Payment for electronic sick leave in 2021

Unfortunately, each of us is familiar with the situation when you feel that you are getting sick... Weakness, headache, chills are just a small list of unpleasant symptoms. The next day, as a rule, health worsens, and the person can no longer work fully at his workplace. The employee becomes temporarily unable to work, and the doctor prescribes bed rest to the patient. Unfortunately, not only a banal ARVI can cause a sick leave, and in some cases this document does not indicate the employee’s illness at all.

So, sick leave. What it is? To whom is it entitled by law? How are working disabled citizens paid for sick leave benefits?

General information about sick leave

A sick leave certificate is an official document with a stamp that confirms the temporary disability of a working citizen. The updated form of the certificate of incapacity for work was approved by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation No. 347 n. dated April 26, 2011.

In fact, a sick leave certificate is an official document that confirms a valid reason for an employee’s absence from the workplace. The sick leave record reflects the time period of the “vacation” and the reason for its opening.

There are many valid reasons, the justification of which leads to the issuance of sick leave. To make the procedure for filling out the form much faster and easier, instead of long names and expressions, you can simply enter the appropriate codes. At the same time, the doctor’s time is significantly saved, and text filling of information is reduced to a minimum. The list of codes can be found on the back of the form.

The certificate of incapacity for work, being a financial document, is regulated by the following regulatory framework:

1. Labor Code of the Russian Federation;
2. Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development “On approval of the procedure for issuing certificates of incapacity for work” dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n .
3. Law “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity” dated December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ .

The sick leave must reflect clear terms, full name. patient, and full name medical worker who issued the sick leave. The authenticity of the financial document is confirmed by the seal of the medical organization. The Letter of the FSS of the Russian Federation No. 14-03-18/15-12956 dated October 28, 2011 (clause 2, paragraph 2) states that the seal impression can contain only 2 text options:

1. “for sick leave”;
2. "for certificates of incapacity for work."

The current disability form has a high degree of protection against counterfeiting. At the very top of the document, in different corners, there are elements of its protection:

1. In the upper right corner there is a barcode containing 12 digits;
2. In the upper left corner there is a binary code that completely eliminates the possibility of falsification.

According to FSS statistics, as a result of thorough checks of machine-readable forms, the number of fake sick leave certificates in Russia at the end of 2021 decreased by more than 20%. Complex security codes on forms help reduce the number of counterfeit sheets.

In 2021, verification of sick leave certificates will become even more stringent, and there is hope that electronic sick leave will eventually reduce falsification to zero. On the official website of the FSS there are recommendations explaining how you can identify a fake certificate of incapacity for work. Now it is no longer possible to turn to “your” doctor for help in obtaining a sick leave certificate. No law-abiding doctor will put a false start or end date on sick leave. The Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation monitors each paid certificate of incapacity for work.

A necessary condition for issuing a sick leave certificate is that the medical worker has the appropriate position and a license to carry out medical activities. Recently, it has been additionally checked whether the doctor who issued the sick leave certificate has a license to examine the temporary disability of a working citizen.

Based on a correctly completed form, the employee is legally paid a benefit, the amount of which, like any citizen’s income, is subject to income tax of 13% ( Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation ).

Typically, the first 3 days of sick leave are paid by the employer, and the subsequent days - by the territorial body of the Social Insurance Fund. An exception is the temporary disability of an employee due to caring for a sick family member, quarantine and treatment in a sanatorium. In the listed cases, temporary disability benefits are paid in full from the budget of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation.

The Social Insurance Fund compensates the employer for the costs of paying disability benefits. But in the regions participating in the “Direct Payments” pilot project, when the Social Insurance Fund pays full benefits to an employee, the funds are directly transferred to the citizen’s bank card, excluding compensation of funds to the employer from the chain of the system.

According to statistics from the Social Insurance Fund, at the end of 2021, over 40 million sick leaves were issued to citizens of the Russian Federation, and more than 300 billion rubles were allocated to pay for them.

Circumstances in which a working citizen has the right to receive sick leave

The legislation of the Russian Federation provides for special life situations and circumstances when a working citizen is officially allowed not to attend the workplace.

