I was given a paper sick leave certificate. The employer does not accept him., Samara

Author of the article: Yulia Kaysina Last modified: January 2021 24803

The state continues the policy of transition to electronic document management. The result of this was the opportunity to issue a sick leave certificate not in paper, but in virtual form. However, not all employers are ready to work with this form of document. What to do if electronic sick leave is not accepted at work and is the medical institution required to issue a paper version instead?

Electronic or paper sick leave: what does the state think?

With the introduction of computer technologies, the transfer of paper document flow to electronic is being implemented in many organizations, including budget ones. State medical organizations are no exception.

Sick leave certificates issued electronically are an innovation that not every employer is yet ready to work with, but their use is optimal, as it reduces the likelihood of errors when filling out and forgery of documents. In addition, there is no need for dusty archives, because sick leave must be kept by the employer for at least five years. The state does not yet require a mandatory transition to electronic sick leave. From Letter No. 2-09-11/22-05-13462 dated 08/11/2017:

“... the employer’s obligation to participate in the formation of an electronic certificate of incapacity for work has not been established...”

But this measure is desirable:

“... since it is a promising direction for modernizing both the compulsory social insurance system and the development of information technology in the Russian Federation”

Goals of introducing electronic sick leave into circulation:

simplify and speed up the interaction between the Social Insurance Fund, medical organization, employer and employee;
strengthen control over falsification of sick leave;
minimize paperwork.

Electronic sick leave does not wrinkle, does not deteriorate and does not burn

We all know how to carefully treat sick leave on paper. Under no circumstances should it be torn, dirty, or even folded in half. But it doesn’t always fit into a woman’s bag. The document is very capricious. But it guarantees monetary compensation for the right to improve your health at home or in a hospital. That's why you have to treat him this way.

Isn’t it easier in our electronic era to ask a doctor to write out an electronic sick leave? After all, it is as legal as a paper one. But so far, however, it is not issued everywhere - many clinics, hospitals and enterprises have not yet had time to prepare for this. The fact is that in order to issue an electronic form, both medical institutions and employers are required to enter into an agreement with the Social Insurance Fund (SIF), install suitable services and acquire electronic signatures. An electronic sick leave certificate only works when both parties are ready to complete it and are required to fill out the document in their part. Such a mutual commitment to electronic interaction is necessary, but not sufficient. To issue an electronic sick leave, the patient’s wishes in writing are also required.

If a recovered citizen declares that he wants a sick leave certificate in electronic form, the doctor opens such a document and enters all the necessary information into it. By the way, issuing an electronic sick leave is much more convenient than a paper one. After all, mistakes can be corrected during the process. And the fact that the discharged patient does not receive anything in person also has its advantages - the document never gets wrinkled or lost.

How to prepare for electronic sick leave

In order to be able to fill out electronic forms of incapacity for work for employees, a company or individual entrepreneur must sign an agreement with the FSS branch in the region where their business is registered, and purchase an enhanced qualified electronic signature (ES), if it does not already exist. Next, you need to register with State Services (the Social Insurance Fund system will definitely request it). To do this, it is first recommended to register the head of the organization as an individual and confirm his identity.

To confirm, you can use various methods:

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contact the Service Center with your passport and SNILS;

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receive an identity verification code by mail;

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confirm personal data remotely, verifying it with an enhanced qualified electronic signature.

Such an electronic signature can be purchased at the accredited certification center Taksky. Then, through the confirmed director’s record, create an account for an organization or individual entrepreneur on Gosulugi. And after that, register in the policyholder’s personal account on the official website of the Social Insurance Fund.

Please pay attention!

In order to fill out electronic sick leave for employees, the employer must install a special program “Preparation of calculations for the Social Insurance Fund”. It can be downloaded from the department's website. But you can also find the ELN, fill it out and submit it to the FSS using the Taxcom company service. The software product for submitting reports to government agencies “Online Sprinter” easily copes with this too.

