When we work, we get the impression that bosses don’t like those who often go on sick leave. But in 2021, the topic of sick leave has become very relevant. Pandemic, virus. That’s why we increasingly see in newspaper headlines and hear from friends that businesses are closing for quarantine. What does this mean? When an enterprise is in quarantine, all employees are forced to take sick leave. So, even if you are not a fan of sitting at home brewing an antipyretic, in such a situation you will still have to stay at home.
A big fear about sick leave is related to payment. “I’ll sit at home for a week, and they’ll pay me three times less.” This is why many people choose to swallow pills in the morning and go to work with a sense of accomplishment. But besides this, you need to know other nuances, for example, whether you can be fired while on sick leave, how much money you will receive upon settlement. And in general, how is sick leave calculated? An important question is who is entitled to sick leave, and when may the employer not pay? It turns out that sick leave may not be paid in full, but only partially. We will analyze all these cases in the article.
When is sick leave issued?
Have you ever wondered under what circumstances sick leave may not be given? To answer this question, we will first analyze the situations in which sick leave is opened, and also consider its types and the benefits due to the sick person. Under what circumstances is sick leave opened?
- Disease.
- Injuries.
- Pregnancy and childbirth.
- Caring for a child up to one and a half years old.
- Quarantine.
- Illness of a close relative (if there is no one else to care for him) or a child.
Form of certificate of incapacity for work
Expert opinion
Polyakov Pyotr Borisovich
Lawyer with 6 years of experience. Specialization: civil law. More than 3 years of experience in drafting contracts.
The form of the certificate of incapacity for work was approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated April 26, 2011 No. 347n. The sheet consists of two parts. The first is filled out by the medical organization, the second by the employer.
Entries on the certificate of incapacity for work are made in Russian in printed capital letters. For the paper version, it is important to choose the right ink color. This can be black ink, and entries are made with a gel, capillary or fountain pen, or using a printing device. Entries are made in specially designated cells, starting from the first, with one space between words.
This is important to know: Is sick leave open on weekends?
In cases where it is necessary to indicate coded information, the appropriate code is entered from the list of codes proposed on the back of the sick leave certificate.
Stamps may protrude beyond the specially designated space, but should not fall into the cells of the information field of the certificate of incapacity form - the seal should not cover the information.
When closing sick leave, the free lines of the “Exemption from work” table should be carefully crossed out with one horizontal line.
What to do if an employee brings in an unclosed sick leave? The decision depends on what exactly is meant by open sick leave.
Types of sick leave
Depending on the circumstances under which the employee is forced to issue a sick leave certificate, the document can be of different types. The name of the sick leave payment – benefit – depends on this:
| Temporary disability | Temporary disability benefit. This also includes quarantine. |
| Disability due to maternity |
|
| Care | Illness of a family member who needs care. |
Is it possible to close a certificate of incapacity for work retroactively?
Most of us associate the process of applying for sick leave retroactively with falsification of documents, when an employee of a particular company simply needs documentary evidence of absence due to an illness that actually did not exist. However, in some cases, when there are grounds for issuing a certificate of incapacity for work, it is legally possible to both open and close sick leave retroactively.
A similar procedure is possible in the following cases determined by the legislation of the Russian Federation:
- during pregnancy of women, when sick leave is issued for a certain period before the expected date of birth and after it;
- employees raising disabled children under 15 years of age, as well as children with HIV;
- employees who have issued a certificate of incapacity for work due to caring for a child suffering from a severe illness (cancer, tuberculosis, etc.)
It is also worth noting that the closing day of the sick leave must fall on a working day according to the doctor’s schedule, otherwise this document may be challenged as invalid. Read more about applying for sick leave retroactively here.
The article about what will happen to the benefits if you do not close the sick leave, explains the nuances of preparing ballots.
Who can get sick leave
If you do not have Russian citizenship and official work, everything is clear here. No one will open your sick leave. As well as in the presence of Russian citizenship and the simultaneous absence of work. Here, too, you shouldn’t wait for paid sick leave. But there are circumstances that mislead us about whether we can get sick leave or not. First, let's look at who is legally allowed to pay sick leave.
Who is legally allowed to issue a sick leave certificate:
- Officially employed citizens of the Russian Federation under an employment contract.
- Officially unemployed citizens of the Russian Federation. To do this, the unemployed must be registered with the Employment Center. The calculation of sick leave is based on the Minimum Wage. In one day, those registered will receive 420.56 rubles. Sick leave will not be paid for longer than 15 days.
- Convicts involved in paid work.
IMPORTANT!
