What does an electronic sick leave look like in 2021?

What does electronic sick leave mean for an employer?

Sick leave is the basis for the appointment and payment of benefits for temporary disability or pregnancy and childbirth (Part 5 of Article 13 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ). A certificate of incapacity for work can be issued either on paper or electronically.

What should an employer do with electronic sick leave in 2021?

Employers using electronic sick leave do not need to ensure the safety of sick leave certificates. After all, all information from the moment the electronic certificate of incapacity is opened is stored in the Social Insurance Fund system, and the employer can request it repeatedly. And when the FSS conducts an inspection of the employer, there will be no need .

To start working with electronic sick leave, you need to enter into an agreement with the Social Insurance Fund. And only in this case, and also with the employee’s consent, can electronic sick leave be accepted (clause 2 of the Rules, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 16, 2017 No. 1567).

Sick leave introductory information

Licensed medical organizations (for example, clinics) issue sick leave certificates to working individuals in case of loss of ability to work. Also, certificates of incapacity for work are issued to confirm the right to maternity leave, as well as for the period of caring for unhealthy family members (for example, children). Such leaves are usually called simply “sick leave”.

As a general rule, an employee must present a sick leave certificate to the employer (company or individual entrepreneur) on the day he returns to work. After all, it is with this document that he can justify his temporary absence from work (clause 1 of the Procedure approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n).

What does an electronic certificate of incapacity for work look like?

What does electronic sick leave look like in 2021? Where can I see the photo?

The form of electronic and paper certificates of incapacity for work is essentially the same . The form of the certificate of incapacity for work was approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development dated April 26, 2011 No. 347n. And the procedure for generating electronic certificates of incapacity for work is by order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated September 1, 2020 No. 925n. It’s just that the electronic sick leave is issued in the form of a file , and not on paper.

How it works

A medical institution opens an electronic hospital document according to the following scheme:

An employee, having visited a doctor’s office, informs him of his desire to take out an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (in short – ESL). At the same time he:
informs the doctor about the participation of the employer-insurer in the information exchange of information necessary for the formation of “digital” sick leave;
fills out and signs an application for consent to issue a document in electronic form;
presents SNILS or reports its number.
The doctor sends an online request to the information system (Social Insurance) to assign a number to the document. Having received it, the health worker, using specially developed software, fills out the ELN. The sick leave number is provided to the insured person (patient).
Having completed the steps to issue an electronic sick leave, the doctor certifies it with a digital personal signature.
The medical institution certifies the generated document via the network with its own signature and sends it to Social Insurance.

If an employee’s illness has been prolonged and a certificate of incapacity for work needs to be extended, it is supplemented with new entries as necessary. After the sick leave is closed, a corresponding entry is made in the ENL, the document is certified with the digital signature of the doctor and the clinic, and then sent to Social Insurance.

This service is provided to patients of medical organizations free of charge. All information is transmitted through special secure channels, which are considered inaccessible to prying eyes or data correction by an outsider.

When will an electronic sick leave be issued in 2021, and when will a paper one be issued?

Sick leave in electronic form is issued at the request of the person. To do this, he writes consent to receive a certificate of incapacity for work electronically. There is no obligation - no .

The electronic sick leave is certified with an enhanced qualified electronic signature and placed in the FSS information system - the Unified Integrated Information System "Sotsstrakh". Paper equivalent - not issued .

Read more about this on the official website of the FSS here.

To receive a sick leave certificate in electronic form, the medical organization and the employer must be participants in the Sotsstrakh information interaction system.

The employee can find out whether the employer is connected to this system from the accounting or human resources department.

To connect to the Social Insurance system, employers can use their own modified software, as well as the policyholder’s personal account.

Pros and cons of electronic sick leave

When introducing an electronic certificate of incapacity for work, it is not planned to completely remove the usual paper certificate from circulation.

Somewhere this form will have to be abandoned due to poor technical equipment or for some other reasons, but it is absolutely certain that it will be considered obsolete.

Since the transition to a virtual form of document circulation is so promoted, let’s consider what arguments can be given for and against it.

