account when calculating sick leave in the following cases:

• the employee did not work officially for the previous 2 years, that is, did not have an official salary;
• the average monthly salary is below the minimum wage;
• total work experience does not exceed 6 months;
• The employee violated the rules while on sick leave.

Due to the increase in the minimum wage, the minimum sick leave payment in 2021 has also increased. Indicators and application rules are presented in the article Calculation of sick leave: formula and examples.

Payment of sick leave to care for children or sick relatives

An employee has the opportunity to receive compensation not only in case of illness. This right is retained even when an adult relative needs care or a minor child falls ill. Read more about the rules for calculating and the timing of such sick leave in the article How to take sick leave.

If a child is sick

The illness of a child gives the right to parents, guardians, trustees, and other relatives to take paid sick leave at work. How many days sick leave is issued in this case is stated in the article How to take sick leave.

Important : two people cannot stay with a child on sick leave at the same time. But during one illness they can issue a certificate of incapacity for work one by one. For example, if a child was sick from Monday to Friday, the mother can take sick leave for Monday and Tuesday, and the father for the remaining days.

Such sick leave is paid by the employer for the first 3 days. The remaining amount is transferred by the FSS. At the place of work, there is no need to provide additional documents other than a certificate of incapacity for work. The employer cannot require documents confirming relationship.

To register a sick leave for an adult, he must come to the medical facility together with the sick child. It is enough to take your passport and documents for the child with you (compulsory medical insurance policy and birth certificate).

Important : if a child gets sick while a parent is on vacation, the latter cannot take out sick leave.

If an adult is sick

Sometimes a person finds himself in circumstances that require him to care for sick relatives. At the same time, the inability to go to work significantly worsens the financial situation. That is why the Social Insurance Fund is ready to pay compensation for sick leave within the time limits specified by law (no more than 7 days per fact, no more than 30 days per year).

You can take out sick leave while caring for relatives. The law includes among them not only spouses, parents and children over 15 years of age, but also other relatives - brothers, sisters, aunts and others.

The fact that a relative is ill is not the only condition for receiving benefits under a certificate of incapacity for work. Additionally, the following criteria must be met:

• the patient really needs care - the doctor decides;
• the employee must care for the patient after the fact;
• the relative is being treated on an outpatient basis (in case of inpatient treatment, no one will issue a certificate of incapacity for work).

Being on such sick leave also presupposes some features of filling out a certificate of incapacity for work. It must indicate the name of the person in need of care. Also, the medical institution enters the code “09” in a special column, which stands for “care for a relative.”

The employer does not pay such sick leave at all. The FSS assumes all obligations. The employer acts solely as an intermediary.

Legislative framework

The norms for filling out a certificate of incapacity for work, its receipt and payment are regulated by the legal framework of the Russian Federation. Namely:

• Orders of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia No. 624n and No. 347n;
• Law “On Compulsory Social Insurance” dated December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ;
• Art. 197 Labor Code of the Russian Federation;
• letter of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation dated 08/05/2011 No. 14-03-11/05-8545;
• Federal Law No. 323 dated November 21, 2011.

These documents determine exactly how the form is filled out, the procedure and time frame for submitting it to the enterprise.

Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n “On approval of the Procedure for issuing certificates of incapacity for work”

Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated April 26, 2011 No. 347n “On approval of the form of a certificate of incapacity for work”

Article 197 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation “The right of workers to training and additional professional education, to undergo an independent assessment of qualifications”

Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity”

Federal Law of November 21, 2011 No. 323-FZ “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation”

Letter of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation dated 08/05/2011 No. 14-03-11/05-8545 “On filling out a certificate of incapacity for work”