An incomplete list of the most important and common reasons for registration of sick leave by citizens of the Russian Federation:

1. Illness of the citizen himself (infectious, cold - in severe form, exacerbation of chronic diseases requiring treatment in hospital, surgical intervention);
2. Employee injury;
3. Caring for a sick family member;
4. Sanatorium and resort treatment in the Russian Federation, prescribed by the attending physician;
5. Quarantine (including for a child under 7 years of age who attends kindergarten);
6. Maternity leave. In this case, a certificate of incapacity for work is issued by an obstetrician, with whom the woman is officially registered for pregnancy at 30 full weeks. The duration of sick leave is 70 calendar days before childbirth and the same amount after childbirth. In case of multiple pregnancy, sick leave starts from the 28th week and continues until 110 days after the day of delivery.

The importance of correct filling

Like all government forms, the disability certificate is machine readable and requires special attention to complete. When drawing up a certificate of incapacity for work manually, the doctor must use exclusively black ink, and also follow the following rules:

1. Fill out the sheet with letters of the Russian alphabet;
2. Assign one symbol to each cell;
3. Leave a space (one empty cell) between the last name and first name and in the name of the organization, if required;
4. Use only capital letters when filling out;
5. The doctor who issues sick leave must be familiar with the document on the rules for issuing sick leave, namely, Letter of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation dated August 5, 2011 No. 14-03-11/05-8545 .

The employer must pay special attention to the correctness of filling out the employee’s sick leave, otherwise, if errors are made, the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation has the right to refuse reimbursement of expenses. And then the employer will receive unexpected financial damage in the amount of the benefit payment.

If an error is detected, the attending physician may issue a duplicate sheet.

Interesting fact! If a financial document is lost, the right to receive benefits by a temporarily disabled citizen is legally retained for another six months (this time is given for the possibility of restoring the document in the form of a duplicate - Article 12 Part 1 of Federal Law No. 255 of December 29, 2006).

The procedure for issuing a certificate of incapacity for work for working citizens in 2021

In the life of every person, at least once a situation has occurred in which he temporarily became unable to work. What does an officially employed citizen need to do to confirm his inability to work? First of all, contact a specialist for a medical examination of what happened.

After being examined by a doctor, the date for opening a sick leave depends on the specific situation:

1. The patient is issued sick leave on the first day of seeking medical help;
2. After some time (if the situation is not critical, for example, requiring the necessary tests and additional examinations).

The recovery of an employee or a member of his family is also certified by a doctor. On the day of discharge from sick leave, the doctor fills out the sick leave sheet to the end and hands it to the patient. The calculation of sick leave includes all days, including weekends, vacations and holidays.

The employee must notify the employer about the opening and closing of sick leave. On the first day of going to work, the employee must submit a financial document to the personnel department or accounting department for further calculation of benefits (Clause 1 of the Procedure approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n.)

Temporary disability benefits are accrued within 10 working days. The funds are transferred in full to the employee’s account along with the next payment of salary or advance payment of the monthly salary (Article 15, Part 1 of Federal Law No. 255).

However, the amount of benefit payment may be reduced to a minimum due to the temporarily disabled person’s failure to comply with the hospital regime. For example, if a patient does not show up for a scheduled appointment with the attending physician without warning and indicating a valid reason. In this case, a mark is placed in the corresponding paragraph of the sick leave certificate, confirmed by the doctor’s signature.

Only officially employed citizens are entitled to receive sick leave benefits. That is, officially employed individuals who pay taxes to the Social Insurance Fund ( Article 2 of Law 255-FZ ).

Calculation of sick leave in 2018

To calculate disability benefits, you must follow the following step-by-step “instructions”:

1. Calculate the employee’s total earnings for the last 2 years (for which insurance premiums were calculated);
   Attention! It is necessary to take into account whether the amount of earnings exceeds the established maximum limit (for 2021 - 755,000 rubles, for 2021 - 718,000 rubles). If not, take the actual amount into account.
2. Calculate average daily earnings. To do this, the total amount of earnings (point 1) must be divided by 730 (this is the standard value for calculations - 2 calendar years).
3. Determine the average daily benefit depending on length of service (paying attention to exception cases).
4. Calculate the total amount of benefits payable: multiply the daily amount of benefits (point 3) by the number of days of incapacity for work of the employee indicated on the stamped sick leave certificate.

