What to do if an employee brings an electronic sick leave?

Author of the article: Yulia Kaisina Last modified: January 2021 21592

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?

How to refuse an Electronic Sick Leave

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.

The article tells how to replace an electronic sick leave with a paper one and how an employee and an organization can work with it. A sample application to replace a digital sick leave with a printed one is also provided.

How to replace an electronic sick leave with a paper version (read more...)

Employee 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. 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.

The patient refused sick leave. Electronic

For almost a year in Cherepovets, as in many other cities and regions, sick leave can be issued both on paper and electronically. But only if the patient agrees to this, and the doctor and employer have the technical ability to issue a digital document and accept it. “The Voice...” found out how many medical institutions in the city issue sick leave to their patients electronically, as well as what its advantages are compared to paper ones.

It's not a cheap matter

Since July last year, over 3,000 electronic certificates of incapacity for work (ELN) have been issued in the Vologda region; more than 25 medical institutions in the region are involved in working with them. In our city, as the head of the department for organizing medical care in Cherepovets, Sergei Podyapolsky , said, all medical organizations work with ELN to one degree or another.

“The first and seventh clinics have fully switched to issuing electronic sick leave (along with paper ones),” says Sergei Valerievich. — In polyclinic No. 2, not all doctors can yet issue sick leave certificates electronically. This is primarily due to the financial costs of installing the software product and creating a doctor’s electronic signature. In addition, incomplete sick leave certificates are issued electronically in the second city hospital. There are also certain restrictions, both technically and financially.

First in the region

As you know, in all matters related to electronic document management in the healthcare sector, clinic No. 7 is the leader. Therefore, it is not surprising that it was the first in the region to switch to the electronic document management system. Since the beginning of 2021, doctors at the clinic have issued 1,500 electronic certificates of incapacity for work.

“We began work on issuing electronic certificates of incapacity for work from the moment the corresponding decree was issued,” says the head physician of the institution, Pavel Dmitriev . — There was a period associated with technical issues when we did not issue electronic sick leave. But now everything has already been decided. According to the law, ELP is issued only with the consent of the patient. I believe that it would be much better if a government decree was issued approving the issuance of electronic sick leave certificates not on a voluntary basis, but on a mandatory basis. This would make life easier for all parties in the process: doctors do not have paperwork, patients cannot lose or damage sick leave, and the employer does not need to keep an individual under his supervision.

According to Pavel Yakovlevich, many patients refuse electronic sick leave; almost everyone explains this by the fact that accounting employees at their place of work require them to bring a paper document, since they do not have the technical ability to accept electronic sick leave. After all, in order to work in the ENL system, it is necessary to install special computer programs and train personnel to use them.

When preparing the material, we also talked with Lyudmila Lozova, the head physician of the second clinic, where work on the implementation of the ELN system has been going on for almost a year.

“Last year we received the electronic signature of five doctors, in 2018 - about ten more doctors,” said Lyudmila Evgenievna. — As practice shows, doctors like to work in this system because it eliminates the need to fill out paper documents and increases the time it takes to see a patient. To the extent possible, we will try to include all doctors in this system.

Advantages of ELN

How does the new service work? The attending physician fills out an electronic certificate of incapacity for work in a special program on a computer and reports its number to the patient. When closing a sick leave certificate, the doctor certifies it with his electronic signature. The recovered employee provides his or her ERN number to the employer, who gets access to the digital sick leave through the information interaction system, and the information is loaded directly into the employer’s accounting system. After the necessary processing, the employer transfers the data to the Social Insurance Fund (it is also connected to this system) to receive funds to pay for sick leave.

According to Sergei Podyapolsky, the electronic system has a number of advantages compared to paper document flow:

— Firstly, data about the patient who has issued an ELP is entered once and does not require re-entering. This significantly saves the doctor’s time - he can see more patients. Secondly, such sick leave cannot be spoiled; fewer errors are made when calculating benefits, which are then easier to correct. Electronic sick leave certificates are difficult to fake.

— If a person, while on vacation in another city, gets sick, can he go to the clinic at his place of stay to obtain an ELN?

— Theoretically, it can, but why such difficulties? What prevents you from receiving a sick leave certificate on paper? Until this system is clearly established, since not all medical institutions can afford to install such a system, there is no need to create unnecessary difficulties.

What determines the amount of sick pay?

