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Published: 07/07/2016
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In the event of illness of an employee or members of his family, he has the legal right to temporary release from work. To confirm the fact of absence for a valid reason and receive payment for this period, the subordinate must provide a special document - a certificate of temporary incapacity for work.
An important requirement is its correct execution, including the correct implementation of the procedure for closing sick leave . More details about the procedure for carrying it out are given below.
- Legislation
- When should you close your sick leave? Recovery of the patient
- Recovery of a relative
- End of the specified period
- Patient's personal request
- Contacting your doctor
- Ahead of schedule (and at your own request)
Is it necessary to close this document?
Also, the absence of a sick leave certificate correctly filled out in accordance with the statutory template can become a valid reason for dismissing an employee for violating labor discipline in the form of absenteeism.
Is it possible to open a sick leave if another one is not closed and how will it be paid for? If the first sick leave is not closed and the employee needs to see a doctor again for a second sick leave, then only those days that will be recorded in the documentation of fully completed treatment will be paid.
Articles on the topic (click to view)
- Is sick leave considered income?
- What to do if you have extended sick leave for pregnancy and childbirth
- What to do if your employer does not accept electronic sick leave
- What to do if you are not given sick leave
- How many days does it take for sick leave to arrive from the Social Insurance Fund?
- What to do if the place of work is not indicated on the sick leave
- Are sick leave taken into account when calculating maternity leave?
You can apply for a new sick leave certificate either at your previous medical institution or at another hospital. Each sick leave is issued for a new insured event and is paid separately.
The same applies to the situation when the continuation of the sick leave is not closed. Compensation payments are provided only for the period indicated by the treating specialist in the closed sick leave certificate.
The absence of a closed sick leave does not have any consequences for the employee if:
- employment in the company is unofficial, without signing an employment contract and without tax deductions from the employee’s salary;
- the employer is loyal and agrees not to give the employee absenteeism for absence from work due to illness, since he has been notified of the employee’s poor health;
- the employee does not plan to receive insurance benefits for sick days.
Legality of closing early
Is it possible to close a sick leave certificate ahead of schedule at your own request if the date is already set? A medical professional has the right to discharge a patient at his request.
If a client is in the hospital and asks to be discharged, the doctor has no right to detain him. To do this, the patient is asked to write a written refusal of hospitalization and is notified of the consequences of the decision. If you agree, the doctor issues an extract with all the tests and sends you to the clinic for further treatment on an outpatient basis.
How to close a sick leave at your own request? In the case when a patient is being treated in a clinic, he can simply ask his attending physician to close the certificate of incapacity for work at his request.
In some cases, a doctor does not have the right to close sick leave ahead of schedule. These cases include various viral infections that can harm others. With them, they are most often sent for a second examination, after which a decision on discharge is made.
It would be a good idea to read the article “Sick leave for chickenpox,” because chickenpox is a rather dangerous disease that can result in complications of varying degrees.
Is it possible to close sick leave retroactively? You can close your sick leave on weekends and even retroactively. But this is possible only for the following categories of citizens:
- Pregnant.
- Workers with disabled or HIV-infected children.
- Citizens with children under seven years of age with serious illnesses such as oncology or tuberculosis.
Can the doctor on duty close the sick leave? Only a doctor who has opened this strict reporting form can close a sick leave. If he is hosting a reception these days, he can do this.
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: What documents are needed in the Social Insurance Fund to pay for sick leave?
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.
Special cases
In some situations, citizens encounter difficulties, not knowing how to cover sick leave under the new law. Under certain conditions, the procedure can indeed become significantly more complicated. However, for every problem case there are solutions.
Possible difficulties:
- Several sick days. Sometimes 2 sheets are provided in 1 period. This happens if the reasons for the discovery are different. For example, an employee fell ill while on disability leave due to caring for a child. In such a situation, the sick leave whose date expires first will expire first.
- Early closure. In general, such cases are common and do not involve serious difficulties. If an employee wants to go to work earlier than the time specified on the worksheet, they must consult a doctor. If the disease does not pose a direct threat to the patient and others, the citizen’s sick leave is closed.
- Failure to appear on deadline. Normally, a person should go to the doctor on the day indicated on the sheet. If this does not happen, it may be regarded as faking the disease. In this case, the employee may be deprived of compensation. Failure to attend the closing of sick leave is possible only if there are compelling reasons.