Federal Law No. 255 spells out in detail all the conditions and algorithm for providing temporarily disabled working citizens with cash benefits. The amount of cash payments for sick leave benefits directly depends on the employee’s length of service.

As a rule, benefits are calculated based on the employee’s average earnings over two calendar years. If the employee has been on maternity leave for the last 2 years or this period coincided with her maternity leave, in this case one or two years of work experience can be replaced.

In accordance with Article 15 of Federal Law No. 255, insurance experience is counted only with the provision of supporting documents:

1. Work under an employment contract (employment contract, work book);
2. Municipal service (work book);
3. Military, law enforcement service (military ID);
4. The time period when an individual, being an individual entrepreneur, voluntarily contributed contributions to the Social Insurance Fund (receipts for payment of contributions).

The influence of insurance experience on the calculation of benefits for temporary disability of an employee

The ratio of the insurance period and the percentage accrual of benefits to the employee in 2021:

By the way, the minimum wage (minimum wage) in 2021 is 9489.00 rubles.

However, there are exceptions to the above table. For example, if an employee has a Chernobyl certificate or the employee worked in the Far North until 2007, then the sick leave benefit is paid 100%, regardless of his length of service. And also if a certificate of incapacity for work was opened due to the illness of a minor child undergoing outpatient treatment. In this case, for the first 10 days, cash benefits are accrued according to the employee’s length of service, and the remaining days of sick leave are calculated in the amount of 50% of his average earnings.

The exclusion of the dependence of the benefit amount on the employee’s insurance record also includes sick leave accrued for pregnancy and childbirth. In this case, cash benefits are paid in the amount of 100% of average earnings. And in the same way, sick pay is calculated for employees who have received work-related injuries.

Minimum and maximum sick leave benefits in 2018

There are often situations where an employee has not had any earnings over the past few years. Or the average earnings over the last two working years were below the minimum wage. In these cases, sick leave benefits will be calculated from the minimum wage.

As for the minimum amount of sick leave benefits, everything is very clear. But not everyone understands the concept of a “maximum sick leave benefit.” It is based on a constant value of the maximum daily earnings of citizens. This monetary value is equal to 2021.81 rubles. That is, if an employee has a higher average earnings, then the Social Insurance Fund will not pay extra for the difference between the actual calculation of benefits and the maximum possible amount of benefits. The employer will have the choice of paying extra “out of pocket” or withdrawing the amount of sick leave benefits equal to the maximum possible.

Why was this particular amount approved as the maximum daily earnings of an employee? In 2021, the maximum base for calculating insurance premiums was 718,000 rubles, and in 2017 – 755,000 rubles. From this the maximum daily allowance is calculated: 718,000 rubles. + 755,000 rub. = 1,473,000 rub. The result is divided into 730 days (standard). It turns out 2021.81 rubles.

What is insurance experience, how does it differ from work experience?

To reliably understand how sick pay is calculated in 2021, you need to know what insurance coverage is. This concept is broader than work experience. It includes all periods during which you were covered by Social Security for temporary disability.

What is included in the insurance period:

• length of service - the period of your work under an employment contract at all places of employment;
• state civil/municipal service;
• work as an individual entrepreneur;
• military service;
• performing the duties of a deputy of the State Duma;
• etc., the list according to legislation is impressive.

Electronic sick leave is an innovation that is not available to everyone

Russia's massive transition to electronic services has also affected the medical industry. Along with the idea of ​​​​the emergence of electronic policies, in 2014 there was a proposal to introduce a system of electronic disability certificates into the healthcare system.

The pilot project was launched in 2015 in the cities of Astrakhan, Tambov, Khabarovsk, Samara, the implementation of which showed results in the form of a reduction in forged documents, as well as a reduction in the load on the staff of medical institutions and the work of accountants of employer organizations.

From July 1, 2021, the electronic certificate of incapacity for work officially received the status of a legal financial document in the Russian Federation. There are no plans to cancel the paper form; the electronic analogue will for now only become an alternative to the usual classics.

