Does an employer have the right to refuse to accept an electronic sick leave certificate?

Author of the article: Yulia Kaisina Last modified: January 2021 21591

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

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

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

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

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

But this measure is desirable:

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

Goals of introducing electronic sick leave into circulation:

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

Features of registration of a sick leave for a disabled person

In this case, citizens may face several situations.

Let's find out what the law says:

• Patients with chronic diseases in remission, as well as if they are undergoing a medical examination or undergoing treatment procedures in an outpatient setting, are not issued a sick leave certificate. In such situations, citizens can ask the doctor to make an extract from the outpatient card (clause 26 of the Procedure);
• for a person, the certificate of incapacity for work will be closed on the last day before official registration with the bureau of medical and social examination for assignment of a disability group (Article 28 of the Procedure).

Attention! If a person has been assigned a disability group that allows him to work, then upon the onset of illness, medical workers must issue a certificate of incapacity for work on a general basis.

When a severe pathology is detected, doctors already assume that the disease cannot be cured. Therefore, in the initial stages, a cancer patient is issued a sick leave certificate , but after four months he must be sent for a medical and social examination to register his disability.

Advantages and disadvantages of electronic sick leave

Advantages:

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

Flaws:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why don't they accept electronic sick leave?

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

Expert commentary

Gorchakov Vladimir

Lawyer

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

In practice, sometimes stalemate situations arise: the doctor issued an electronic sick leave, but the employer is not able to process it because it is not connected to the electronic database. At the same time, the medical institution refuses to replace the document, and the organization does not want to connect to electronic document management. The employee turns out to be a hostage: he has the right to sick pay, but cannot realize it for reasons beyond his control.

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

In this regard, some lawyers interpret the refusal to accept electronic sick leave as a violation of the employee’s rights and believe that the employer is obliged to ensure its processing and install an appropriate program. However, Rostrud does not confirm this. You also need to understand that registering in the system and receiving an electronic digital signature will take some time, so receiving money for sick leave may take a while. In addition, while the obligation to join the electronic document flow of Social Insurance is not yet enshrined in law, the manager has the right to voluntarily decide whether he wants to do this.

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

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.

Procedure for issuing an electronic certificate of incapacity for work

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

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

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

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

In what cases is it legal to refuse to issue a sick leave certificate?

As we have already said, the list of legal refusals to issue sick leave is approved by subparagraphs 22 and 26 of the Procedure.

Let's list some of them:

• the patient has no symptoms or signs of the disease;
• if a person falls ill during leave at his own expense, for maternity leave, if the citizen is caring for a child until he reaches three years of age;
• the person who applied undergoes a medical examination or is sent for examination by the military registration and enlistment office;
• the citizen is in custody;
• the patient has a chronic disease, he has addressed all stages of exacerbation;
• a person is a student of educational institutions (of various types).

In addition, sick leave for caring for disabled citizens cannot be counted on in certain cases (clause 40 of the Procedure):

1. when treating a patient in a hospital over 15 years of age;
2. patient care takes place during non-exacerbation periods;
3. if the woman has already received a certificate for pregnancy and childbirth;
4. for caring for a minor child under three years old, if the parent does not go to work.

Other cases of refusal to issue a sick leave certificate are illegal. For example, if a person gets sick and turns to a medical institution for help outside his locality, the refusal is unlawful. Since a citizen, if he has a compulsory medical insurance policy, has the right to seek medical care at any medical institution in Russia, even if he does not have a residence permit in a given locality. This rule is regulated by Article 16 of the Law of November 19, 2010 No. 326-FZ.

Next, we will consider several cases about which our readers most often have questions.

Deadlines for paying sick leave

According to the provisions of Art. 12 255-FZ, the employee is obliged to provide a sick leave certificate to the employer’s accounting department no later than six months from the end of the disability. For example, if he recovered on 07/17/18, the document must be presented to the company before 01/17/19. If the employee does not meet the specified deadlines, the benefit is not transferred.

The accounting department that received the document is obliged to accrue benefits within 10 days. Funds are issued to the citizen in the chosen method (cash or to a bank card) with the next payment of wages.

For example, if an organization transfers salaries on the 5th and 20th of each month, and a specialist brought a certificate of incapacity for work on the 6th, the accountant is obliged to calculate the amount no later than the 16th and issue it to the employee on the 20th. The law does not prohibit a company from paying money earlier than the specified period, if it has such an opportunity.