Temporary disability benefits are calculated based on the average earnings that a person received in the two years preceding the year of temporary disability (for 2018 - 2021 and 2021), and from which insurance contributions to the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation are calculated. If the insurance period (this is the period of work during which insurance premiums were paid) is 8 years or more, the benefit is paid in the amount of 100% of average earnings, from 5 to 8 years - 80%, up to 5 years - 60%. If a person has suffered health damage due to an industrial accident, then sick leave benefits are paid to him in the amount of 100% of average earnings, regardless of the length of the insurance period.

Diana Bushmanova

How to refuse an Electronic Sick Leave

How to cancel electronic sick leave

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

Electronic or paper sick leave: what does the state think (read more...)

Employer's actions

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.

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.

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

How to replace an electronic sick leave with a paper version

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.

Important! An employer cannot view an employee’s sick leave data during illness. Access to data appears only after the BL is closed by a medical institution.

Is it possible to carry out the procedure?

Every employee officially employed at an enterprise or company must consult a doctor and take sick leave when illness occurs. Since he will be absent from work for a certain number of days, after recovery he must provide the employer with proof of illness so that he, in turn, can assign and pay him benefits.

From July 1, 2017, employees have the opportunity to choose a paper or electronic certificate of incapacity for work. In both cases, the documents have equal legal force. But to receive an electronic sick leave, you must give written consent. The main advantage of such a sheet is that, unlike a paper form, its formation reduces the likelihood of document forgery and incorrect information being entered. In addition, the employer no longer needs to worry about storing paper copies for 3 years, since the FSS can come with an audit at any time.

According to the letter of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation No. 2-09-11/22-05-13462 dated August 11, 2017, an electronic sick leave certificate can be replaced with a paper one if the employer does not have the opportunity to use the policyholder’s personal account on the Social Insurance Fund website. It is possible that a medical institution automatically generates an electronic sick leave, but the organization in which the employee works simply cannot accept it for technical reasons. Then the situation of replacing it with a paper sheet is allowed.

This will not be considered a violation and no fines are provided for in this case either, since Federal Law No. 86 does not indicate that the employer must necessarily become a participant in the formation of sick leave electronically and join the Social Insurance IS. The legislation established that the direct employer must assign and pay benefits for temporary disability of an employee. And the form in which sick leave is provided is not important; benefits are paid in any case.

How to cancel an Electronic Sick Leave

The FSS, like any other organization that positions itself as a tax agent, is obliged to carry out income tax calculations on any payments to individuals. But, since the electronic document registration system works much faster, monetary compensation can reach the employee’s personal account much faster.

The automatic system calculates the benefit based on the received data and transfers it to the personal account of the insured person . Having received compensation, the employee is obliged to notify the Social Insurance Fund about the fact of receiving funds, indicating the exact amount.

How to cancel electronic sick leave

Actions of the employer (read more...)

How to cancel an Electronic Sick Leave

The most common reason here is that the patient needs to come to work, for example, to complete a very important and urgent project. By law, an employer does not have the right to recall an employee from sick leave. If he does this, he will violate the provisions of Art. 2 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation on the prohibition of forced labor.

So far, no one has canceled paper sick leave: doctors issue electronic sick leave with the consent of the patient and only if the employer has connected to the new system. According to the FSS, since the launch of the system, 4.6 thousand out of 11.8 thousand clinics and hospitals have connected to it. This is 39% of medical institutions in Russia. If these include medical institutions where your employees are treated, you can already work under the new system and forget about the problems of paper sick leave certificates.

Is it possible to cancel a sick leave certificate and how to do it (read more...)

The procedure for registering sick leave (in its usual and electronic form)

Every citizen who is an employee officially employed in any organization, if health problems arise that prevent him from performing his job duties, is obliged to consult a doctor who will issue a sick leave, because for a certain period the patient will not be able to attend his workplace. Having recovered, he must present to the boss a document confirming his illness. And the employer will definitely assign and pay benefits to such an employee.

Since July 2021, an employee who has sought medical help due to poor health and needs to open a sick leave has the opportunity to choose what format the certificate of incapacity for work will have: paper or electronic.

Both documents are given equal legal force. However, the issuance of an electronic sick leave requires obtaining the written consent of the patient . The main difference between such a sheet and its paper “colleague” is at the same time its main advantage: with electronic registration, the risk of document forgery and entering false data is minimized.

An important advantage of introducing the new form of sick leave into reality is that the employer no longer has to worry about storing copies of sick leave certificates received from all his subordinates for 3 years (which was previously necessary for Social Insurance Fund checks).

Is it possible to close sick leave ahead of schedule?

