Order No. 624 and other regulatory acts on sick leave

Labor relations at enterprises are regulated by many laws of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. One of the main ones is the Federal Law “On compulsory social insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases” (dated July 24, 1998, No. 125 FZ (as amended on December 25, 2015)) and the law “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and connections with motherhood" (dated December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ (as amended on March 9, 2016)). It is on their basis that every employee has the opportunity to receive insurance during his absence from work due to temporary disability, and therefore not be left without a livelihood. According to these laws, compensation is paid to the insured person in the following cases:

• when an employee becomes ill;
• when he or she is injured (not at work);
• due to caring for a sick family member;
• quarantine of an employee, his child or incapacitated relative;
• during follow-up treatment in a sanatorium or resort;
• on pregnancy and childbirth.

As a result of these factors, the employee receives a sick leave certificate (disability certificate) from a medical institution, which is a mandatory element of insurance. It is presented in the form of an official form containing all the necessary information, certified by seals and signatures.

Such a form proves the authenticity of the employee’s excused absence from work on specific days and makes it possible for the accounting department to accurately calculate the amount of the insurance benefit.

A small share of compensation payments falls on the organization itself, the main share goes to the Social Insurance Fund (SIF).

Each employee is required to pay benefits, as stated in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Articles 21 and 183 of this Code provide that any organization is obliged to provide insurance to employees without fail, and its effect begins from the moment the worker signs the contract and begins to perform his duties.

Upon expiration of the employment contract, the opportunity to obtain insurance remains for another 30 calendar days.

Many enterprises have a Standard Regulation (according to Decree of the Federal Insurance Service of the Russian Federation dated July 15, 1994 No. 556a), on the basis of which worker insurance is regulated by a special commissioner or insurance commission . They are elected at a general meeting from representatives of the personnel department, labor collective or accounting department. They are required to develop the Regulations on the Commission. The main function of the commission or commissioner is to monitor the timely and full payment of hospital benefits and resolve disputes.

Each party has its own rights in accordance with the Regulations on the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation and the Law “On the Fundamentals of Compulsory Social Insurance”.

Rights of the recipient of temporary disability compensation:

• receiving free information on insurance issues;
• timely receipt of benefits in accordance with the legally established procedure;
• protection of your rights personally or through legal representatives.

Rights of the FSS of the Russian Federation:

• conducting an examination to clarify the occurrence of an insured event;
• verification of accounting documents and transfer of insurance premiums;
• providing social insurance to people who are self-employed.

The FSS also has its responsibilities :

• carrying out timely payment of benefits;
• regulation of the procedure and accuracy of calculating security and payment of the amount for sick leave.

If complex controversial issues arise, every person who has social insurance can contact the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation to resolve them, and if the situation remains unresolved, they can turn to the court or a higher authority.

Legal relations of Social Insurance for entrepreneurs and organizations are regulated by a separate Law, since they apply their own tax regimes. But the process of calculating and paying benefits to employees follows general rules.

Keep in mind! If a person works in several organizations at once, then in case of illness he can receive benefits from each of them. From the date of closing the certificate of incapacity for work, you can apply for payment within six months.

Accounting department's calculation of the amount of compensation for sick leave

In order for the Social Insurance Fund to be able to pay the required amount to an employee due to his temporary disability, the organization’s accounting department must first establish the amount of compensation individually for a specific employee, since the amount of the benefit depends on many factors - length of service, average earnings and the cause of disability.

Sick leave due to illness

To calculate such sick leave, accounting takes into account two criteria - “average annual” earnings and “average daily” earnings.

The first is determined by income for the previous two full years of work, that is, if an employee went on sick leave in 2015, then the accountant will calculate the average earnings for 2013 and 2014. This results in one total amount.

Now, based on this amount, the average daily earnings are calculated - the resulting amount of average annual earnings must be divided by the total number of days for two years, i.e. by 730, and then multiply by a percentage depending on the insurance period. The longer the work experience, the higher this percentage. In accounting, the following criteria apply for its definition:

• of experience or less - 60 percent;
• experience of at least 5 years, but no more than 8 years - 80 percent;
• experience of 8 years or more - 100 percent.

The resulting amount is the average daily earnings. In order to calculate the amount of the benefit, all that remains is to count the number of sick days and multiply the resulting value by this number.

Important! The calculation of the benefit amount takes into account, in addition to the salary accrued for 2 years, quarterly bonuses and vacation pay, that is, all those payments with which insurance contributions are calculated (therefore, other sick leave and maternity leave are not included here).

