What is an e-sheet?
Despite the fact that the use of the new document is growing, many employees and employers do not know the difference between an electronic sick leave and a paper one. Purely externally, they are very similar, since both formats contain the same cells to fill. The main difference is that the electronic form is filled out in a special program, while the paper form is filled out manually.
This is what a paper certificate of incapacity looks like:
And this is a sample certificate of incapacity for work from the personal account of a fictitious enterprise:
Procedure for working with electronic sick leave
After the electronic certificate of incapacity for work (ELN) is closed, the employee will inform the employer of the sick leave number. In this case, the employee does not have to come to work and submit sick leave to the accounting or personnel department. An employee can provide the employer with an ELN number in any way convenient for him - hand in a coupon with an ELN number, provide his sick leave number by phone or on the Internet.
Please note: a coupon with an ELN number issued by a medical organization is not the basis for assigning insurance payments. The coupon is intended to inform the citizen that the ENL has been formed.
Next, the employer requests in the information system of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation (EIIS “Sotsstrakh”) an Eln by his number and the employee’s SNILS.
Then the employer needs to fill out information about the employee, the employer, the employee’s length of service and his earnings and send them to the Social Insurance Unified Information System with qualified electronic signatures of the chief accountant, manager and the employer-legal entity.
How to use the new type of sick leave
Three authorities are involved in the registration and payment of an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (ELS):
- Medical institution.
- Employer.
- FSS.
If at least one link in this chain is not connected to the UIIS “Sotsstrakh” (Unified Integrated Information System), it will not be possible to issue a digital document. Here's how to switch to electronic sick leave for your employer:
- Conclude an agreement on interaction with the regional Social Insurance Fund.
- Register with the Social Insurance Unified Insurance System.
- Train an accountant to use the new program and obtain a digital signature for him.
- Install digital signature authentication software.
- Inform employees about the innovation.
Of course, the electronic document is much more convenient than its paper counterpart; falsification of such a document is practically impossible, so the risk of unreasonable payments is minimized. In addition, document flow is simplified and the burden on HR officers and accountants is reduced. However, the choice of format remains up to the patient, who independently expresses a desire to receive ENL in writing.
ConsultantPlus experts examined the established features of sick pay during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic (SARS-CoV-2 virus). Use these instructions for free.
When the preparatory activities are completed, let’s figure out how the electronic sick leave sheet works in practice:
- The doctor generates a certificate of incapacity for work in the Social Insurance Fund system and sends it to the Social Insurance Unified Insurance System.
- An ill employee receives a unique number from the doctor.
- The employee transmits the number to the employer's accounting department.
- Using the received number, the accountant finds the sheet in the Social Insurance Unified Information System and fills in the required fields.
- After the accountant completes filling out the form, it is sent to the Social Insurance Fund.
- The FSS deals with the calculation and payment of benefits.
IMPORTANT!
You can search for an employee’s personal identification number in the Social Insurance Unified Information System not only by a unique number, but also by SNILS.
ELN contains all the same columns as the paper form:
- average earnings for calculating benefits;
- insurance experience;
- total for accrual;
- work start date.
Despite the external similarity, in order to fill out the document correctly, install the latest software and its update package. After completing the filling, the document is saved, certified with digital signature and automatically sent to the Social Insurance Fund.
As for the procedure for paying for a digital certificate of incapacity for work, it is no different from paying for the paper version.
Transition from paper to electronic documents
With the entry into force of Federal Law No. 86-FZ dated May 1, 2017, medical organizations began the transition to issuing electronic certificates of incapacity for work (sick leave). According to this regulatory act, medical institutions can issue them on a par with conventional paper documents. That is, at present such a transition is a voluntary measure from a legal point of view.
Reference! Paper forms operate as before, but in the near future the government plans to switch completely to electronic format.
To print or not
What is written with a pen cannot be cut out with an axe. This truth is adhered to by most enterprises, so almost all HR officers and accountants know how to print an electronic sick leave sheet. Do I need to print? The answer on the official website of the FSS states: there is no need to print out and store a copy of the ENL. A digital document has the same legal force as a paper one, but, unlike the traditional version, it is stored in the FSS information system, the Unified Integrated Information System “Sotsstrakh”.
When is the best time to take sick leave?
As a rule, when it is necessary to close a certificate of incapacity for work, it is the doctor, not the patient, who decides. Usually, with a standard ARVI, this happens a week after opening. Depending on the severity of the disease, the bulletin may be extended.
It is worth knowing that, at the request of the patient, the sick leave can be closed ahead of schedule - however, for this you will have to sign a refusal to undergo treatment. But this rule does not apply to those patients who are infected with an infectious disease that can infect other people.
If a patient refuses to comply with the doctor’s instructions or violates the regime (for example, while undergoing treatment in a hospital), his sick leave will not be closed, and therefore he will not receive payments from the Social Insurance Fund.
An unclosed ballot has no force for the FSS!