Arguments FOR electronic	Arguments against
For a patient, obtaining sick leave is ideally simplified: you don’t have to come to the hospital, don’t sit in lines, but simply call the doctor and inform them that you are going to work.	Doctors have to learn new computer programs. It is not easy for older people to do this, which threatens them with removal or errors in the design of the sheet.
Enormous savings of personal time. For both the patient and the doctor. As a result, instead of wasting precious minutes on bureaucracy, the health worker will devote them to the patient.	Nobody canceled the possibility of an error, equipment failure, etc. Moreover, here the same human factor is superimposed on the operation of electronics as before.
There is no need to store paper like the apple of your eye. On the farts, the patient will not have sheets that cannot be lost, stained or bent.	Reorganization of some departments and structures responsible for working with electronic sick leave is required. This can be expensive and time-consuming.
There is no need for the employer to maintain a real archive and store paper sick leave - all information is received electronically and is easily processed.
The new system of virtual sick leave will help eliminate abuses when issuing sick leave certificates. However, for some this is an argument against it.
If there is a single information base, neither doctors nor patients will need to re-enter the same data about the owner of the certificate of incapacity each time.
Employers will no longer be able to delay sick pay. The law will establish clear deadlines within which the employer will have to pay the employee. The Social Security Fund will be able to easily track its implementation.
Calculations for benefit payments can be checked using a special software calculator.

For people who are hospital patients, the innovation should not bring additional hassle or worries. Perhaps for those who don’t mind deceiving their employer.

This can be challenging for doctors to master the technique. In general, the bill regulating the transition to virtual certificates of incapacity for work may still change when the system is tested in more medical institutions.

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The employee reported that he has an electronic sick leave: what should the employer do?

If the sick leave is generated electronically, the employer will receive from his employee only the number of the electronic certificate of incapacity for work. information from the Social Insurance system about the issued certificate of incapacity for work.

The employer cannot find out the specific diagnosis from the certificate of incapacity for work. The sheet contains only the code. It will also not be possible to view sick leave certificates that the employee received while working for other employers.

Since 2021, the FSS pilot project “Direct Payments” has been extended to all regions of Russia (Federal Law No. 401-FZ dated November 30, 2016). This means that employers must continue to pay only :

the first 3 days of sick leave;
additional days off to care for a disabled child;
funeral benefit.

The FSS pays the rest of the benefits itself .

In 2021, an electronic sick leave benefit must be assigned for temporary disability and maternity leave within 10 calendar days from the date the employee applies with an electronic sick leave number. And the payment of benefits must be made on the day closest to the date established for the payment of wages .

If an employee brings an electronic sick leave certificate, and the employer has not switched to electronic interaction with the Social Insurance Fund, the employee will be asked to replace the electronic certificate of incapacity for work with a paper one.

Previously, a register of information was transferred to the FSS for calculating benefits by offset. It also indicated in what form the sick leave certificate was received from the employee - paper or electronic.

KEEP IN MIND
In 2021, FSS employees called organizations and demanded that they switch to electronic sick leave as soon as possible. However, the employer has the right to refuse to use electronic sick leave. This rule applies to all companies.

If the employer does not want to deal with electronic sick leave, you do not have to connect to the Unified Integrated Information System of the Social Insurance Fund “Sotsstrakh”. Then employees will continue to be issued sick leave on paper. And even if the medical institution issues an electronic form to the employee, he will have to return for a paper form. This does not threaten the employer in any way (FSS letter dated 08/11/2017 No. 02-09-11/22-05-13462).

What is EBL

The sick leave certificate we are used to is a paper document issued by a medical institution to confirm a citizen’s temporary inability to work. Sick leave can be issued both in paper and electronic form. Both types have the same legal force according to Federal Law No. 86 of 05/01/2017. Several types of payments are also prescribed under EBL:

due to illness;
for pregnancy and childbirth;
monthly child care.

The document is signed with an enhanced electronic signature by the doctor and the employer. Sometimes a signature from a medical provider is required.

The introduction of an electronic form does not replace the usual paper type. Not all categories of citizens are ready to switch to this type of documents. For example, it is inconvenient for pensioners or residents of rural areas to use virtual sheets.

However, EBL has undeniable advantages: it cannot be lost or damaged, or doused with water, for example. Therefore, citizens were left the right to choose a form convenient for them.

Technical features of working with electronic sick leave in 2021

The introduction of ENL allows you to immediately correctly create a register in accordance with the requirements of the Social Insurance Fund. In your personal account, you can immediately draw up an application for payment to the employee and give it to him for signature. Also, the program will automatically update the details of the clinic and the bank, so errors for the benefit recipient are excluded .

Also, in your personal account, you can send several e-numbers and registers at once (relevant for large companies with a large staff) . The register and electronic login can also be sent by a company serving your business or a remote accountant.

The digital signature certificate automatically checked for authenticity, and the registry is checked for errors. If you made mistakes, you can see them in the protocol and correct them immediately .

If you have already sent the register to the Social Insurance Fund via electronic tax record and noticed an error (for example, in determining the length of service), this can be easily corrected: you need to create a new register with updated data and send it again in your personal account to the Fund.