Sick leave for pregnancy and childbirth

The average annual earnings in this case are calculated as in the previous one, but the method for determining the average daily earnings is slightly different.

Average annual earnings are divided not by 730, but by the total number of calendar days for the two previous years, taking into account the deduction from them of the number of days when the employee was on sick leave, on maternity leave, on paid days off, caring for disabled children, on vacation for childbirth and child care, and other paid days provided for by the law of the Russian Federation.

The resulting value is always multiplied by 100 percent. This is how the final benefit payment amount is obtained.

EXAMPLE . Employee Kovalev S.A. I was sick from July 5 to July 9, 2016. His experience is 6 years. In 2014, his income was 242 thousand rubles, and in 2015 - 315 thousand. We make the calculation: Average annual earnings: 242,000 + 315,000 = 557,000 Average daily earnings: 557,000/730 = 763 Benefits: 763*0.8 *5=3052 Tax accounting: 3052*13%=396.76, i.e. (3052-396.76) = 2655.24 Thus, Kovalev S.A. will receive benefits in the amount of 2655.4 rubles for 5 days of absence from work due to illness.

Registration of sick leave for pregnant women: how periods of incapacity have increased

Order 925n, by order of the Ministry of Health, contributed to an increase in the duration of the period of incapacity for some categories of women:

1. 200 days is the maximum duration of sick leave for pregnancy and childbirth. Women who are carrying two or more babies and who live in areas contaminated by the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the Mayak Production Association and the dumping of waste into the Techa River have the right to count on it. In order 624n the maximum approved period was 194 days.
2. If the baby is born before the 22nd week of pregnancy and lives for more than six days, the woman will be entitled to at least 156 calendar days of sick leave.

A guide to personnel issues from Consultant Plus will help you send a pregnant employee on maternity leave without violating legal requirements. Get online access to the system for free and find out everything about this type of vacation.

Rules and examples of filling out sick leave

The form of the certificate of incapacity for work is filled out manually or on a printer using a special FSS program. If you fill it out using the second method, the task becomes much easier, since the process is programmed.

Below are examples of filling out a sick leave certificate:

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If manually, then the following basic rules must be observed:

• You can only write with a black gel pen;
• the filling must be neat, not extending beyond the cells;
• writing is allowed only in Russian;
• you need to start writing without skipping cells;
• all words must be written in block capital letters;
• in the doctor’s name, an empty cell should be left between his last name and initials (and sometimes between them) (for example, SVIRIDOV□A.G. or SVIRIDOV□A.□G., but SVIRIDOVA.G. is not allowed).

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The certificate of incapacity for work is filled out in two stages - first in a medical institution by a doctor, and then by an accountant of the organization where the employee works.

The difference between an electronic certificate of incapacity for work and a paper one

There are practically no differences. This is the same document familiar to everyone, only in electronic form. It contains all the same information as its counterpart on paper. Its main difference is its completely electronic registration, maintenance and closure, as well as the fact that the document must be certified by an enhanced qualified electronic signature of the doctor and medical organization.

The process of calculating and paying for such documents is the same as for paper ones. In terms of legal force, both options for issuing certificates of incapacity for work are absolutely equal. Therefore, there is absolutely no reason for citizens not to trust electronic sick leave and choose the paper version. Moreover, ELN has a number of obvious advantages. Let's look at them in more detail.

How to fill out the form at a medical institution

Typically, a sick leave certificate is issued to a patient on the day of his discharge, but according to the new rules, the patient can pick it up on the first day. The medical employee fills out all the information about the patient and the medical institution. He writes the name and number of the hospital, the address of its location, the date of issue, the full name of the patient to whom this sheet is issued, his date of birth, the name of the organization where the sheet is required, the name of the attending physician, his position, the date of admission of the patient and the date of discharge, as well as the date on which the employee is required to start work.

The form also contains a column indicating the reason for the disability, which is also filled out by the doctor. But if earlier the name of the disease itself was written there, now it is customary to write a conditional code to which a particular disease is assigned (for example, 01, 02, 03, which means disease, injury and quarantine, respectively). This allows you to maintain medical confidentiality.

After discharge, the patient receives a form and submits it to the accounting department. But before doing this, he must carefully check all the data to eliminate possible errors and make sure that all signatures and seals are present, otherwise the form will be invalid and benefits will not be accrued on it.

How can an employee start using ELN?

The employee must find out from the employer (usually from HR or accounting) whether he has the technical ability to accept and process electronic personal information.

Most likely, if the employer has such an opportunity enabled, then he conducts an information campaign for his employees (for example, a mailing to a corporate email), informing them that they can apply for sick leave electronically.