How to inform the HR officer about electronic sick leave

A recovered employee must remember or even better write down his electronic sick leave number, unless, of course, for some reason he received a coupon from the doctor along with the number. It is through this that the personnel officer can find sick leave. Moreover, the employee has the right to submit the document number both on the coupon and in a message by phone or online.

The HR specialist, in turn, must process the electronic slip in the policyholder’s personal account or in his accounting program and transfer it to the accountant. The information noted on the electronic sick leave, as a rule, does not differ from that entered on the paper sheet. Their list is fixed by an internal local act. The number and composition of employees participating in the preparation of an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (ELS) is established by the company management.

Where is the electronic sick leave certificate stored?

To identify the electronic sick leave, you will need the following data: last name, first name, patronymic of the employee; his SNILS and ELN number. The HR specialist must enter them in the policyholder’s personal account. He can get to this account through the FSS website, or the ESIA (Unified Authentication and Identification System), or the UIIS “Sotsstrakh” portal. How to do this step by step, read the material.

At the same time, it is recommended to print out electronic sick leave - they may be requested by the tax office during an audit of insurance premiums. But since contributions for disability benefits are not assessed, you do not need to sign the printed ELN. The Federal Tax Service may also be interested in attachments to sick leave with calculations of benefits.

Who is involved in paying for electronic sick leave?

An electronic certificate of incapacity for work is paid in the same way as a paper one. The company compensates the benefits for the first three days of illness, the Social Insurance Fund - for all the rest. The Social Insurance Fund pays for personal income from the first day only in certain cases: if the employee had an occupational disease or an accident at work; he received prosthetics in a specialized hospital; received further treatment in a Russian sanatorium after hospitalization and in his direction; took sick leave to care for a family member; was in quarantine with a child under seven years of age attending kindergarten or with another incapacitated family member.

The benefit is assigned within 10 calendar days from the date the electronic sheet appears in the policyholder’s personal account. Paid on the next salary.

An employee brought an electronic sick leave certificate, but the company is not ready to accept it: what to do?

This also happens - the employee had no idea that the company was not connected to the system of electronic interaction with the Social Insurance Fund, but he really wanted a sick leave in electronic form and issued it. There is nothing wrong with this case. You just need to ask him to go to the medical facility for a paper duplicate, since it is issued only at the request of the patient.

In such a situation, the medical institution, canceling the electronic sick leave certificate, issues the patient a paper duplicate. This document is marked “duplicate”, the number and date of its issue are indicated, and the period of incapacity for work is indicated in one line. In this case, the ELN record is not deleted. But the date of issue of the sick leave certificate is considered to be the date of registration of the paper duplicate.

Despite the fact that every employee has the right to apply for electronic sick leave, only those who have registered with State Services can track their sick leave certificates. In order for an employee to control accruals for sick leave benefits, he needs to create a confirmed account on the portal using the same algorithm as the director’s account.

In the electronic sick leave, the accountant sees codes instead of a diagnosis

There is no need to find out from the employee what he was sick with. In order to correctly calculate the benefit, the code of the reason for disability indicated in the electronic sick leave certificate is sufficient. For example, code 01 means disease. It is used for most illnesses and indicates that the recovered employee is entitled to full payment of benefits depending on length of service. Code 02 indicates an injury that prevents the employee from going to work. It only excludes injuries sustained at work. For this, code 04 is used. Quarantine is 03, maternity leave is 05, and so on. The total number of codes is 12. The list of codes was approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia No. 624n dated June 29, 2011. Codes instead of diagnosis have their advantage. They are easier to operate and there is no need to decipher the doctor’s usually incomprehensible handwriting.