Sick leave for public services
According to recent information from the Ministry of Digital Development, the ELN service is now available on the State Services portal. That is, you can view your electronic sick leave at any convenient time through a mobile application or on the State Services website. Users will also receive notifications about changes in the status of the electronic tax account: opening, extension, closure, etc. The following are stored in the personal account:
- Document Number;
- doctor's details;
- information about the medical institution;
- information about the period of incapacity for work.
Which sick leave is better to take?
As a rule, the patient is not offered to choose which type to apply for. If technically possible, the certificate of incapacity for work will be issued electronically. Of course, the ELN is more convenient for the patient: it cannot be lost or dented, and there is no need to specifically go to the accounting department to give it away (the ELN comes there on its own via the Internet).
Also interesting: find out the difference between a medical mask and a respirator and gas mask - which best protects against viruses.
How quarantine differs from self-isolation, observation, emergency situations and curfew - read all about the innovations in citizen behavior regarding coronavirus here.
Non-working day, day off and quarantine - what is the difference and how is it paid:
New procedure for issuance and registration
From December 14, 2020, a new procedure for registration and issuance of sick leave will come into force, enshrined in the order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated September 1, 2020 No. 925n. The innovations will affect not only how to obtain an electronic sick leave certificate for an employer, but also corrections of errors in the document and the nuances of anti-coronavirus measures.
Innovations for part-time workers
If an employee works in several organizations at the time of temporary disability or maternity leave, he has the right to issue several paper or one electronic sick leave. If the employee prefers the second option, he informs each employer of the document number.
IMPORTANT!
An employee is not required to extend sick leave in the form in which he originally received it. That is, he has the right to receive an electronic slip if he initially opened a paper one, and vice versa.
Error correction
Not all organizations know what to do with the electronic sick leave for the employer, so errors in filling out are common. If such a misunderstanding occurs, you will have to fill out the document again and send it to the FSS along with an explanation of the reason for the error.
IMPORTANT!
The explanation is certified by strengthened qualified electronic signatures of the manager and chief accountant.
Quarantine sick leave
Employees who will be quarantined will be issued certificates of incapacity for work for the entire period of restrictive measures. The innovation will affect:
- citizens arriving from abroad;
- persons in contact with patients;
- persons recognized as carriers of the pathogen.
Now this norm applies only to the last two categories of citizens. In addition, an employee has the right to receive sick leave to care for a child under 7 years of age or for an incapacitated family member. But only if the organization these people visit is closed for quarantine.
Detailed comparison
Who does it?
Both paper and ELN are issued by the attending physician of the medical organization.
Do you need documents for registration?
In the case of a paper form, only the patient's passport is required . But to register an electronic form, in addition to a passport, the patient will be required to provide written consent.
How is filling done?
A special form is filled out by hand with a black gel pen in block letters, or the information is typed on a computer and then printed out in a special program. In the case of an electronic form, in addition to the usual program, the doctor enters the necessary data into an additional one developed by the FSS.
Is there protection against counterfeiting?
A paper sick note is actually not protected from counterfeiting. EDN, on the contrary, is protected from forgery by transmitting it in encrypted form and adding an enhanced doctor’s signature. Such a signature is paid and costs about 1 thousand rubles per year.
How is the document transferred to the FSS?
The patient receives a formalized sick leave and takes it to the employer. He, in turn, organizes the transfer of data to the insurance service. This is how the system works in the case of a paper version.
In the case of electronic document management, in order to transfer a document from the Moscow Region to the Social Insurance Fund, it is necessary to organize a communication channel via the Internet, which is not always possible, especially since in some workplaces such access is prohibited for security reasons. Therefore, setting it up may require additional implementation costs.
Another difference of the innovation is that in order to switch to the new system, the employer must first go to the Social Insurance Fund branch and sign an agreement on information interaction.
It is noticeable that the process of issuing sick leave becomes much more complicated. Especially considering that the municipalities that are part of the healthcare system, and not the Social Insurance Fund, act in accordance with their own regulatory legal act - Order of the Ministry of Health dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n “On approval of the procedure for issuing certificates of incapacity for work.”
This document clearly defines the issuance of a blank sheet. No changes related to the need to switch to ELN were made to this order, which means that the doctor in any case must write out a paper sick leave.
Read more about the intricacies of working with ELN and interacting with the Social Insurance Fund here, and here you will learn about the nuances of working with an electronic sick leave certificate in the VLSI system.
Advantages and disadvantages
The advantages of introducing ELN include:
- Reduce paperwork.
- Simplifying the company's document flow and reducing paper archives.
- The ability for the employer to track sick leave dates.
- Eliminating the risk of errors when filling out forms (a typo can be easily corrected).
- Acceleration of interaction with the Social Insurance Fund (no need to send a paper version there).
- When closing a sick leave, patients will not have to stand in line waiting for printing: the data will be immediately sent to the employer.
Disadvantages of the innovation:
- Costs for the Ministry of Defense for electronic signatures of doctors and Internet communication (if it has not been established).
