How to close sick leave at your own request, ahead of schedule

Last modified: January 2021

How to close the sick leave so that all three parties forget about the problem at once? Not only does the opening and renewal of a ballot create questions, but also its closing. The employee’s zeal to immediately begin performing his job duties is not so common, and it would seem that nothing could be simpler. However, early closure is fraught with liability for the doctor, leaving a sick employee for the employer, and not closing the document for the employee himself.

Completed sick leave and terms of provision

The end day is recognized as:

the date in the “Start work” column if the employee himself was sick and the sick leave was closed as it should be;
the next day after the date in the “By what date” column, if the sick employee missed a visit to the doctor, and at his subsequent visit is declared recovered. In this case, the doctor enters code “36” in the “Other” column of the sick leave sheet;
also the next day after the date in the “By what date” column, if the certificate of incapacity for work was issued to care for a child or another sick relative.

Please note: in the region participating in the FSS pilot project for the payment of social benefits to insured citizens directly by the Fund, the deadline for submitting sick leave to the employer is also 6 months.

Working persons still submit documents for the assignment of benefits, including payment for temporary disability, at their place of work, only now they need to submit an application for payment indicating a personal bank account or postal address where the Fund should transfer the funds.

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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?

Fake

It also happens that in order to justify his absence from work for some time, an employee goes online and, using an advertisement, buys a fake certificate of temporary disability. By presenting such a slip to the employer, he expects to receive benefits.

However, high-quality fakes are very rare. Somewhere there is no watermark or protective fibers, somewhere the color of the cells is wrong or the quality of the paper differs from the standard. On the website of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation there are even instructions on how to distinguish a real sick leave from a fake one.

If the employer doubts the authenticity of this document, he has the right not to pay sick leave until its authenticity is established.

To do this, the employer applies by letter or orally to the territorial office of the FSS of Russia or Roszdravnadzor. This is due to the fact that the only basis for payment of benefits can only be the original sick leave certificate (Part 5, Article 13 of Federal Law No. 255-FZ of December 29, 2006).

At the same time, the employee must remember that by providing a fake sick leave certificate, he risks being prosecuted under Art. 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and/or under Art. 159.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In this case, the employer can fire such an employee.

In this case, I indicated what exactly “may” fire. But this doesn't always happen. In this case, all circumstances must be considered. It all depends on the category of the violating employee:

if an employee services monetary or commodity valuables, then the employer may dismiss such employee due to loss of trust (clause 7, part 1, article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
the manager or his deputy, if they provide a forged document, may be dismissed due to a one-time gross violation of labor duties (clause 10, part 1, article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
the rest of the employees in such a case, if they do not provide supporting documents, may be dismissed for absenteeism (Part 1 of Article 81 and Article 192 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition, an employee who provided a fake sick leave certificate may be subject to criminal liability, and if he is given criminal punishment in the form of forced labor or arrest, he can be fired under clause 4 of part 1 of Art. 83 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Submitting sick leave after the due date

When starting work, it is recommended to provide the closed certificate of incapacity to the employer immediately.

Having received sick leave, the employer is obliged to assign the employee an appropriate benefit within 10 days and pay it on the next payday.

An employee who has overdue the provision of a certificate of incapacity for work should contact the Fund’s division with an application indicating a valid reason for the delay.

temporary disability lasting more than 6 months;
extraordinary circumstances of force majeure;
change of place of residence (moving to another locality);
forced absenteeism due to dismissal or suspension from work recognized as illegal;
harm to health or death of someone close to the employee;
other reasons recognized as valid by a court decision when the insured person files a statement of claim.

The reason why the deadlines for providing sick leave to the employer were violated must be documented - a certificate of incapacity for work for a period of more than 6 months, an order of unlawful dismissal (suspension), etc.

Expert opinion

Novikov Oleg Tarasovich

Legal consultant with 7 years of experience. Specializes in criminal law. Member of the Bar Association.

If, after submitting the overdue sick leave, the Social Insurance Fund recognizes the reason for the delay as valid, then the employee will receive the benefit. In case of refusal, the citizen has the right to appeal the Fund’s decision in court.

To whom should the employee give sick leave?

In order to control all transactions related to budget funds, each violation has its own legal consequences. First of all, the promptness of the compensation paid will depend on how quickly the employee submits the documents. Violation of the deadlines for submitting certificates of incapacity for work is fraught with the following:

refusal to make payments (deadlines missed without good reason);
delay in monetary compensation.

As for the party making the payments, sanctions do not apply to them. Only in the event of untimely submission of documents from the FSS accounting department, which delays the date of payment of money, can a complaint be filed against the employer with the prosecutor's office from the employee. As you can see, the restrictions apply only to the employees themselves who violated the terms.