In 2021, a patient who is issued a sick leave certificate has the right to choose in what form the financial document will be issued: paper or electronic. An electronic version of a sick leave certificate can be issued only with the written consent (application) of the citizen.

However, even if the patient writes an application for an electronic certificate of incapacity for work, the law does not yet oblige medical institutions to fulfill this desire of the citizen due to the following circumstances:

1. The medical institution does not have an enhanced qualified electronic signature (Federal Law No. 86 of May 1, 2017);
2. Lack of technical capabilities for data exchange (for example, a problem with installing a special computer program);
3. Lack of a strong Internet connection necessary to work on the website www.cabinets.fss.ru.

The idea of ​​creating and introducing an electronic sick leave certificate into mass social use has great prospects for development. This system can significantly facilitate the work of medical institutions, employers and the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation. The regions participating in the pilot project have already experienced the convenience of using the electronic sick leave certificate, which they share in their regional reports.

Electronic certificates of incapacity for work certainly have a number of significant advantages over paper forms:

Despite all the advantages and the progressive development of the experimental system in the cities selected for the implementation of pilot projects, difficulties in widespread use of the system remain. Some citizens of the country are only now beginning to learn about the existence of this innovation, despite the fact that the project has actually existed for more than 4 years. The transition to electronic sick leave certificates will require a lot of time, effort and financial support from the state.

Switching to electronic sick leave: what an accountant needs to know

How the transition to electronic sick leave format will affect the work of accountants. Let's figure out who is responsible for what.

Electronic sick leave – what is it for?

From July 1, 2021, medical institutions will be able to issue electronic sick leave certificates along with traditional paper ones.
The law on the introduction of an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (ELN) came into force on July 1, 2021. In essence, this is a regular sick leave certificate, but issued in electronic form. What is it for?

Firstly, it is assumed that with the help of electronic sick leave the volume of paper document flow will be reduced.

Secondly, the FSS notes the convenience of combining information on sick leave into a single database, which will make document flow faster and more transparent.

As a result, it will now be possible to guarantee the safety of an employee’s medical history, for example, if he moves or is accidentally lost. In addition, this means that falsifying a sick leave certificate is now an impossible task, since the regulatory authorities seriously intend to store information about the disease on state servers.

Thirdly, this system implies significant budget savings due to an automated system for storing and processing information.

What has changed since July 1, 2021

Let's consider a standard situation - an employee of Dandelion LLC, A.A. Smirnov. is unwell, and he goes to a medical institution, where, after undergoing an examination, the doctor diagnoses him and writes out a certificate of incapacity for work, which contains information about how long the person is suspended from performing official duties, what the cause of the disease is and the nature of the treatment. Next, after transferring the sheet to the personnel department or accounting department of Dandelion LLC, department employees add the necessary information to the sick leave section “To be completed by the employer.” It is important that this section is filled out by hand in printed capital letters, without using a ballpoint pen. And after providing these documents, a decision will be made on payment of compensation.

Now, from July 1, 2021, after visiting the hospital Smirnov A.A. no longer receives a certificate of temporary incapacity for work - instead, he will be notified that the fact of visiting a doctor has been registered in the database. Then the employing organization, using the number of its electronic certificate of incapacity for work, requests data from the Social Insurance Fund and pays for this sick leave, after which the accounting or personnel department employees will send information about the amount paid to the Social Insurance Fund and receive permission for compensation.

Based on the examples discussed above, we can draw the following conclusion: the main difference of the new system is that the employee is no longer a connecting element between the medical institution and the company for which he works.

What are the advantages?

If we talk about the advantages of this system for employers, the main thing is that filling out documents electronically saves time and makes work easier. That is, cases when accountants are faced with sick leave incorrectly issued by a doctor are gradually disappearing, and the risk of receiving a claim from the Social Insurance Fund is reduced, and the guarantees of payment of sick leave are increasing.

In addition, the possibility of loss or damage to the document is eliminated, not to mention the fact that the accountant no longer has to think about the color of the ink and possible errors when filling out the information on the sick leave sheet manually.

