Is an employee required to notify the employer about sick leave?

19.08.2019

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4 min.

An officially employed citizen has the right to issue a certificate of incapacity for work due to deterioration in health or caring for a sick child or family member. The employer must pay for the period of temporary suspension from work duties for health reasons. To receive compensation, the employee must provide the ballot within the strictly prescribed period of time.

Deadline for providing sick leave to the employer

Current as of: January 29, 2021

To receive temporary disability benefits, the employee must submit a sick leave certificate to the employer (approved by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated April 26, 2011 N 347n). Moreover, the employee must do this within six months from the end of the sick leave (Part 1, Article 12 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 N 255-FZ).

This day recognizes:

• or the date indicated in the field of the sick leave “Start work”, if the employee himself was sick and he closed the sick leave as expected;
• or the day following the date indicated in the “By what date” column of the “Exemption from work” table, if the employee himself was sick, but did not appear at the appointed time to see the doctor, and upon a subsequent visit to the doctor was declared able to work (on the sick leave in the field “ Other" code "36" is indicated);
• or the day following the date indicated in the “By what date” column of the “Exemption from work” table, if the employee took sick leave to care for a sick child or other relative.

Do I need to notify the employer and inform about going on sick leave?

Russian legislation does not provide for such an obligation.
Moreover, the employer does not have the right to force employees, including through the issuance of local administrative regulations, to warn about sick leave. Legal mechanisms for such warnings are not provided for by law. However, if the employer company does not know about the employee’s sick leave, then it may be extremely difficult for it to plan and organize business processes. However, the employer has the right to count on the employee’s conscientious approach to building relationships with colleagues and management. In particular, to ensure that they take the necessary actions to promptly inform colleagues about going on sick leave.

If the employee provides sick leave after the deadline for filing it has expired

In this situation, the employer does not have the right to accept sick leave from the employee and, on its basis, pay temporary disability benefits. After all, when the sick leave is “overdue,” only the Social Insurance Fund department can decide on the assignment of sick leave benefits (Part 3, Article 12 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 N 255-FZ).

Consequently, the employer can recommend that the employee contact the Social Insurance Fund department that supervises the employer himself with a statement indicating the reason for the excessive delay in submitting sick leave. If the Fund’s department considers this reason to be valid (for example, the employee was late due to a long illness (clause 2 of the List, approved by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation of January 31, 2007 N 74)), then this employee will still receive sick leave benefits.

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 of temporary disability 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.

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.

When must an employee bring sick leave to work?

A sick leave certificate is a document certifying an employee’s temporary incapacity for work and confirming his temporary release from work. Upon presentation of this document by the employee, the employer assigns and pays him temporary disability benefits. When must an employee bring sick leave to work?

So, a sick leave certificate (sick leave certificate) is a document certifying the employee’s temporary disability and confirming his temporary release from work. Only after it is presented to the HR department or the employer’s accounting department will the employee receive temporary disability benefits.

When must an employee submit a certificate of incapacity for work?

The employee must bring the certificate of incapacity for work to the HR department or accounting department of the employer no later than six months from the date:

• recovery (establishment of disability);
• the end of the period of release from work in cases of caring for a sick family member, quarantine, prosthetics and after-care.

This period is determined by paragraph 1 of Article 12 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”, effective as amended from December 3, 2011.

For example. Sick leave closed on February 17th. The date in the “Start work” column is February 18. Sick leave must be brought to work between February 18 and August 17.

However, we advise employees to bring their sick leave certificate immediately upon reporting to work. The employee himself is primarily interested in this, since temporary disability benefits can only be accrued to him on the basis of sick leave. In addition, this document confirms that the employee was absent from work for a valid reason.

The employer accrues benefits within ten days after presentation of the certificate of incapacity for work, and pays them on the next day of payment of wages (clause 1 of Article 15 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” ).

Can an employee count on benefits if he missed the six-month deadline for applying for it?

If an employee missed the six-month deadline for applying for temporary disability benefits, then the decision on its appointment and payment will be made by the territorial branch of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia (clause 3 of Article 12 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability”). disability and in connection with maternity").

In this case, the employee will have to prove that this deadline was missed for a good reason. The Ministry of Health and Social Development in its order dated January 31, 2007. No. 74 approved the list of valid reasons. According to this list, valid reasons are:

• Force majeure, that is, extraordinary, unpreventable circumstances (earthquake, hurricane, flood, fire, etc.).
• Long-term temporary disability of the insured person due to illness or injury lasting more than six months.
• Moving to a place of residence in another locality, change of location.
• Forced absenteeism due to illegal dismissal or suspension from work.
• Damage to health or death of a close relative.
• Other reasons recognized as valid in court when insured persons apply to court.

How to prove that the six-month period was missed for a good reason?

To prove the existence of a valid reason, the employee must collect supporting documents. For example, in case of forced absence due to illegal dismissal or suspension from work, an order from the employer will be required; in case of temporary disability due to illness or injury lasting more than six months, a certificate of incapacity for work will be required.

Is it possible not to submit an electronic sick leave?

Home → Articles → Is it possible not to submit an electronic sick leave?

The employee received electronic sick leave, but was at work most of the time; the time sheet indicated that the employee worked full time. Can an employee not submit electronic sick leave? Is this a violation on either side?

According to Art. 183 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, in case of temporary disability, the employer pays the employee temporary disability benefits in accordance with federal laws. The conditions for its payment are established by Federal Law No. 255-FZ of December 29, 2006 “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity” (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 255-FZ).