- Transfer to another clinic. The sheet should be opened and closed in the same institution. However, there are exceptions when these procedures are performed in different clinics. In this situation, the patient has the right to provide such sick leave to the employer. Another solution to the problem is to visit the previous medical institution and close the sheet.
It is important to know! Resolution of controversial situations must take into account accepted legal norms. Violation of the labor code and other regulations may become the basis for the imposition of administrative liability.
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:
Consequences of an unclosed document
The main consequence is non-payment of benefits.
If the sick leave is not closed for a good reason, then the employee can complete the paperwork after he begins his work duties.
Sick leave can also be paid during vacation and even within 30 days after termination of the employment contract.
The date of issue of the sick leave must be indicated in the document.
What is the maximum duration of sick leave? Read here.
How to get a duplicate sick leave certificate if lost? Detailed information in this article.
Timely completion of sick leave will ensure proper payment of benefits. The employee must carefully monitor the execution of the document and thoroughly check the information entered in the medical institution.
A small mistake may cause the document to be reissued, which will require convening an additional medical commission.
Problems with payments and other controversial situations are best resolved with the support of an experienced lawyer.
Unclosed sick leave. Should I pay or not?
To justify absence from work during illness, the employee must bring sick leave. It also serves as the basis for assigning temporary disability benefits to the employee. What to do if an employee brings in an unclosed sick leave? The answer depends on what exactly is meant by open sick leave.
A sick leave certificate - a certificate of incapacity for work - is issued in accordance with the procedure approved by the order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n (hereinafter referred to as the Procedure).
Don't forget to cover your sick leave! (interview with FSS)
Published Sat, 09/20/2014 — 06:00 by Tatyana Vakalyuk
"General Book", 2014, N 17
Interview with Ilyukhina Tatyana Mitrofanovna, head of the department of legal support for insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity of the Legal Department of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation.
It's good to always be healthy. But, alas, sometimes we get sick. And an accountant has to deal with employee sick leave and pay benefits. How to calculate benefits if an employee quits and falls ill before dismissal? Will the Social Insurance Fund accept expenses for a certificate of incapacity for work if the employee goes to work without covering it? The FSS answered questions from readers of the Main Book magazine.
— Tatyana Mitrofanovna, our reader asks: is it possible to accrue benefits for sick leave if it is not closed? An employee is very valuable and difficult to replace. As soon as he felt better, he immediately went to work. But I didn’t close my sick leave so as not to waste time in line at the clinic.
— In this case, the period of temporary disability of the employee was not properly documented. So the employer should not have allowed such an employee to work, no matter how valuable he was.
How is sick leave issued?
A certificate of incapacity for work is issued upon the occurrence of an insured event or on the day the insured person applied (if he was sent for treatment to another medical institution), or on the day it was closed.
The organization where the person applied (was referred) for treatment can close the sick leave.
For outpatient treatment, the attending physician issues sick leave alone for a period of up to 15 calendar days. If the period of incapacity for work is more than 15 days, a certificate is issued and extended by the medical commission. A paramedic or dentist issues and extends sick leave for up to 10 days.
For inpatient treatment, sick leave is issued on the day of discharge for the entire period of hospital stay. Such sick leave can be extended for up to 10 calendar days.
The maximum period for extending sick leave until restoration of working capacity is 10 months, for serious injuries, operations and tuberculosis - 12 months. The frequency of sick leave extension is no less than every 15 calendar days. For long-term treatment, the medical institution issues a sick leave certificate to assign benefits and issues a new sick leave certificate in continuation.
After returning to work, the recovered employee presents a sick leave certificate, the employer is obliged to assign him benefits within 10 calendar days from the date of application, and pay him on the next day established for payment of wages (Article 15 of Law No. 255-FZ).
Closing process
How to close a sick leave? Opening and closing sick leave is carried out either at the client’s place of residence or at the place of temporary stay. The new medical policy, as well as legislation, obliges medical institutions to accept a patient not even at the place of registration .
While on vacation, every citizen, having a compulsory health insurance policy, has the right to contact the nearest medical institution for help. Refusal to provide a service promises the clinic a choice or compensation to the patient.
Is it possible to open a sick leave certificate in one clinic and close it in another? Closing of the sick leave is carried out in the same medical institution that was issued previously, or, when undergoing treatment in another organization, it is by her.