This system is also beneficial for employees - while on sick leave, they can independently check what data the doctor entered when filling out the electronic sick leave. And if there is an error, promptly seek its correction.

How does the ELN system work?

The exchange of information is supported by a single special electronic interaction system – the Unified IIS “Sotsstrakh” of the FSS of the Russian Federation. The main components of this system are the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, employers and medical institutions. It is also worth noting that the written consent of the employee is required to issue an ENL. Having received it, the doctor records this in the program and informs the applicant of his sick leave number. Later, this number must be transferred by the employee to the accountant or personnel officer at the place of work for calculating benefits and further filling out part of the sick leave.

In order to become a full-fledged participant in the ENL system, it is necessary to comply with the following points:

1. The organization needs to obtain an enhanced electronic signature compatible with the Social Insurance Unified Information System.
2. The organization must be registered on the Government Services Portal of the Russian Federation (gosuslugi.ru).
3. It is necessary to submit a written agreement on information interaction with the FSS.
4. First you need to open a personal account on the website cabinets.fss.ru.
5. In addition, if you wish, you can register on the website of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation to quickly view the movement of electronic insurance using the “Account of the Insured Person” service.

Formation of ELN

Now let’s look at the scheme of interaction between a medical institution, an employer, an employee and the Social Insurance Fund in stages:

1. An employee, having contacted a medical institution, gives consent to the medical employee (as noted above - in writing) to generate an electronic sick leave.
2. The medical employee generates an electronic medical record (this feature is implemented in 1C: Medicine 8), signs it with the electronic signature of the doctor and the organization, and then provides the generated data to the Social Insurance Fund.
3. An employee who applies for an appointment is given a unique ERN number for subsequent transfer to the place of work.
4. The employing organization from 1C, using the ELN number provided by the employee, receives sick leave data from the Social Insurance Fund database.
5. In 1C, based on the data received and information previously entered in the program, temporary disability benefits are automatically calculated.
6. The employee is paid sick leave, and information about the amount of payment is sent to the Social Insurance Fund.
7. Partial payment for sick leave is received from the Social Insurance Fund (for regions of “direct” payments). Let us recall that since 2011, a large-scale reform of the social insurance system has been carried out in Russia, called the FSS pilot project. The project represents a change in payments for temporary disability, maternity leave, and the birth of a child. According to the pilot project, this is not done by the employer, but directly by a government agency - the Social Insurance Fund.

What an accountant needs to know: implementation in “1C: Salaries and HR Management 8”

As noted above, employers can receive ENL data directly from the 1C program. Electronic sick leave and, most importantly, exchange with the Social Insurance Fund, are currently implemented in the 1C: Salaries and Personnel Management 8 program, ed. 3, starting from version 3.1.2.293.

List of minimum requirements:

1. Platform 8.3.10 or higher.
2. Configuration "1C: Salary and HR Management 8", ed. 3.1.2.293 and higher.
3. Connection to 1C-Reporting. The FSS certificate for ENL is configured automatically (without user participation) if 1C-Reporting is connected.

Document "Sick leave"

When filling out an electronic sick leave, you need to fill in the basic information:

• Full name of the employee;
• information about the organization (if the database maintains records for several organizations);
• received ELN number.

Next, when you click on the “Receive data from the Social Insurance Fund” button, the sick leave sheet will be filled in with the ELN data received from the Social Insurance Fund. The program also automatically calculates the benefit amount based on information about the employee’s earnings and length of service. Information about the medical organization is also downloaded automatically.

Using the 1C-Reporting service, you can create an electronic register. To do this, you need to go to the “Reporting, certificates” section – “1C-Reporting”.

When creating the registry, the user can choose how the tabular part of the registry will be filled in:

• “Fill” button – the table is filled by default with ETNs that have not yet been sent;
• “Add” button – providing the opportunity to select specific ENL to be sent to the FSS.

To see detailed information about the electronic sick leave, you need to double-click on the line with the electronic sick leave of interest - then an additional information form will open for viewing.

When posting a document, the program will automatically check that the required fields are filled in.

Finally, when you click on the “Send the register to the FSS” button, the register generated in the program will be sent to the FSS.

We thank the Progressive Accountant newspaper for the material provided