If, however, the employee did not clarify this point in advance and took electronic sick leave, but the employer cannot accept it, then there is still a way out of this situation. The medical institution has the right to replace the issued ETN with a paper one. In this case, a note about termination is made in the ENL.

Next, the employee must contact the medical organization, express his desire to issue a certificate of incapacity for work electronically and give written consent to its execution. The medical institution receives an ELN number in the special Social Insurance Unified Insurance System.

Then the medical institution issues an ELN and communicates its number to the employee. ELN is issued according to the same rules as a paper sheet: after an examination and appropriate diagnosis by a doctor and upon presentation by the patient of an identification document (passport). You also need to be prepared to tell the health worker your SNILS number.

After the sick leave is closed, the employee must communicate the sick leave number to the employer in any way. This can be either the presentation of a coupon with its number, or simple communication by phone or on the Internet (Skype, corporate mail, instant messengers, etc.) - there are no rules or restrictions here.

How to fill out a form in the accounting department

After the sick leave certificate reaches the responsible person of the organization, he first checks it, and then carefully and accurately fills out the rest of the form - the bottom column. In it, the accountant must enter the following: name of the organization, registration number, department code, employee data (TIN, SNILS), his full insurance record, number of paid sick days (according to the start and end date of sick leave), the amount of average annual and average daily income , the amount of the organization's benefit, the amount of the Social Insurance Fund, the total amount of payment. At the very bottom, the names of the head of the organization and the accountant are indicated, necessarily secured with their signatures and seal.

Important! A prerequisite is to fill out the sick leave form correctly and accurately. So, if a medical worker makes a mistake, the accounting department will not accept the form, and the employee will have to take a new one. If an accountant makes a mistake, it leads to even bigger problems, since the Social Insurance Fund will not pay benefits, and the accounting department will have to change all reporting and calculations in accordance with the Social Insurance Fund budget.

Issuing a certificate of incapacity for work retroactively

There are often cases when an employee tries to get sick leave retroactively. This usually occurs if an employee has missed several working days for any reason other than illness. But according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, it is impossible to officially issue such a sick leave. This is clearly and clearly indicated in the Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia No. 624n dated 06/29/11 and in the Decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. AKPI14-105 dated 04/25/14.

That is, according to the law, if an employee decides to obtain a sick leave certificate retroactively in some way, not only he will be responsible for this, but also the one (medical employee or special organization) who issued him the document.

Due to the fact that previously employees could calmly bring a certificate of incapacity to work retroactively, while they themselves were healthy and simply did not come to work, in 2011 the certificate form adopted a new form that is still used today. It describes all the data in more detail, which complicates the task of applying for sick leave retroactively, which means employees bear a huge risk when trying to hide behind such a document.

By the way! If an employee came to work, worked for some time, but then fell ill, then sick leave can only be opened from the next day, since the organization cannot compensate for the day on which the employee was present at work through insurance.

Advantages of electronic sick leave

Until now, both types of sick leave are legally applicable. However, more and more often, recently, participants in the document flow with certificates of incapacity for work have resorted to processing them electronically. The advantages of ELN include the following.

It does not need to be printed, sent or sent by mail or courier services, taken somewhere in person, and does not need to be stored anywhere, for example, in an archive.

All information on electronic health insurance is stored in the Social Insurance Fund system, which completely eliminates the possibility of forgery of sick leave, as well as loss of the document. The ELN format completely excludes the possibility of access to information about the diagnosis and personal data by third parties.

This sick leave format speeds up document flow, eliminates errors in the document and the possibility of damage. ELN cannot be torn, accidentally thrown away, poured with coffee, chewed by a pet or painted by a child.

The employer is relieved of responsibility for storing sick leave if they are filed electronically - after all, the information is stored in the Social Insurance Fund system. During inspections, employers are also not required to submit an ELN.

The use of an electronic tax record for the employer also simplifies record keeping, calculations of the amount of benefits payments, and, in general, communication with the Social Insurance Fund regarding benefit reimbursements.

Some details of issuing sick leave

A certificate of incapacity for work is issued for any health impairment (except for injuries received at work). If sick leave was issued while caring for a family member in need of care, then sick leave benefits are paid in the following order:

• if the child is under seven years old, then a total of 60 days a year will be paid in full;
• if child care is required for more than 7 but less than 15 years, then a maximum of 45 days per year and 15 days per case are paid;
• if care is provided for a disabled child, then 120 days are paid in full for the year;
• in all other cases, it is possible to pay sick leave for no more than 30 days a year and a maximum of 7 days at a time.