In accordance with Part 8 of Art. 6 of Law No. 255-FZ, temporary disability benefits are paid to the insured person in all cases for calendar days falling within the corresponding period, with the exception of calendar days falling within the periods specified in Part 1 of Art. 9 of Law No. 255-FZ. Consequently, the fact that an employee experiences temporary disability gives rise to the employer’s obligation to pay the appropriate benefit.

The basis for an employer to assign temporary disability benefits to an employee is a certificate of incapacity for work issued by a medical organization in the form and manner (hereinafter referred to as the Procedure), approved accordingly by orders of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated April 26, 2011 No. 347n and dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n (Part. 1, 5, Article 13 of Law No. 255-FZ). At the same time, according to Part 3.2 of Art. 59 of the Federal Law of November 21, 2011 No. 323-FZ “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation”, a certificate of incapacity for work can be issued both in the form of a paper document, and (with the written consent of the patient) in the form of an electronic document signed using enhanced qualified electronic signature by a medical worker and medical organization. This is possible if the medical organization and the insurer are participants in the information exchange system for the purpose of generating a certificate of incapacity for work in the form of an electronic document.

Letter No. 02-09-11/22-05-13462 of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation dated 08/11/2017 notes that the electronic certificate of incapacity for work (hereinafter referred to as ESL) from 07/01/2017 has equal legal force with the certificate of incapacity on paper.

To date, the procedure for interaction between a medical organization, the insured (employee), the insurer (employer) and the policyholder (FSS) has not yet been approved. The Russian Ministry of Labor has prepared a draft resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation “On approval of the Procedure for information interaction between insurers, policyholders, medical organizations and federal state institutions of medical and social expertise for the exchange of information for the purpose of generating a certificate of incapacity for work in the form of an electronic document.” A draft resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation “On approval of the Rules for information interaction between insurers, policyholders, medical organizations and federal state institutions of medical and social expertise on the exchange of information for the purpose of generating a certificate of incapacity for work in the form of an electronic document” has also been developed.

The official website of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation contains instructions for the insured person, medical organization, and policyholder on the formation of an ELN.

1. The employee, having contacted a medical institution, reports his SNILS and agrees to the formation of an electronic sick leave.

2. The medical organization opens an electronic medical record and assigns it an individual number.

3. After being discharged, the employee provides the ELN number to the employer.

4. The employer, using the selected method of information interaction, requests from the Social Insurance Fund information on the employee by his SNILS number and ELN number, etc.

Thus, a certificate of incapacity for work in any form is an appropriate document to confirm the fact of temporary disability, as well as the right of the insured person to receive temporary disability benefits. However, in the case under consideration, the employee continued to work and did not provide the employer with information about the personal identification number issued by the medical organization where he applied for medical care. Such actions indicate that the employee did not voluntarily exercise the right to be released from work due to disability.

If an employee voluntarily starts work during a period when, according to the doctor, he is incapacitated, the employer has no reason to not allow him to work, since such a reason as temporary disability of the employee is not listed among the grounds for removal from work (Article 76 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation ), with the exception of suspension from work in accordance with a medical report, according to which the employee is contraindicated from performing work stipulated by the employment contract (which does not apply to the case under consideration).

Compliance by an employee with a regime prescribed by a doctor during his temporary disability is not the employee’s labor duty. Labor legislation does not establish methods of control on the part of the employer over compliance with the regime during temporary disability, nor the right to control the employee’s compliance with such a regime. In this case, the employer has the obligation to take into account the time worked by the employee (part four of Article 91 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, the employer is obliged to pay employees wages for the time they worked (Articles 56, 129, 132, 135 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Since the employee, on the days of release from work due to disability, performed his job duties and did not submit a certificate of incapacity to work to the employer, the employer legally took this time into account in the time sheet as worked and therefore must pay wages for the specified period. Subsequent communication of the ENL number to the employer, in our opinion, should not entail any legal consequences and will not require the employer to take further actions to accrue temporary disability benefits to the employee (see, for example, the appeal ruling of the Investigative Committee for civil cases of the Tver Regional Court from 04/08/2016 in case No. 33-854/2016). Temporary disability benefits are intended to compensate citizens for lost earnings due to the onset of temporary disability (clause 1, part 1, article 1.2, clause 1, part 2, article 1.3, clause 1, part 1, article 1.4 of Law No. 255-FZ ). Therefore, payment of benefits for the period during which earnings have not been lost is impossible and contrary to the law (see, for example, the appeal ruling of the Investigative Committee in civil cases of the Khabarovsk Regional Court dated March 30, 2016 in case No. 33-2279/2016).

Thus, in this case, there are no violations of the law on the part of the employee who did not inform the employer about the issued certificate of incapacity for work and who worked the working hours prescribed by his work schedule, and the employer who recorded the time worked by the employee.

Answer prepared by: Olga Zhguleva, expert of the Legal Consulting Service GARANT Response quality control: Victoria Komarova, reviewer of the Legal Consulting Service GARANT

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When exactly must an employee provide notice of sick leave?

If the rules of procedure within the organization stipulate the need for warning about going on sick leave, compliance with this requirement is the employee’s responsibility. It is advisable to do this immediately after receiving information from the doctor about the diagnosis and the expected duration of treatment. Or within the time limits specified in the employer’s local act.

IMPORTANT! In judicial practice, there are examples when an employee’s failure to comply with the requirement to notify of absence from work (if it is enshrined in corporate documents) was regarded as a violation of labor discipline (decision of the court of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District dated April 21, 2014 No. 33-827/2014).

The employer should also allow the employee to send a clarifying notice about changes in the timing of leave from sick leave (for example, if the diagnosis established by the doctor changes). In this case, these clarifications can be sent repeatedly, especially if the treatment is expected to be quite long.