Actions of HR officers upon receipt of ELN

After the certificate of incapacity for work is closed by the medical institution, access to it is given to the patient’s employer. Let's discuss how to get an electronic sick leave certificate for your employer.

Having learned from the employee about the closure of the ELN, the responsible person downloads the certificate of incapacity for work into the accounting system or searches for the ELN on the Fund’s website, in his personal account, and begins processing.
The fields about the employee’s length of service, his average earnings, and period of illness are filled in.
After the sick leave has passed the format and logical control, if there are no errors in filling it out, an ETN register is generated for sending to the FSS gateway.
Payment is carried out either according to the traditional “offset scheme”, when the FSS compensates the organization for the amount paid, subject to payment at the expense of the Fund, or the FSS separately transfers money to the patient’s account or through a postal transfer.

The FSS has implemented the possibility of using the automated workplace program “Preparation of calculations for the FSS”. The program involves performing a full range of actions necessary to work with electronic tax records - from receiving a sheet to submitting registers. Instructions for use are available for download on the Foundation’s website.

What will the employer need?

The head of the organization needs to prepare for the gradual abandonment of paper sick leave. There is no ban yet on patients receiving a paper sheet, but the future lies with ELN. Therefore, at the stage of debugging the system, it is better for the manager to keep up with innovations and make adjustments in work:

Set up work in your personal account, obtain electronic digital signatures for the manager, accountant and authorized representatives.
Install the FSS certificate.
Instruct the organization's staff.
Synchronize the processing of electronic tax records in the accounting database with Social Insurance Fund data.
Train responsible persons.

How can an employer view the ELN?

To find an employee’s personal identification number, log in to the employer’s personal account and find the sheets by assigned numbering, full name, duration of illness or SNILS details (the search query selection appears when you change the personal account interface). However, it is impossible to create and send ETN registers using your personal account - the organization does this stage in software, as when processing paper sheets.

If the accounting database is already configured for downloading ENL from the Social Insurance Fund website, then find the “Get data from FSS” button - as a result, closed ENL will be uploaded to the company’s database and access will be opened for filling. After filling out and saving the entered details, send the sick leave registers to the FSS gateway.

How to pay electronic sick leave for an employee

Details for calculating benefits are entered on the form and sent to the Social Insurance Fund for verification. After verification, the Social Insurance Fund either compensates for the costs of paying the organization’s benefits, or transfers the appropriate amount of benefits to the employee’s bank account. If the question arises about how to print an electronic sick leave certificate, then each program involved in the processing of electronic sick leave has a “Print” button that initiates printing of the document. We remind you that there are no requirements to store electronic information on paper and maintain archival records.

Benefits for employers from 2021

Working with sick leave on the principle of direct payments allows the employer not to have a reserve of funds to pay benefits. This improves the financial stability of policyholders.

When electronically processing sick leave certificates, it takes significantly less time to fill them out. Also, when filling out it is almost impossible to make mistakes (except for the calculation part).

When preparing reports to the Social Insurance Fund, you do not need to calculate the amounts that should have been offset against the amount of insurance premiums and benefits paid. This greatly simplifies the work of an accountant.

Advantages and disadvantages of electronic registration

On the one hand, the reduction of paperwork and the high degree of reliability of the electronic document are its undeniable advantages over paper counterparts. However, this method still has many disadvantages.

Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of issuing sick leaves in electronic form

Advantages of ELN	Cons of ELN
Data about the owner of the electronic medical device is entered once and does not require re-entering, which frees up the doctor’s time to communicate with the patient.	It is not yet possible to fill out and issue electronic certificates of incapacity for work if a doctor is called to the patient’s home. It is likely that a special gadget will be developed in the future.
Such sick leave cannot be spoiled, which leads to significant savings on a national scale.	New technology is poorly understood by older healthcare workers and employees who are poorly versed in computer programs. Its implementation requires additional training.
Electronic LNs are much more difficult to counterfeit - this requires high technical literacy, special knowledge and labor-intensive work.	Virus attacks are possible, after which the data stored in the system can be either completely destroyed or changed to incorrect.
When calculating benefits, fewer unintentional errors are made; they are easier to check and correct.	Connecting to the unified Social Insurance system will require additional financial investments (purchase of computers, software, training events, etc.).
There is no need for numerous checks by the insurer.	The doctor’s inept handling of the program, freezing and other problems with the equipment may not save time, but, on the contrary, make visits to specialists even longer.

Benefits for employees from 2021

As for workers, starting from 2021, the widespread use of ENL eliminates violations in the assignment of benefits. The employee is no longer dependent on the employer in this regard.