- Execution of an additional document - the patient’s written consent to issue sick leave in a new format.
- Additional actions of the registering physician: in addition to entering data into a special program according to the standards of the healthcare system, it is necessary to enter the same into another program for the Social Insurance Fund.
- The introduced scheme for issuing sick leave violates the main requirement of the order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation No. 364 “On approval of the concept of creating a Uniform State Health Information System”, namely the quote “... one-time input and repeated use of primary information (received from a medical (pharmaceutical) worker, citizen, official) ..."
- Non-compliance with order No. 624n.
Important! The electronic idea of the FSS legislates an additional burden on doctors and contradicts current regulatory documents.
To realize all the advantages of introducing ENL, the integration of two different electronic documentation systems: the one used by doctors and the one filled out for the Social Insurance Fund can significantly help. Until this happens, it is more expedient to continue issuing standard paper sheets, the design of which requires much less resources from the participants in the interaction.
Answers from the Ministry of Labor on registration of sick leave during the quarantine period
The employee returned from abroad. The employer insists on leave without pay
The employer is acting unlawfully. In the current situation, an employee has the opportunity to receive electronic sick leave due to quarantine. To apply for such sick leave, the employee will fill out an application and submit a photo of documents confirming the trip in his personal account on the Social Insurance Fund website.
For how long will an employee be given sick leave due to coronavirus quarantine?
Sick leave due to quarantine is issued for 2 weeks at once and will be paid in installments. The first payment will be received after 5 working (7 calendar) days of being on sick leave, and the second – after its closure. The amount of sick leave pay for quarantine does not differ from the usual level of sick leave pay.
Is it worth it: pros and cons
As with everything in the world, the system of electronic sick leave certificates has its pros and pitfalls. But – spoiler alert – there are significantly more goodies. Let's take a look.
Advantages of electronic sick leave:
1. Process automation. Registration of a certificate of incapacity for work in electronic form reduces the number of body movements on all sides: it is easier and faster for a doctor to fill out a file rather than running around with printouts, an employee does not have to carry a piece of paper in a file to work (and forget it at home for three days in a row), the employer does not have to store these sheets and fill them out.
2. Reduce the risk of errors and reduce verification time. Most of the information is filled out on the form once, and then entered automatically, so that errors on the part of the hospital are minimized.
3. The employee will not lose his certificate of incapacity for work and will not have to go out to get a new one. One of the main advantages of an electronic sick leave is that a dog will not eat it, a child will not paint it, and a gust of wind on the subway will not blow it away. You laugh, but HR officers and accountants have no time to laugh, they do this all the time.
4. The risk of receiving false certificates is reduced. With electronic sick leave, the employer can be sure that he is not paying for a fake illness, after which the employee returns with a luxurious tan and a vague explanation. You cannot buy an electronic certificate of incapacity for work during the transition. Of course, the risk of having “familiar doctors” remains, but, you see, it is lower.
5. The payment procedure is simplified. Since the Social Insurance Fund took over the calculation and transfer of benefit payments, headaches for employers have decreased.
6. Storage and accounting costs are reduced. A nice bonus: the policyholder does not need to store sick leave certificates for his employees, either in paper or electronic form. All this information is on the FSS servers, and the employer has an order of magnitude less hassle.
Disadvantages of electronic sick leave:
1. It's not easy to fix a mistake. If an employer made a mistake when filling out an employee’s certificate of incapacity for work, then it will not be possible to correct it “in two clicks.”
2. No one ruled out a “system error”. Any system sometimes glitches. The servers are down, the program is crashing, the Moon is in Capricorn, well, you get the idea. During the time of use, FSS was not noticed in frequent failures, but there is always a risk.
3. You become dependent on electricity, the Internet and computer performance. But such is the 21st century.
How to connect?
To start using the electronic sick leave system, an organization needs to complete a number of simple steps:
1. Conclude an agreement with the regional office of the Social Insurance Fund for information interaction.
2. If you still have not acquired a strengthened qualified electronic signature, then now is definitely the time - it is the one that is used to sign the certificate of incapacity for work on the part of the employer. You can get a signature at accredited centers; find the nearest one here.
If you already have UKEP, make sure that it is compatible with the Unified Integrated Information System (UIIS) “Sotsstrakh” FSS.
3. Register the policyholder’s personal account on the FSS website. To do this, the director of the company must be registered as an individual on the government services website. If he has a confirmed account with government services, then he will be able to register a company on the FSS website. You can log in to your personal account using your government services login and password.
Personal account fss.ru
4. Start using it. This can be done through the policyholder’s personal account on the FSS website or using special software - for example, “Preparation of calculations for the FSS”, which can be downloaded from the fund’s website. But most accounting programs, including our beloved 1C, can also be integrated with this system. You can look at the full list of programs on the FSS website, here.
5. Don’t forget to inform your employees that they can now receive electronic certificates of incapacity for work, otherwise they will continue to bring you stacks of paper.