In some cases, there are reasons why the Social Insurance Fund has the right to reduce benefits , namely:

• if the patient violated the doctor’s recommendations;
• if the disease occurs due to alcohol or drug intoxication;
• if the patient did not come to the doctor for examination;
• if the court has proven that the disease arose due to intentional infliction of damage to health.

Payment of sick leave to the unemployed

An unemployed person also has the right to receive benefits on a certificate of incapacity for work, but only if he is registered with the employment service (SZN).

The amount of insurance will depend on how long it has been registered. The long period of his registration makes it possible to calculate insurance based on the income that the employment service paid him. If the registration period is short, then the unemployed can contact the accounting department of his last place of work, where he will be given a certificate of income for the last two years. Benefits will be calculated based on them.

It happens that a person, while registered with the employment service, has had no income for the last two years. Then the compensation will be calculated according to the minimum wage (minimum wage), which will be 173.5 rubles per day.

As you can see, several structures are involved in the chain from the onset of temporary disability of an employee to the payment of compensation to him: a medical organization, an employer, and the Social Insurance Fund. In order to receive money on time, the recipient of the certificate of incapacity for work needs to be vigilant himself, trying to eliminate possible errors where he can check the data entered on the sick leave certificate.

Registration of sick leave: doctor’s signature and other details

Home → Articles → Registration of sick leave: doctor’s signature and other details

In the table “Exemption from work” of the certificate of incapacity for work, the first line was filled out by a general practitioner. The second line about extending the certificate of incapacity for work was filled out by another therapist. The sick leave is closed. The “Getting Started” section is completed. Is it correct? Whose signature should appear when closing a sick leave certificate in the “Doctor’s signature” column? Does a doctor who is not listed in the columns “Physician’s position” and “Last name and initials of the doctor or identification number” in the “Exemption from work” table have the right to close the sick leave? In the “To be completed by the employer” field on the sick leave sheet, who should fill in the data – an accountant or a human resources inspector? Who is responsible for the correct filling out of the certificate of incapacity for work in the field “To be filled out by a doctor of a medical organization”? How to protect the head of an organization that pays benefits based on an incorrectly filled out certificate of incapacity for work by a medical organization? Is it legally possible to create a commission in an organization to assign temporary disability benefits?

A certificate of incapacity for work, which serves as the basis for the appointment and payment of benefits for temporary disability, pregnancy and childbirth, must be issued by a medical organization in an approved form and in the prescribed manner. The Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation has the right not to take into account expenses for the payment of benefits made on the basis of documents incorrectly executed or issued in violation of the established procedure (clause 4, part 1, article 4.2 and part 5, article 13 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255 -FZ “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity”).

The procedure for issuing certificates of incapacity for work was approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n (hereinafter referred to as the Procedure). Section IX of this Procedure provides, in particular, the rules for filling out a certificate of incapacity for work.

Thus, clause 60 of the Procedure establishes that in the column “Position of a doctor” of the table “Exemption from work” the position of the doctor is indicated, and in cases considered by the medical commission, the chairman of the medical commission (for example, |p|p|e|d|[] |B|K|). In the columns “Last name and initials of the doctor or identification number” and “Signature of the doctor” of the table “Exemption from work”, the surname and initials of the doctor are indicated, respectively (with a space of one cell between the surname and initials of the doctor), and in cases considered by the medical commission , – the chairman of the medical commission or his (their) identification number (identification numbers) and signature (signatures) are affixed.

According to paragraph 61 of the Procedure, in the line “Get to work” in the cells “from [][]-[][]-[][][][]” the date of restoration of working capacity is indicated the next day after the examination and recognition of the citizen as able-bodied. In the field “Doctor’s signature” the signature of the attending physician is placed (clause 63 of the Procedure).

The above standards indicate that when making an entry in the “Exemption from work” table, the surname and initials or identification number are indicated and the signature of one attending physician is affixed, with the exception of cases considered by the medical commission. This is also indicated by clause 11 of the Procedure, which states that during outpatient treatment of diseases (injuries), poisonings and other conditions associated with temporary loss of working capacity by citizens, the attending physician alone issues certificates of incapacity to citizens for a period of up to 15 calendar days inclusive.

However, from the literal interpretation of these provisions it does not follow that all entries on the sick leave must be made exclusively by one attending physician. They only mean that in each entry made in the “Exemption from work” table, only one attending physician must be indicated, except in cases considered by the commission.