Payments have become more transparent , which has increased the social security of all residents of the Russian Federation.

An employee can easily check information about the timing and amount of the upcoming sick leave payment in his FSS personal account by gaining access through the State Services website. If there is no Internet, this can always be done directly through FSS employees.

The introduction of electronic sick leave allows you to receive benefits in several ways:

postal transfer;
to a bank account;
to a payment card.

That is, this part is not tied to the salary project.

If the employee only knows the card number, the benefit can be received by indicating only this detail in the application (ideally, the bank’s BIC or correspondent account).

How it works?

The interaction between the clinic, the Social Insurance Fund, the employer and the employee may seem complicated at first glance. Despite the fact that the electronic sick leave form was adopted in mid-2021, they began to be used only in December 2021. Therefore, not all employers are yet connected to the FSS personal account system, and not every clinic issues a virtual sick leave. It is expected that soon all medical institutions will switch to a convenient system of working with the Social Insurance Fund.

The procedure for obtaining an ELN in the FSS office is simple:

the employee seeks medical help at a clinic or hospital, where an electronic sick leave is issued to him;
after discharge, the specialist signs an electronic document with a qualified electronic signature indicating the period, cause of disability and other necessary nuances for the Social Insurance Fund;
the employee is given a sick leave number to work with in his personal account, with which he goes to the accounting department at his enterprise;
Using the specified data, the accountant finds an electronic sick leave in the personal account of the FSS policyholder. This is a section on the fund’s website where a legal entity or individual entrepreneur can register.

conclusions

So, the following points will help you understand the issue of payment for electronic sick leave in 2021:

Electronic sick leave completely replaces paper ones. An employee can be prescribed it only if both the employer and the medical institution are connected to the Social Insurance Unified Information System;
In the UIIS, an electronic sick leave appears after it is discharged by a medical institution. There the employer fills out his part of the document. to print and store electronic sick leave ;
to work with the Unified Personal Information System, an organization needs a personal account on the State Services website;
You can work with the UIIS through the policyholder’s personal account on the FSS website or the FSS software, or through an accounting program that allows this.

How does electronic sick leave work?

An electronic sick leave certificate (electronic sick leave) is a special certificate that confirms that an employee has been treated for any illness due to which the employee could not perform his or her job duties for a certain period of time.

The e-mail also applies to cases of pregnancy, quarantine and care of third parties who are members of the employee’s family. This certificate is opened by the employee from the doctor as a result of undergoing an examination, which confirmed that the person really needs treatment.

Previously, hospital certificates were issued only in paper form, but in 2021 this document can also be issued electronically at the request of the patient (however, a paper document can also be issued).

In all its key features, electronic records are no different from paper records, with the only exception that they are processed, stored and transmitted to various institutions in electronic form. Today, it is not possible to apply for an electronic card in all hospitals, but only in those that are connected to the Social Insurance electronic system.

In general, the email format looks like this:

When an employee goes to the hospital, the doctor creates a new sick leave electronically in a special FSS program. All information about the completion of treatment is entered into this document.
Upon completion of treatment, the doctor provides the employee with a special email account number and also sends a copy of the email to the Social Insurance program.
The recovered employee transfers the electronic account number to the accounting department.
Using the employee's number, the accountant finds an electronic copy of the email in the Social Insurance system database and fills out his part of the certificate. Then the accountant sends an email to the Social Insurance Fund.
After receiving the document, the FSS calculates and pays all necessary benefits.

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

What are the benefits?

The FSS of the Russian Federation reports that the benefits of this innovation are quite obvious:

The time for processing paper documentation will be reduced, and fewer human resources will be used. As a result, there are obvious savings for entrepreneurs.
are greatly simplified , because it is just an entry in the database. Checking the Social Insurance Fund does not entail any paperwork, but only comes down to familiarizing yourself with a digital document containing information about the employee’s illness and dates of temporary disability.
will be eliminated : it is impossible to falsify an electronic sick leave certificate; third parties do not have access to the database.

What are the disadvantages?

Despite the apparent advantages, the transition to electronic sick leave for employers does indeed promise financial benefits, but for ordinary citizens it can lead to losses.

For example, there is an interpretation by the Social Insurance Fund, according to which it is impossible to cancel payment for an electronic sick leave with incorrectly filled in details.

If you can still prove something with paper in hand, then you can’t make any claims against an electronic record in the database.

Correction of errors in electronic labor is not required. If an inaccuracy is noticed, the employer should be notified. The accounting department will file a new document. This is the interpretation of the FSS on its official website.

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.