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Advantages and disadvantages of electronic sick leave

Advantages:

control over falsification. The FSS electronic system is reliably protected from hacking;
easier to fill. There is no need to select the color of a fountain pen, check every letter, typos, blots, and make corrections easily;
no special archives are needed for storage. The document remains in the FSS system indefinitely. Plus, finding it by number is easy and quick;
availability. An employer or employee can easily track the amount and terms of accrual on the Social Insurance Fund website in their personal account;
saving time in registration, which will allow doctors to spend more time with patients.

Flaws:

it will be necessary to improve computer equipment and train employees to use the program, and this will entail additional expenses that are unreasonable for small businesses;
since the system has not yet been “tested”, malfunctions in the programs cannot be ruled out;
the low technical equipment of clinics in certain regions of Russia will slow down the implementation of information technologies.

However, the advantages of introducing an electronic newsletter outweigh the disadvantages.

In what cases does an employer not accept electronic sick leave?

Perhaps, for technical reasons, the organization does not yet work with electronic data. Letter No. 2-09-11/22-05-13462 dated 08/11/2017 says:

“... If the employer is technically unprepared to generate an electronic certificate of incapacity for work, the medical organization has the right to replace the generated electronic certificate of incapacity for work with a certificate of incapacity for work...”

For detailed information on filling out the EBL by a medical institution, see here.

Procedure for issuing an electronic certificate of incapacity for work

After examining the patient and recording his illness, which requires temporary removal from official duties, each doctor is obliged to clarify: in what form is required to fill out a certificate of incapacity for work. If a citizen agrees to receive an electronic document, the procedure for its execution will be as follows:

Providing written consent to the physician to receive a virtual hospital bulletin;
Opening a document by entering the relevant information into the Social Security Fund database. Until the patient is discharged, neither the employee nor his employer will have access to the document;
After completing all treatment measures and complete restoration of health, the attending physician closes the sick leave certificate, then the document is made available to the public, where it can be found by the corresponding number;
Providing the number of the certificate of incapacity for work to the employer or to a specialist in the financial department of the enterprise, who also enters the necessary information about his employee;
After checking the document and saving it, the information is automatically sent to the Social Insurance Fund, whose representatives check the sheet again, and then charge the worker the appropriate amount of material compensation.

Thus, the procedure for filling out an electronic form is similar to filling out a paper one, however, at the same time, there is a noticeable saving of time for the attending physician and the employer/accountant, who can easily correct any error made in the document and not waste their own time sending documentation to the Social Security Fund.

Actions of the health worker and the employer when working with ELN

Let's consider what each participant in the document flow should do. And also what to do if the employer does not accept electronic sick leave and whether it is possible to replace the electronic sick leave with a paper one.

Employee actions

According to Letter No. 2-09-11/22-05-13462, payments for sick leave will be calculated regardless of the version in which the bulletin is presented to the employer. In addition, the patient himself chooses which option to present to the human resources department. But it is better to request the usual paper version, being sure that the employer does not accept electronic sick leave. Otherwise, it is more convenient and reliable to issue an ELB.

If the choice fell on the electronic option, then in this case written consent will be required from the employee.

Actions of the health worker

Registration starts when you first contact the doctor. In your personal account on the website cabinets.fss.ru or using a specialized program connected to the FSS, the latter enters the patient’s examination data and his diagnosis. The program itself assigns a sick leave number, which is communicated to the patient.

After recovery, when the ballot is closed, the EBL is certified with the electronic signatures of the doctor and medical institution and sent to the FSS through the program. This operation is free and considered highly secure.

On the first working day after the end of sick leave, the employee provides the electronic document number to the HR department.

Employer's actions

To process electronic sick leave, the employer needs computer equipment, access to a personal account on the State Services portal, and an approved electronic signature. You can work with a document by logging into your personal account on the Internet resource cabinets.fss.ru or through specialized programs.

Using the number provided by the employee, the personnel officer or accountant finds the sick leave in the system and enters the necessary information about the employee: length of service, salary, etc. Based on them, the program itself will calculate the amount of the benefit.

