Since 2021, in the Russian Federation it has become possible to issue certificates of incapacity for work in electronic format. Before the changes were introduced, this document was provided only in paper form. This option has repeatedly caused unjustified costs for the employer or government agencies. Therefore, EBL is considered a necessary innovation, which implies the need to study its features and nuances.
Why are electronic sick leave certificates (ESL) required?
Before learning how to check an electronic sick leave through State Services, you should clarify its purpose:
- for convenient tracking by the employer or employee of the results and duration of treatment, based on the results of which the required payments are assigned;
- increased protection of the document from forgery, which is important for the employer, because in practice, employees often resort to deception and collusion with doctors. It is not even necessary to negotiate with the employees of the medical institution, because counterfeit sheets can be purchased through other persons. Using a digital document helps prevent cases of fraud, so the head of an organization can avoid unnecessary costs;
- It is easier to fill out an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (ELN) than a paper version. In the second case, you need to be extremely careful and use a specific pen and writing style. If you make a mistake, you will have to rewrite the document completely. When filling out a sheet through the website, there is no need to be afraid of making a typo, because it can be corrected without damaging the form;
- the electronic sheet is stored without any time limits;
- there is no need to allocate a special folder or room for storing documents - all information is located on the FSS servers, which does not require additional space;
- an employee can independently familiarize himself with the contents of the sheet in his personal account on the website of the Social Insurance Fund without the need to waste time contacting the accounting department.
All this can be considered undeniable advantages of using ENL, so familiarity with this tool is necessary to fully understand the available capabilities and functions.
Payment
The employer’s responsibility is to calculate the compensation due for the period of the citizen’s incapacity for work. All data is entered into the form, after which it is sent to the FSS.
Based on this information, the organization will transfer the benefit. Accrual is carried out based on the features provided for a specific region of the Russian Federation.
In some cases, the transfer is made directly to the citizen, in others, first to the employer’s account, after which he issues it to his employee along with the first salary.
If direct payments are provided, then the electronic service calculates the earnings that an employee receives on average. Next, an application is filled out and sent by e-mail to the FSS. After its consideration and approval, the received amount is transferred to the account.
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How to obtain an electronic sick leave certificate and how benefits are paid
Important! It’s worth noting right away that you won’t be able to purchase sick leave through the Public Services portal. However, having an account allows you to obtain the required service in a simplified manner.
To receive an electronic document, the medical institution must be connected to the social insurance system. If access to the organization is not provided, the citizen can only use the paper version. The registration procedure includes the following steps:
- First of all, the employee needs to contact the medical institution to which he is attached with a corresponding request. The doctor prescribes treatment and, in a special application of the Social Insurance Fund, prepares a certificate of incapacity for work, where information about the progress of recovery is subsequently entered.
- After treatment is completed, the doctor tells the patient the identification number of the sheet and transfers the information to the Social Insurance application.
- When returning to work, the employee reports the number to the accounting department at the place of employment.
- Using the received details, the accountant gets access to the electronic version of the sick leave certificate in the Social Insurance database for filling out the section and subsequent transfer to the Social Insurance Fund.
After receiving the documents, the Fund calculates and pays all due benefits.
What is this
An electronic sick leave certificate is a special medical document that is a complete analogue of the paper version. The legality of its use is specified in the Federal Law, issued on July 1, 2021.
At the moment, any patient can go to a medical institution and choose an electronic certificate of incapacity for work. This procedure is absolutely free; no special conditions are required to receive the electronic version.
How to view an electronic sick leave certificate through State Services
As for how to view a sick leave certificate on the State Services, you need to understand that all verification actions are carried out through the official website of the Social Insurance Fund with the ability to log in using the portal login data.
Possible actions of employed people
You can clarify the status of sick leave in the Social Insurance Fund through State Services using your personal account on the official website of the Fund. Each employee gets access to it after registering in the system. After authorization in the personal account, the employee sees a list of sick leaves. He only needs to find the desired option and familiarize himself with the required information.
Opportunities for employers and accountants
It is also important for the employer to know how to find out the sick leave status through State Services in order to use the information for making calculations. In this case, you can check the electronic signature only after receiving an electronic digital signature and installing the appropriate program. If these two conditions are met, you must follow the instructions:
- Get the online slip number from the employee.