Again, if, due to illness, the person was immediately hospitalized, and subsequently the stay on sick leave was extended by treatment at home, then the document is closed by the local doctor or a more specialized specialist with whom the patient completed the course of treatment.

How to cancel electronic sick leave

But in fact, an electronic sheet is practically no different from a paper one. This is the same usual sick leave, only in the form of an electronic document. It is signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature. To receive sick leave electronically, the employer must have software and access to the Internet.

Project Electronic certificate of incapacity for work

Having received the sick leave, the employer must fill out the “To be completed by the employer” section of the sick leave. This section is filled out in block capitals using a gel, capillary or fountain pen with black ink or using a printing device. You cannot fill out this section with a ballpoint pen. In this case, all entries should not go beyond the boundaries of the cells.

From July 1, 2021, both formats of sick leave will be in effect: “paper” and electronic. The doctor of the medical organization will issue a sick leave certificate either in printed form or electronically with the consent of the employee. The electronic sick leave data will be entered into a special database of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia. It will also be available to employers. The interaction diagram will look like this:

Electronic sick leave

Is it possible to cancel sick leave 2020

An electronic sick leave sheet is essentially an analogue of a regular paper sick leave sheet. Its social goals remain the same - confirmation of employee illness, compensation for lost wages. The only difference is that today all information is entered into a virtual database or electronic medical record immediately as soon as the patient seeks medical help. Next, we’ll talk about how the electronic version of a paper sick leave works, what its advantages and disadvantages are, and how to fill it out without errors.

What to do?

If an employer does not accept ENL, there may be various reasons for this. For example, this company has not yet switched to electronic document management. In this case, the employee, in order not to lose payment for sick leave, is recommended to contact the medical institution again and write an application for the issuance of a paper copy of the sick leave.

Is it possible for an employer to refuse to accept ELN in certain cases? Yes. Due to the fact that he is not connected to the electronic document management system with a medical organization, he does not have the right to accept an electronic certificate of incapacity for work.

In this case, the boss, based on Part 5 of Article 13 of Federal Law No. 255 of December 29, 2006, may ask his employee to change the electronic version of the document to a paper one.

Expert opinion

Vasiliev Oleg Borisovich

Many years of experience in various areas of law

If we proceed from the current legislation of the Russian Federation, then Article 183 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not establish a specific form of temporary disability certificate along with the obligations of their acceptance, but stipulates the right to receive temporary disability benefits for the employee and refers to the laws governing the procedure and conditions on this issue. In the case under consideration, this is Federal Law No. 255 of December 29, 2006 “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity.” In particular, paragraph 5 of Article 13 of this law indicates:

"5. The assignment and payment of benefits for temporary disability ... are carried out on the basis of a certificate of incapacity for work ... in the form of a document on paper or (with the written consent of the insured person) generated and posted in the information system of the insurer in the form of an electronic document ... if the medical organization and the policyholder are participants in the information system interaction for the exchange of information in order to generate a certificate of incapacity for work in the form of an electronic document.”

Thus, the union “or” in the cited norm of the law establishes its dispositive nature, and not its imperative nature, which in practice means that only the written consent of the employee (insured person) and the registration of the employer in the required system (with the necessary technical capabilities) gives the employee the right and possibility of using electronic sick leave. That is, despite the presence of Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1567 of December 16, 2021 on information interaction (on sick leave), it is a by-law to the norm of the law (Article 13 of Federal Law-255).

Employees should understand that not all employers, for various reasons, are able to accept electronic forms. There may be a lack of technical capabilities. Therefore, first of all, you need to directly ask the HR department, but it’s better to go straight to the accounting department, because it is she who is responsible for accepting bills and paying for them. After which you can submit an application to the medical institution to which you are attached. It will also be useful to have your own account on the State Services website - through it you can control/check your sick leave in the Social Insurance Fund system. Read about how to view your ELN on the FSS account here.

Also, we should not forget that in all controversial cases, it is necessary to immediately demand from the medical institution a paper form, preferably in writing with registration of the application, in order to avoid unnecessary delays or incidents.

8 (800) 350-29-87Saint Petersburg

Is it possible to replace the ELN with a paper version? Of course! This is done by the medical organization where the patient received it. To replace it, you must contact this institution again. The patient receives a paper duplicate directly on the day of treatment . In BL:

The “Duplicate” mark is set in a special line.
The number and date of issue of the certificate are indicated.
The duration of the patient's temporary disability is entered on one line.