After processing the sick leave, the information is certified by the enterprise’s electronic signature and sent via the network to the Social Insurance Fund. Payments are made to the employee within 10 calendar days.

For detailed information on filling out the EBL for an employer, see here.

Who should be responsible for replacing the EBL with a paper version?

This should be done by an employee. But so far, few people know what to do if the employer does not accept electronic sick leave, so the enterprise is obliged to correctly explain its further actions.

What to do if the employer refuses to accept an electronic certificate of incapacity for work

Earlier in the article it was mentioned that an electronic sick leave certificate has the same legal significance as its paper version. In this regard, no employer has the right to categorically refuse to accept such a document to a subordinate, much less threaten to refuse to accrue financial benefits for temporary disability. Such an act on the part of the employer is not only a violation of the law, but also an infringement of the rights of the employee.

To be able to restore lost rights, a citizen should fill out a corresponding application addressed to his employer indicating a link to the provisions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation that were violated by the official.

If the boss refuses to consider a written complaint or simply ignores it, the worker has the right to send a complaint to the Prosecutor's Office, whose representatives will be required to initiate various inspections at the enterprise. Based on the results of investigative measures, appropriate measures will be taken against the official, and in addition, he will be required to accept an electronic sick leave form from the employee and pay the necessary compensation for the entire period of incapacity.

An appeal to the Prosecutor's Office should be sent no later than 7 days from the date of receipt of the electronic bulletin, since during this period the document is considered new. At the same time, the likelihood of bringing the boss to justice, if the deadlines for filing a complaint are met, will be the highest. Before filing a formal complaint with this government agency, it is recommended to check the document received by the medical institution to ensure that there are no errors or inaccuracies.

How to replace an electronic sick leave with a paper version

The employee may not be aware of the company’s capabilities and automatically agrees to the electronic registration of sick leave, but the HR department says that sick leave will not be accepted in this form.

In this case, is it possible to change the electronic sick leave certificate to a paper one? Yes it is possible. To do this, the employee will again have to contact the medical institution with a written request to provide him with a paper version of the certificate of incapacity for work. The doctor will issue a paper document marked “Duplicate”, assign a number, indicate the date of issue and duration of illness. After this, the previous electronic version will be canceled, but a record of it will be saved in the program database.

If the doctor refuses to replace the patient with a paper version, then you can submit a complaint to the head physician in writing. The complaint is written on two sheets, the first is sent to the medical institution against signature, the second remains with the patient. If this measure does not help, you must contact the Ministry of Health.

Sample application for replacement of electronic sick leave

For what periods the benefit is not assigned?

In cases specified by law, the company’s accounting department has the right not to pay social security to the employee, even if he has a issued certificate of incapacity for work. Such exceptions apply to the following situations:

Release of a person from performing labor duties with or without maintaining earnings;
Suspension of an employee from work without preservation of earnings;
Taking the employee into custody;
Imposition of administrative punishment in the form of arrest;
Performing forensic medical research;
A period of downtime (with the exception of when the illness began before the downtime).

Why don't they accept electronic sick leave?

There are several reasons for refusing to accept the electronic version of the certificate of incapacity for work. The most common is that the company is not connected to the electronic document flow of the Social Insurance Fund and does not have the technical ability to process sick leave. Since connection to electronic services is not yet mandatory, the organization has the right to refuse this. Then you will need to contact a medical institution and ask for a paper version of the document. In this case, the doctor will make a note about invalidity in the electronic version.

Sometimes the refusal is due to the fact that the organization was connected to the necessary services by decree “from above” (this is especially true for budgetary institutions), however, personnel officers and accountants do not want to learn a new way of preparing documents, preferring to do it “the old fashioned way.” However, if the employer has the technical ability to connect to the Social Insurance Fund services and process electronic sick leave, he does not have the right to refuse to accept it.