- Go to your personal account on the FSS website by logging in using the authorization of the State portal class=”aligncenter” width=”1072″ height=”496″[/img]
- Select the “Electronic sheets” section.
- Click on the “Request a sheet” item.
- Enter your ELN and SNILS number.
- Fill out the form with the required information and approve the changes.
- Send the sheet to the Fund, where the information received will be verified and payment of the due benefits will be scheduled.
Also, using a personal account, an employer can track the status of a sick leave certificate, find a number by the employee’s last name, or print a document in the usual form.
As a rule, in Russian practice, an official from the accounting department is appointed responsible for filling out an electronic sick leave certificate. Therefore, all opportunities for the employer are available to the trusted employee.
Possible difficulties
The main problem that arises when using an electronic sick leave system is the imperfection of the software. Viewing the data may be hindered by glitches on the FSS website. Often, preventive work is carried out at State Services, which does not allow you to log in to your personal account.
You don’t have to worry about losing or ruining the paper, the information will be saved in the database
Sometimes employers refuse to transfer temporary disability benefits, citing the technical impossibility of viewing an electronic sick leave. By law, private companies are not required to participate in this system.
An employee in such a situation can ask the medical institution to issue a sheet in paper form. However, the hospital has the right to refuse this request. The only thing left for the employee is to contact the Social Insurance Fund. Department specialists are obliged to understand the problem and help the citizen. Payments will be made in any case.
Rules for calculating benefits
To calculate the amount of payment for sick leave with an accuracy of kopecks, you need to take into account many variables: vacation pay, length of working day, weeks, the presence of regional coefficients, etc. Therefore, let us introduce the basic rules. The main thing to consider here is:
Temporary disability benefits are accrued for each calendar day until the end of sick leave. Exceptions are defined in paragraph 1 of Art. 9 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ.
In this case, the payment amount depends on four indicators:
- the established maximum value of the base for calculating insurance premiums;
- minimum wage (minimum wage);
- the number of total insurance years of the employee;
- average earnings.
The first two indicators are indexed annually by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation. For example, in 2021, the maximum base for calculating insurance premiums was 865,000 rubles, in 2020 - 912,000 rubles, and the minimum wage in 2021 - 12,792 rubles.
To calculate the length of service, the work record book, contracts, certificates from the pension fund about the salary paid are used, and to determine the average earnings - all official payments for the two years from which insurance contributions were paid (salary, bonuses, vacation pay).
With less than 5 years of experience, the amount of compensation for temporary loss of ability to work will not exceed 60% of average earnings. Employees who have worked for 5 to 8 years will receive a little more (80%). Employees with insurance experience of more than 10 years can count on payments of 100%.
If an employee has worked for less than 6 months over the past two years or his average income is below the minimum wage, the Social Insurance Fund will pay benefits based on the minimum wage. To calculate the amount of compensation, it is enough to divide the minimum monthly payment (12,792 rubles) by the number of days in the month.
So, for months with 31 days, the daily allowance will be 412.65 rubles, for months with 30 days - 436.4, and in February - 456.86 rubles. Accordingly, for a two-week sick leave, an employee can receive payments in the amount of 5,777.1, 6,106.6 or 6,396.04 rubles, depending on the number of days in the month.
They will also be calculated based on the minimum wage in the following cases:
- the patient employee violated the doctor’s instructions;
- the certificate of incapacity for work was issued as a result of alcohol or other types of intoxication.
If the insurance period is more than 6 months, but less than 10 years, when calculating benefits, you must multiply the average daily income by the length of service coefficient and compare the resulting value with the minimum daily benefit. The Social Insurance Fund will pay sick leave based on the amount that turns out to be greater.
The maximum average daily earnings are calculated in the same way. To do this, it is enough to add up the maximum values of the base for calculating insurance premiums and divide by 730 days. In 2021, the figure cannot exceed 2,434.25 rubles; accordingly, for two weeks of absence due to illness, the social insurance fund will pay no more than 34,079.5 rubles.