When an employee of a state enterprise is in a hospital, the certificate of incapacity for work is closed there. Most often, the attending physician prescribes a course of rehabilitation. In this case, the sick leave certificate is closed by the therapist with whom you will continue to be observed.
If a citizen goes to a clinic to see a highly specialized doctor with a specific problem, then only this medical worker issues a sick leave certificate and closes it. This document is issued for 15 days only.
If this period is not enough, the doctor independently applies to the medical commission for permission to extend the sick leave for another 20 days (if necessary). All these concepts are regulated by the order of the Ministry of Health dated June 29, 2011.
To cover sick leave you will need:
- Passport.
- Outpatient book.
- TIN.
- Address.
All information about the employer, including legal form and state name. There should be no mistakes in this, otherwise you will have to convene a medical commission and ask them to redo it. If there is a slight inaccuracy, read the article “Correcting errors on a sick leave certificate,” from which you will learn about all the rules for making amendments.
Rules for filling out fields on a sick leave certificate:
After the doctor makes an examination and writes down the final diagnosis and closes the certificate of incapacity for work in your card, writes down the last date of renewal and puts the date of return to work, signs, you go to the office for issuing sick leave. The polyclinic's triangular and official seals are affixed there . Signed by the attending physician. The procedure for such issuance is regulated and regulated by order of the Ministry of Health No. 347n and No. 624N.
The closing procedure is also regulated at the state level and this operation has its own rules:
- In case of an infectious disease, the certificate of incapacity for work is closed only after a complete examination of the patient. An outpatient diagnostic operation is performed to identify the underlying infection and the cause of its occurrence. This is also mandatory upon discharge to ensure that the patient will not transmit the disease.
- During long-term treatment, in order to receive compensation, the doctor writes out a strict reporting form with a special note, which means the opening and extension of another certificate of incapacity for work. The document must have the official and triangular seal, as well as the personal seal of the attending physician. All these details must be in the original of the following document.
- When a patient works several jobs, he is entitled to several certificates of incapacity for work. They are prescribed by the attending physician and, upon closing, stamps the date on all of them. In the field intended for entering the place of work, you must indicate the part-time employer. All sheets must have the appropriate seal and signatures.
We also recommend reading the articles “Sick leave for caring for a relative” and “Issuing sick leave for caring for a child” in order to learn about the possibility of opening sick leave in the event of illness of loved ones.
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: Can you be fired for long sick leave?
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.
Unclosed sick leave: treatment continues
So, the employee brought in sick leave for payment with the “Start work” line blank. But in the “Other” line, code 31 is indicated (continues to hurt). Empty lines in the “Exemption from work” table are crossed out with a horizontal line. The required lines contain the continuation number of the certificate of incapacity for work, the signature of the doctor and the seal of the medical organization.
Such registration of a certificate of incapacity for work is expressly provided for by the Procedure specifically for cases of long-term treatment, so that a person can receive benefits in parts.
That is, sick leave with code 31 not only can, but must be paid after presentation.
How to properly format a ballot
The rules on how to close and open sick leave were approved by the Ministry of Health and Social Development. The procedure is explained in Order No. 624n. The form is filled out when you first contact the doctor or when you are discharged. The form is certified by the attending physician. You need to contact the clinic at your place of registration or temporary residence. The local doctor must close sick leave when the patient has chosen treatment at home. The form is certified with three seals. After certification, the form is registered in the strict reporting journal. An employee, at his own request, can close his sick leave earlier than necessary if the doctor gives permission.
2 functions that the newsletter performs:
- confirmation of disability;
- payment document.
When the document is correctly completed, disability benefits are calculated.
Sick leave in case of violation of the regime
The employee brought a sick leave certificate, which was not completely filled out. In the table “Exemption from work” the period of treatment is indicated, but the lines “Start work” and “Other” are not filled in. Empty table rows are not crossed out. There is neither the signature of the attending physician nor the seal of the medical organization.
Such sick leave cannot be paid. First it needs to be finalized.
Most likely, it will be closed, but with a note about violation of the regime.
Options for such codes are listed in paragraph 58 of the Procedure:
- 23 - unauthorized leaving the hospital during inpatient treatment;
- 24 - untimely visit to the attending physician;
- 25 — going to work and performing labor functions;
- 26 — refusal to undergo a medical and social examination;
- 27 - violation of the deadlines for visiting a medical institution to undergo an examination;
- 28 - other types of violations.