This is important to know: Is it possible to take sick leave after dismissal?

When must an employee bring sick leave to work?

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. Who will pay the employee temporary disability benefits if the six-month period is missed? To obtain permission from the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia to assign and pay maternity benefits when missing a six-month period for a good reason, the employer should submit a corresponding application to the territorial body of the Social Insurance Fund of Russia. The application can also be submitted by the employee himself.

To whom and in what cases will a ballot not be issued?

If the patient did not visit the doctor as prescribed, missed appointments or did not follow the doctor’s instructions, then he may not be given a sick leave or the fact of non-compliance with the regime may be indicated in the document.

The same option applies if the employee comes to the appointment smelling of alcohol or drunk. Refusal is possible if, upon examination of the patient, the doctor considers that he is able to work.

If the symptoms are insignificant or the doctor finds out that they are absent, or the employee lies about his poor health, then the issuance of the document will be refused.

Is it necessary to submit sick leave to the accounting department at the place of work?

The decision on its accrual will no longer be made by the accounting department, but by the Social Insurance Fund, having examined all the evidence provided that such an omission was unintentional. Responsibility of the employer The employer is financially responsible for the untimely accrual and payment of benefits. It is determined by the provisions of the Labor Code. If the established deadlines are violated, payment is made with interest. They are charged in the amount of 1/300 of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for each overdue day. In cases where there has been an illegal dismissal or removal from work of an employee on sick leave, the employer reimburses not only the benefits, but also the earnings that could have been received. But this requires a court decision that the dismissal was indeed illegal and the employee must be reinstated. Interest is also charged on these amounts.

If the sick leave was issued abroad

It’s not common, but sometimes it happens that an employee gets sick while abroad (for example, on a business trip), and upon returning provides the employer with a sick leave certificate in a foreign language. Does the employer then need to pay for such sick leave?

Yes need. But, for this, a number of conditions must be met. The fact is that the sick leave must correspond to the Russian standard form (Part 5 of Article 13 of the Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ). Therefore, the document received abroad must be exchanged for a Russian-style sick leave certificate. To do this, you need to contact a Russian medical organization on the territory of the Russian Federation.

To obtain a Russian sample, you will need to provide: a legalized (certified) translation of a document received abroad; positive decision of the medical commission of the medical organization. This is stipulated in paragraph 7 of the Procedure approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated June 29, 2011 No. 624 n.

Legal terms

The deadline for providing sick leave to the employer is also specified in the administrative documents of the Federal Insurance Service. It is necessary to understand that sick leave, regardless of its type, is paid by two authorities:

the work enterprise compensates for mandatory payments for the first three days of illness;
The Social Insurance Fund makes payments for all remaining days of illness.

The basis for receiving payments is a duly issued sick leave, submitted on time to the accounting department of the enterprise . Proper registration means filling out all fields as completely as possible, having signatures and seals, as well as other details. All information must correspond to reality. If an employee, after receiving a certificate of incapacity for work from the hospital, reveals errors in the design or lack of necessary regalia, then he should contact the medical institution to issue a new document with the correct data.

Important! Amendments and erasures to the document are not permitted.

According to the general rule, the maximum period for submitting sick leave to the employer is 6 months. But in order to receive the desired monetary compensation as quickly as possible, you should do this as early as possible. The calculation of this period begins the day after the day the sick leave is closed. In the document, this date is indicated in the “Start work” column.

Having received the document from the employee, the accounting department of the enterprise is obliged to submit the sick leave along with the accompanying package of papers to the social insurance authorities within 5 (five) working days. Social Insurance employees review the application and package of papers for a maximum of 10 days and make a decision to refuse or satisfy the payments. Thus, after presenting a certificate of incapacity for work within the next month, the employee can count on absolute compensation.

Can I take it in another city?

Health problems can strike at the most unexpected moment, for example, during departure. Many people believe that they receive confirmation of disability exclusively from their local doctor, but this is not the case.

It is possible to apply for sick leave in another city, both in public medical institutions and in private ones. To do this, you need to seek medical help and describe the nature of your complaints.

Allowance of violations

It is not for nothing that the legislator has provided for the maximum permissible period for submitting sick leave. This was done in order to streamline the work of social insurance authorities and avoid the need for mass applications for compensation. If documents are submitted on time, all payments occur gradually and consistently. There are often cases when employees forget to provide sick leave at the place of work. As a result, deadlines are missed and possible loss of funds. After the six-month period has passed, the employer no longer has the right to accept certificates of incapacity for work, since they are considered invalid and the company cannot compensate for anything.