Easier to fill out
The employer must fill out paper sick leave certificates in printed capital letters and not go beyond the cells. You cannot use a ballpoint pen - only gel, capillary or fountain pen.
Ink - only black (clause 65 of the Order of the Ministry of Health dated November 29, 2016 No. 624n).
Not every mistake in a sick note can be corrected. The employer made a mistake - the Social Insurance Fund may refuse to reimburse him for benefits: sometimes the dispute goes to court.
When you fill out an electronic sick leave, you don’t need to worry about the color of the ink and the type of pen, you don’t have to be afraid of making a mistake - it’s easy to correct.
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Online check
The easiest way to check the authenticity of a sick leave certificate is to use the social insurance database online.
On the FSS official website, sick leave checks are carried out through the following step-by-step actions:
- go to the tab regarding information for legal entities and individuals - employers;
- go to the tab of invalid forms of disability sheets;
- the system will automatically prompt you to download the information that needs to be done;
- the data will appear in Excel format;
- how to enter sick leave by number - you must enter the first 9 digits.
If the document is fake, the sick leave verification system will immediately display it. The only drawback of the system when searching for counterfeit paper media is that fund specialists update the database once every 30 days, and it takes 10 days to make a decision on payment and accrual of funds.
If there is no desire to constantly download updated databases and there are a large number of suspicious entities in the enterprise, it is recommended to use the online search mode for stolen and disappeared forms posted on special websites by regional social insurance offices.
Checking a sick leave certificate by number is carried out in the same way: by entering the first 9 digits of the document and instantly receiving the result (if updates are made).
Formal written request
If the online check did not reveal negative results, and suspicions have not been dispelled, then you can submit a written request to the regional office of the social insurance fund at the place of registration. A request to check a sick leave certificate is drawn up in any form, a sample of which includes the following information:
- information about the addressee-insured indicating the registration number in the Social Insurance Fund;
- information about the sick leave number, which medical institution issued it, the individual data of the recipient and the date of issue of the document form;
- as additional information, you can indicate information that aroused suspicion and became the reason for the appeal;
- in the request form, provide the address where to send the response to the request;
- Be sure to send the original sick leave certificate as an attachment;
- signatures of responsible persons and seal of the sender's organization.
The territorial body of the social insurance fund will check and return the original sick leave certificate, at the same time informing whether it is in fact the original or an “ersatz original”.
Is it possible to check your sick leave yourself?
An employee can check the status of his sick leave himself. To do this, he needs to register on the State Services portal and confirm his identity at the Pension Fund or at the nearest branch of the Russian Post. After logging into your FSS personal account, you can check the status of your sick leave. What information is available to an individual?
- Status of the certificate of incapacity for work – it is open, closed, extended.
- Amount of accrued benefits.
- From what date did the period of release from work begin?
- Correctness of all data in the document by the employer.
Advice! If you set up a notification system, you will receive emails notifying you of the status change. Thanks to a special calculator, a citizen can pre-calculate how much he or she is entitled to due to illness.
In the FSS database, an electronic certificate of incapacity for work appears immediately after the patient is discharged from the hospital and the sick leave is closed. The speed of processing incoming information in the program is higher than with the usual transmission option.
It is considered official only in structures where electronic document management is used. Its main advantage is the simplicity of registration and the absence of the need to come to the clinic several times to receive and certify the sheet.
Expert opinion
Kurtov Mikhail Sergeevich
Practitioner lawyer with 15 years of experience. Specializes in civil and family law. Author of dozens of articles on legal topics.
New technologies are simply necessary in the healthcare sector to reduce paperwork and unnecessary actions on the part of patients to obtain certificates and issued certificates of incapacity for work. One of these innovations is electronic sick leave.
It is filled out by the clinic using a special program and can be checked by the employer online.
Since last year, doctors have been issuing electronic sick leave certificates to patients. They cannot be faked - businessmen will no longer lose money due to a fake sick leave certificate.
An electronic sick leave certificate is also easier to fill out and impossible to lose. This will save employers from paperwork and litigation with government agencies.
While they are not issued everywhere, no one has canceled paper sick leave. But if medical institutions where your employees are treated work with them, you can connect to the system now.