Next to the code is the date on which the violation occurred.
If an employee violates sick leave during a period of illness and brings a certificate of incapacity for work with codes from 23 to 28, he will receive a reduced benefit.
From the date of violation of the regime, the calculation of the average daily payment is made not from the employee’s earnings, but from the amount of the minimum wage calculated for the calendar month in which the violation of the regime occurred.
The FSS is increasingly unable to take advantage of the mistakes that medical institutions make when issuing sick leave. But he finds the company’s mistakes when assigning benefits with redoubled force and sometimes wins in legal disputes.
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How to close a sick leave: sequence of actions
Closing the document proceeds as follows:
- The medical worker receives from the person on sick leave a passport, TIN, information about the place of residence (if it does not coincide with the registration information in the passport), as well as information about his employer. Particular attention should be paid to the correct name of the organization or institution, since it is often because of errors in it (incorrect abbreviations, abbreviations, etc.) that sick leave certificates have to be redone.
- Indication of the possibility of returning to work due to recovery.
- Indication of the date from which the employee is required to return to work.
- Registration of sick leave in the journal of such documents. This includes the following information:
- date of issue;
- sheet number, automatically entered on forms according to the uniform numbering of the Social Insurance Fund.
- Placing a doctor's stamp and a general hospital stamp (at the reception desk or a special office for issuing such documents).
This is important to know: How many days does the Social Insurance Fund pay for sick leave?
After affixing all the necessary stamps, the employee can submit the document to the place of work. If, when checking a sick leave certificate, inaccuracies are discovered, the employee has the right to contact a medical institution to correct the errors, where he cannot be denied such a procedure.
Who has the right to close sick leave
The attending physician has the right to close the sick leave. The legislator allows such procedures to be performed both in one and different medical institutions. The procedure begins after the end of the illness and the actual recovery of the patient.
If a citizen wants to close his sick leave in another medical institution (usually at his place of residence), he will need:
- prepare identification documents, a medical card with medical history
- go to a medical facility in person
- undergo an examination by a specialized doctor who is authorized to establish and confirm the relevant diagnoses
- receive a closed certificate of incapacity for work from a doctor
- Apply the necessary stamps and seals through the registry
Next, the citizen must, with a document signed by the medical institution, contact his employer, where the personnel department will fill in the missing information.
Remember, it doesn’t matter where the certificate of incapacity for work was opened and closed. The main thing is that the institution and the specialists filling it out have the appropriate permitting licenses and certificates.
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.
When should you close your sick leave?
As you know, the reason for opening a sick leave is the temporary disability of the employee or his family members (young children and some other relatives). Therefore, the following situations may be the basis for closing the sick leave (and, consequently, for discharging the patient):
Recovery of the patient
In this case, the outcome with discharge is obvious, since the doctor has no further grounds for treating the patient. If, as a result of the examination or tests and examinations performed, it was discovered that the employee is healthy, he can receive a closed sick leave certificate and return to work.
Recovery of a relative
This situation is similar to the previous one - after eliminating the cause of the sick leave, there are no further grounds for its continuation, so the sheet is closed.
End of the specified period
Depending on the reasons and grounds for which the sheet was opened, the law establishes a maximum period for being on sick leave.
This applies to both cases of your own illness and illness of relatives. After this period expires, the document is closed. If the disease has not been cured, the doctor opens a new certificate of incapacity for work.
Patient's personal request
In this case, the patient’s request for discharge may occur even if complete recovery is not observed and some symptoms of the disease still remain. This situation can occur if an employee has been on sick leave for a long time or wants to start work as soon as possible.
In this case, the final decision is still made by the doctor - he can either give in to the patient’s request or refuse. This is due to the fact that he bears full responsibility for the life and health of the employee and does not always want to take risks by discharging him until he has fully recovered.
The exception is situations when an employee’s illness requires immediate examination or is classified as infectious and can pose a serious danger to others. In this case, the doctor does not have the right to discharge the patient ahead of time, even at his request; he must complete the course of treatment in full.
He should also send the patient for additional laboratory tests.
Only after receiving positive results that confirm that the employee no longer poses a threat to other people can the doctor discharge him.