There is no clear answer to what to do in such a situation. From the FSS Letter it follows that the right to choose the form of sick leave belongs to the employee. Therefore, we can conclude that his request to replace the electronic version with a paper one should be granted. In case of refusal, you can write a complaint addressed to the head physician of the hospital. However, the same Letter states that a medical organization has the right to replace the electronic version with a paper version, but does not say that it is obliged to do this.

Read more: How to write a petition for an employee sample text

The FSS itself explains that if an organization is technically unable to accept an electronic sick leave, the document is issued in paper form. However, you must first make sure that this possibility really does not exist. Since mid-2021, the necessary services have been built into some accounting programs, so sometimes you can fill out an electronic version of documents without additional registration in the system.

Is it possible that the digital version of a document is not accepted at work?

If an organization has switched to electronic document management, management undertakes to accept sick leave from its employee in any format: both paper and electronic.

If the organization has not switched to electronic document management, and does not plan to do so in the future, then management needs to notify its employee about this in advance. After all, the subordinate independently chooses in what format he will receive sick leave - electronic or classic, i.e. paper _

How can a company connect to the system of electronic interaction with the Social Insurance Fund?

Registration takes place through the State Services portal. However, the employee who is responsible for processing sick leave must first provide an electronic digital signature (EDS). To do this, you need to contact an accredited certification center. If there is such a signature, it is worth further clarifying whether it is compatible with your personal account on the FSS website. Then you need to conclude an agreement on information interaction with the FSS. To do this, you need to contact your local branch and sign an agreement.

To gain access to the service, the director of the company must register the company on the State Services website in his personal account on behalf of an individual. After this, he has the opportunity to log into the policyholder’s personal account using his login and password. If another person is handling the sick leave, the director must take care of access for him as well. To do this, the portal allows you to add an employee in your personal account and send him an invitation giving him the right to access information.

For now, connecting to an electronic document management system is not necessary. However, if the company refrains from this step, it is advisable to warn employees about this and ask them to file sick leave in paper form.

What determines the size of payments?

In accordance with the standards established by the law of December 29, 2006, number 255-FZ, the percentage of payment for sick leave depends largely on the length of insurance. To calculate, you need to know the important points that are listed below.

In case of illness, receipt of various injuries (with the exception of industrial injuries), being under quarantine, prosthetics prescribed for medical necessity, or undergoing treatment in a sanatorium, an employee has the right to the following benefit, which is proportional to the existing insurance period:

for eight years or more, the benefit amount will be one hundred percent of the employee’s average earnings;
from five to eight years - the payment amount will be reduced to eighty percent;
less than five years - a certain minimum of sixty percent.

If an employee is diagnosed with an occupational disease or is injured as a result of an accident that occurred at work, he is paid a benefit in the amount of one hundred percent, regardless of his length of insurance (the amount is calculated based on average earnings).

In the case of caring for a sick child undergoing outpatient treatment, the amount of the benefit depends on the length of insurance as follows, as in the situations specified in paragraph 1, but with a slight adjustment:

eight years or more - one hundred percent in the first ten days, then fifty percent for each day of incapacity;
from five to eight years - also eighty percent for the first ten days, then fifty percent each;
up to five years - payment is already sixty percent for the first ten days, then fifty percent.

If it is necessary to care for a child or an adult family member who is in a hospital, the benefit received by the employee will depend on the length of insurance according to the usual procedure (clause 1):

up to five years - sixty percent;
from five to eight years - eighty percent;
eight years or more - one hundred percent.

In the event of illness or injury of a resigned employee, only on the condition that thirty calendar days have not passed since the dismissal, he is entitled to a benefit in the amount of sixty percent of the average earnings for any insurance period.

In all of the above situations, the preparation of the necessary documentation for submission to the social insurance fund lies directly with the employer. But the employee needs to make sure that the data used is correct and the papers are submitted on time. This will greatly contribute to the timely receipt of payments. Employers often “forget” about their obligation to provide documents.