If the illness and/or injury occurred within 30 days after dismissal, the unemployed person can also apply for sick leave. If you get sick while on vacation, it is extended by the number of days you spent on sick leave.
In what cases is the certificate of incapacity for work closed?
Sick leave can be closed in the following cases:
- Upon recovery of the employee himself, as well as a relative or child, during whose illness he was granted sick leave for care. The fact of recovery is determined by the attending physician based on the examination and test results.
- At the end of the established maximum period for which sick leave can be opened. In general cases, the duration of this period is 15 days. If the person is still diagnosed with signs of the disease, then simultaneously with closing one sheet, the next one is started with a note that it was not opened initially.
- At the personal request of the patient. There are cases when an employee, for one reason or another, needs to begin his work duties - at the request of the employer, for personal reasons related to short work experience and a small amount of payment for the period of incapacity. In any case, it is the doctor who will decide whether to close the sick leave ahead of schedule and whether to allow the patient to perform his work duties. A physician may refuse a patient for the following reasons:
- if the employee undergoing treatment is not yet strong enough to go to work. Since the attending physician is responsible for it, it is not always possible to obtain consent to close the sheet;
- if the employee’s illness is infectious and his appearance at work can provoke illness in people in contact with him. In such cases, doctors can be allowed to work and the document can be closed after receiving test results that indicate the absence of the disease or, for certain ailments, after the incubation period of a particular virus has passed, when the danger of infecting others has passed.
Who issues sick leave?
Sick leave is issued by medical organizations that have a license and the right to issue certificates of incapacity for work. Moreover, it is not necessary to have a clinic; there are private clinics with a license to issue sick leave. So this is:
- Clinics.
- Hospitals.
- Private clinics.
IMPORTANT!
When issuing sick leave by a medical organization that does not have a license for this, the employer does not have the right to pay benefits and indicate days of incapacity in the work schedule. Therefore, there may be a number of consequences for the employee. The days will be counted as absenteeism, and you may be fined or even fired.
Could there be consequences for the doctor?
If the attending physician opens a sick leave certificate to the patient, but for one reason or another this document is not closed, then the medical worker may have problems with his superiors.
He will either have to write an explanatory note explaining why such a situation occurred, or receive an oral or written reprimand from the clinic administration. If the patient fails to appear for a comprehensive final examination in order to confirm recovery and close the sick leave, the doctor has the right to make notes in this document about violation of the hospital regime , which is regulated by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n.
Thus, it is most profitable to complete the treatment prescribed in the hospital and follow all stages of filling out medical documentation. Only in this case can we count on the fact that punitive sanctions will not affect any of the above-mentioned participants in the process of preparing and closing the disability certificate.
Didn't find the answer to your question? Find out how to solve exactly your problem - call right now:
Who does not issue sick leave?
You need to know medical organizations that cannot issue sick leave. This:
- Emergency.
- Blood transfusion stations.
- Hospital reception areas. To apply for sick leave in a hospital, you must report it upon admission and collect it upon discharge.
- Balneological clinics and mud baths. In other words, sanatoriums.
- Centers for medical prevention, disaster medicine (providing assistance to victims in an emergency), forensic medical examination bureau.
- Health care institutions for supervision in the field of consumer rights protection and human well-being.
Soligorsk news, free ads, photos of Soligorsk, video of Soligorsk
Will a sick leave be opened if you have a cough and sore throat, but no fever? What to do if you live in Minsk, but are not assigned to any clinic? Irina Kireeva , deputy head of the main department - head of the medical examination department of the main department for organizing medical care, examination, appeals from citizens and legal entities of the Ministry of Health, answered important questions about sick leave .
Sick leave will not be paid in full
Federal Law No. 255 has restrictions on sick leave. The point is that the employer has the right to pay not the entire amount of sick leave, but only a part. In some cases, the employer has the right not to pay sick leave at all. Let's look at these cases and circumstances:
| Sick leave will be paid in part | Sick leave will not be paid |
|
|
IMPORTANT!
The maximum duration of sick leave is 15 days. In special cases, the maximum duration of sick leave is increased to 10 months. For example, for tuberculosis, operations and recovery.
❗ What happens if you don’t close your sick leave?
After returning to work, the recovered employee presents a sick leave certificate, and the employer must assign him benefits within 10 calendar days after the application. He is obliged to pay the benefit on the day the salary is paid (based on Article 15 255-FZ “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability...”). It is impossible to accrue sick leave benefits without a sick leave certificate (based on Part 5 of Article 13 255-FZ).
But what should an employer do if an employee brought a sick leave certificate, but did not close it? The employer's course of action will depend on what exactly is meant by open sick leave. There are two possible situations in which an employee could bring an unclosed sick leave certificate:
- The certificate of incapacity for work was not closed, since the treatment was not completed, but it was completely filled out.