Also, the above norms do not establish that the signature in the “Doctor’s signature” field after the lines “Get to work” and “A certificate of incapacity for work has been issued (continued) No.” must be affixed by the attending physician who made the last entry in the “Exemption from work” table "

Consequently, both options for filling out sick leave given in the question do not directly contradict current legislation. At the same time, we were unable to find any law enforcement practice on this issue, so we recommend that you seek official clarification from the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation.

As for the procedure for filling out the “To be completed by the employer” section of the certificate of incapacity, the current legislation does not establish which structural units or employees are responsible for such completion. Therefore, this issue must be resolved by the employer independently or by adopting the appropriate local regulatory act provided for in Art. 8 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, or by assigning relevant responsibilities to any employee by securing them in his job description, employment contract or agreement on the performance of additional work.

Also, the legislation does not prohibit the employer from creating a commission in the organization, the powers of which will include reviewing certificates of incapacity for work submitted by employees and making decisions on the payment of temporary disability benefits for them or on the refusal of such payment.

At the same time, it must be remembered that, as rightly noted in the question, in any case, responsibility for the correct accrual and expenditure of state social insurance funds will be borne by the administration of the insurer represented by the head and chief accountant (clause 10 of the Regulations on the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated February 12, 1994 No. 101 (hereinafter referred to as Regulation No. 101)).

The current legislation does not contain any clear provisions regarding the limits of such liability. From the literal interpretation of the above norm, it follows that the employer is responsible for the correct calculation of funds paid as social insurance benefits, including temporary disability benefits. Consequently, we can conclude that the employer’s responsibility for spending the funds of the relevant fund is limited only by the obligation to check the arithmetical correctness of the calculations made by him and the data on the basis of which such calculations are made (for example, the number of days for which benefits are paid, length of service, average earnings and so on.).

It should also be taken into account that, by virtue of clause 68 of the Procedure, medical organizations and medical workers are responsible for violation of the established procedure for issuing certificates of incapacity for work by medical organizations. And from the systemic interpretation of pp. 60 and 61 of the Methodological Instructions on the procedure for appointing, conducting documentary on-site inspections of policyholders for compulsory social insurance and taking measures based on their results, approved by Resolution of the FSS of Russia dated 04/07/2008 No. 81, it follows that the FSS branch makes a decision not to accept expenses for offset on the basis an inspection report regarding those violations that may cast doubt on the occurrence (duration) of the insured event; for the rest, it takes measures against the medical institution that issued the certificates of incapacity for work.

In addition, in accordance with paragraph 6 of Part 1 of Art. 4.2 of Law No. 255-FZ, the bodies of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation have the right to bring claims directly against medical organizations for reimbursement of the amount of expenses for insurance coverage for unreasonably issued or incorrectly issued certificates of incapacity for work.

Thus, the above norms indirectly confirm that the employer calculating benefits should not bear responsibility for the correct filling out of the certificate of incapacity for work in the part in which it is carried out by medical organizations. This conclusion is also reflected in judicial practice (see, for example, Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated December 11, 2012 No. 10605/12).

Moreover, the courts come to the conclusion that certain shortcomings made by medical organizations when filling out certificates of incapacity for work cannot be grounds for refusing the employer to reimburse him from the appropriate fund for the funds spent by the employer on the payment of benefits for temporary disability, if these certificates confirm the fact that the employee has temporary disability during the period specified therein (see, for example, the resolution of the Tenth Arbitration Court of Appeal dated February 24, 2014 No. 10AP-894/14).

However, in law enforcement practice there is another point of view, according to which clause 10 of Regulation No. 101 is interpreted in the sense that the employer, before paying temporary disability benefits, is obliged to check the correctness of issuing and filling out such a certificate of incapacity for work and is liable if payments under a certificate of incapacity for work with any shortcomings in it (see, for example, the resolution of the Nineteenth Arbitration Court of Appeal dated May 28, 2012 No. 19AP-1962/12).

Thus, taking into account the absence of direct rules delimiting the responsibility of medical organizations and the employer for payments made on the basis of a certificate of incapacity for work, as well as uniform judicial practice, the employer is recommended to check the correctness of filling out certificates of incapacity for work before assigning and paying benefits on them. If there are claims from branches of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, we do not rule out that the legality of actions to pay the corresponding benefit to the employer will have to be defended in court.

The answer was prepared by: Sergey Shirokov, expert of the Legal Consulting Service GARANT, Candidate of Legal Sciences The answer passed quality control

We draw the attention of medical institutions to the fact that from July 1, 2017, a patient may request an electronic sick leave