- The certificate of incapacity for work is not completely filled out.
In the first case, the employee presents the employer with a sick leave certificate with the “Start work” line blank, and in the “Other” line the code “31” is written (continues to be sick). At the same time, the sick leave certificate itself is filled out correctly:
- empty lines of the table “Exemption from work” are crossed out with a line;
- the lines contain an indication of the continuation number of the certificate of incapacity for work;
- The sick note contains the doctor’s signature and the seal of the medical institution.
This type of sick leave is allowed if the period of incapacity for work is more than 15 days (when visiting a dentist or paramedic - 10 days). A certificate of incapacity for work can be extended only by decision of a medical commission . Sick leave may be extended for up to 10 calendar days.
With long-term treatment, the period of incapacity for work does not end after 10-15 days, and the employee should not go to work. But the medical institution issues a sick leave certificate to assign benefits and issues a new bulletin. This procedure for issuing sick leave without indicating the date of return to work is permitted by law in case of long-term treatment, so that a person can receive benefits in installments. Such sick leave not only can, but must also be paid after presentation in the standard manner.
When the sick leave certificate is incomplete (it lacks mandatory information), then such a document cannot be paid. If the “Exemption from work” table indicates the duration of treatment, but the lines “Start work” and “Other” are empty and not crossed out, then such sick leave is not compensated. Initially, it needs to be finalized. Most likely, when such a sick leave is closed, the document will contain notes about violation of the regime. If an employee violates the hospital regime, the doctor will enter a two-digit code corresponding to the violation in the “Notes on violation of conditions of medical care” field. It may have the following meaning:
- 23 – non-compliance with the conditions for the provision of medical care;
- 24 – late appearance for an appointment;
- 25 – going to work without being discharged;
- 26 – refusal to be referred to an ITU institution;
- 27 – late appearance at the ITU institution;
- 28 – other violations.
The date of violation of the regime will also be indicated on the sick leave. The signature field will contain the signature of the attending physician.
Such sick leave is paid at a reduced rate: not based on the employee’s earnings, but on the basis of the minimum wage for the calendar month in which the violation was noted.
Have you ever missed your sick leave?
YesNoI'll see what others answer
Consequences for employee and employer
The employee is required to hand over sick leave to the employer on the day he returns to work. With this document he can justify his temporary absence from work (based on paragraph 1 of the Procedure approved by Order of the Ministry of Health dated September 1, 2020 No. 925n).
If the sick leave is not closed, this means that the period of temporary disability has not been properly documented. The employer does not have the right to allow such an employee to work.
When an employee does not bring sick leave and is absent from the workplace for 4 hours or more in a row, the employer has the right to regard this situation as absenteeism. For this violation, the employer may dismiss the employee with reference to paragraph 6 of Article 81 of the Labor Code.
If the employer nevertheless reimburses the employee for unemployment benefits for unclosed sick leave, then he will have to:
- Pay for the entire sick leave yourself, and not just the first three days: the Social Insurance Fund in this case will refuse to pay for the period of sick leave beyond three days due to an incorrectly filled out certificate of incapacity for work.
- Calculate insurance premiums for paid sick leave in full.
Is it possible to close a document retroactively?
A certificate of incapacity for work is issued on the day the person is recognized as able to work (on the day of discharge). If the working day is over by the time of registration, then the sick leave will be closed from the next day.
If an employee has been sick for a long time, but has not consulted a doctor, and asks to issue him a sick leave certificate retroactively to confirm a valid reason for absence from work, then this is illegal. The doctor has the right to issue and extend sick leave only after a personal examination and making an entry in the medical record (medical history). This condition is defined by paragraph 9 of the Order of the Ministry of Health No. 925n.
If an employee consulted a doctor, but did not show up for a scheduled examination on the appointed day, then his sick leave may be closed retroactively, but with an indication of a violation of the regime. Such sick leave will be paid, but the amount of sick leave will depend on whether the reasons for violating the regime were valid (based on Part 1 of Article 8 of Federal Law No. 255). If there are no valid reasons, the benefit is reduced from the date of the violation.
If an employee has lost his sick leave, he has the right to apply for a duplicate. In this case, the doctor will put an o in the appropriate column. If an employee was unable to immediately submit a sick leave certificate due to its loss, then the right to benefits remains with him for six months after recovery or determination of disability (based on Part 1 of Article 12 of Federal Law No. 255).
Rules for paying sick leave in 2021 in connection with the transition to direct payments from the Social Insurance Fund
Read
Registration of sick leave according to the new rules. Changes from December 14, 2020
More details
What rights do you have while on sick leave? Memo
Look
How are sick leave calculated?
Payment for sick leave depends on the length of work experience:
| Work experience | Benefit amount | Payment for one day |
| 8 years or more | 100% | Maximum – 2,435.25 rubles |
| 5–8 years | 80% | Maximum – 1,947.40 rubles |
| Less than 5 years | 60% | Maximum – 1,460.55 rubles |
The minimum amount calculated for one day is 420.56 rubles. For an unemployed person registered with an employment center, the calculation is made from this amount.
If your salary allows you to pay more per day for sick leave than indicated in the table, the calculation will still be based on the maximum allowable amount
. For example, if you receive 1,550 rubles a day and have worked for 4 years, when calculating sick leave, one day will be paid in the amount of 1,460 rubles 55 kopecks.
IMPORTANT!
Sick leave is paid no less than the minimum wage. Calendar days are due for payment. This means that weekends are also paid.
If you have a cold, but do not have a fever, will they not open a sick leave?
— Whether to open a sick leave or not is decided by the attending physician after a medical examination of the patient.
It takes into account all the symptoms and objective signs of the disease, and not just the increase in temperature. Only after a comprehensive assessment of the patient’s health status, diagnostic results, treatment and rehabilitation measures, the attending physician decides whether the person is ready to go to work.
It is important that when issuing a certificate of incapacity for work, the doctor takes into account not only medical criteria, but also the profession, conditions and nature of the patient’s work. This is necessary in order to understand whether a person can work with such a disease.
Duration of sick leave
The maximum period of sick leave is 15 days. If the patient has not recovered during this time, the sick leave can be extended. To do this, you need to assemble a medical commission. The medical commission decides on the need for an extension and the period of time for which the sick leave should be extended. If, by decision of the commission, the patient is admitted to the hospital, sick leave is issued for the entire period of stay in the hospital.
Upon admission, you must indicate that you need sick leave, and close it upon discharge.
Sick leave to care for a child until full recovery is given only if his age is less than 7 years. For children from 7 to 15 years old, 15 paid days of sick leave are provided. From 15 to 18 years of age, the maximum duration of sick leave is 7 days. If you want to extend your certificate of incapacity for work, you will also have to schedule a medical examination.
IMPORTANT!
They can't fire you on sick leave. If the company closes, only in this case can you lose your job.
Possible consequences
Is it necessary to close this paper on time with a doctor at the clinic, even if it is not needed, and also what will happen if this is done and can one be held responsible for it?
For employee
If a person, due to lack of time or unwillingness to stand in line, does not complete the paperwork to the end, then he has no right to count on receiving money from the Social Insurance Fund for the period during which he received outpatient or inpatient treatment (in accordance with the provisions of Federal Law No. 255 dated December 29, 2006).
The employer may reprimand him, fine him or even fire him for the lack of this official confirmation.
Expert opinion
Polyakov Pyotr Borisovich
Lawyer with 6 years of experience. Specialization: civil law. More than 3 years of experience in drafting contracts.
temporary incapacity due to illness. He also has reason to doubt the authenticity of the document provided, which does not contain a doctor’s note about the completion of treatment or discharge and the seal of a medical institution.
The employee will have to prove that the form is not counterfeit by independently paying for a special examination that will analyze this document to determine whether it is real or fake.
This is important to know: Filling out sick leave during a pilot project: sample 2021
For the manager
If the management of an organization where a citizen who is ill and absent from work is officially employed accepts from him an incomplete or incorrectly filled out medical certificate, as well as a false document with deliberately false information about the disease, then when checking by the labor inspectorate, if discovered of this fact, a fine may be imposed for negligence in working documentation and personnel matters.
Unclosed sick leave - consequences
An unclosed sick leave is not a document confirming a valid reason for absence from work, but a useless form. If the employer does not mind the absence of a document, and production was not affected while you were away, then it is appropriate not to close the sick leave. Accordingly, the organization will not pay for sick leave, and you will calmly recover at home and return to your workplace. If you do not plan to take sick leave, it is better to inform your manager immediately to protect yourself from problems at work.
If you didn’t cover your sick leave and at the same time let your manager down, there could be problems. Days on which you did not come to work are considered absenteeism. Absenteeism can result in a reprimand, fine and dismissal.
When applying for sick leave, think right away whether you plan to officially be sick or whether it’s easier for you to agree with your boss to work off these days. This will help avoid payment problems. Pay attention to the duration of sick leave. They will not allow you to be at home for more than 15 days. If you have a complication, the medical board decides how long to extend your sick leave.