To have a chance to receive payments, the employee must provide sick leave to the Social Insurance Fund. Further activities of Social Insurance are aimed at establishing the reasons for the violations of deadlines. If the established reasons are significant, then the issue will be resolved in favor of the employee. If the violation was committed due to personal irresponsibility, then payment will be denied.

In what cases is a BC issued?

You can apply for a certificate of incapacity for work if:

the disease occurs in an acute form;
you are injured;
perform prosthetics;
are in quarantine;
going to a sanatorium for treatment;
undergo rehabilitation after illnesses and injuries;
are caring for a sick relative;
you are entitled to maternity leave.

The legislation provides rules for issuing sick leave for each specific case. The period of release from work depends on various factors: the type of treatment, the presence of complications, the age of the sick child, and others.

Direction of papers

The question often arises about who to give sick leave to and whether it is possible not to contact the company’s accounting department, but to immediately provide the entire package of documents to the Social Insurance Fund. As mentioned above, the first three days of illness are compensated at the place of work, so the document must be submitted to the employer.

The legislator provides a limited list of cases when an employee may not submit sick leave to the accounting department, but send it directly to Social Security. All these grounds are related to the employer’s inability to compensate for payments, namely:

opening proceedings to declare a legal entity bankrupt;
blocking of company accounts, which does not allow the use of company money;
elimination of a legal entity.

This is important to know: Will they give you sick leave if your back hurts?

If there are such grounds, then you must additionally submit a written statement with a certificate of incapacity for work with a request to consider the application for payments without the participation of the employer. Regardless of where the documents are sent, the deadline for submitting papers remains the same and is six months.

Extension of a document on incapacity for work

Sometimes cases arise when it is necessary to extend a document. For example, a person did not recover after surgery or did not have time to recover for other reasons. The treating doctor can open the document for up to fifteen days. The decision on the extension is made by a commission of doctors appointed by the head of the medical institution.

The dentist issues a newsletter valid for up to ten days.

Legal consequences

A certificate of incapacity for work is an official document obliging to make payments in favor of a sick employee in the amounts established by law. And part of the compensation is taken from the state budget, and the second from the company’s reserves. In order to control all transactions related to budget funds, each violation has its own legal consequences. First of all, the promptness of the compensation paid will depend on how quickly the employee submits the documents.

Violation of the deadlines for submitting certificates of incapacity for work is fraught with the following:

refusal to make payments (deadlines missed without good reason);
delay in monetary compensation.

As you can see, the restrictions apply only to the employees themselves who violated the terms. Therefore, every employee is interested in timely submission of papers to the employer and prompt receipt of money.

Who takes the BL and can you do it yourself?

The employee who closes the certificate of incapacity for work submits the document at the place of work.

The end date is considered to be:

The date indicated in the “Start work” line is in the case when the employee himself was sick and correctly closed his sick leave.
The next day after the date indicated in the line “By what date” - if the employee for some reason missed a visit to the attending physician and came back later already healthy. In this case, the doctor enters code “36” in the “Other” column.
The next day after the date indicated in the line “By what date” – when issuing a certificate of incapacity for work to care for another patient.

The employer, having received sick leave, calculates compensation and pays it to the employee in the manner prescribed by law. After this, the employer independently submits the certificate of incapacity for work to the Social Insurance Fund

with the remaining documents and receives compensation for his expenses.

According to the law, the FSS undertakes to reimburse all payments to the enterprise within 14 calendar days.

However, the Law provides for cases when an employee can independently provide a certificate of incapacity for work in social insurance. In accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 13 of Law No. 255-FZ, an employee can submit his sick leave to the Social Insurance Fund if:

The organization no longer exists, the company has ceased operations.
The location of the employer is uncertain.
The employer's current accounts are frozen, the organization does not have the funds to pay compensation for temporary disability.
The company is being liquidated due to bankruptcy.

General Closing Rules

The general procedure for opening and closing sick leave is regulated by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development No. 624n dated June 29, 2011, as amended by Order No. 31n dated January 24, 2012 of the same department. Who can cover sick leave? In accordance with the orders, medical institutions of a state, municipal or private nature can open and close a document if they have the appropriate license.

The persons carrying out the procedure directly may be:

attending physicians in inpatient and outpatient medical institutions;
paramedics and dentists;
practicing doctors at research institutes and clinics.

According to the general rules, where sick leave is required to be closed in the institution where it was opened, with the exception of the following special cases:

hospitalization of the patient as a result of deterioration in health during the period of treatment in an outpatient clinic;
discharge of the patient from an inpatient facility for home follow-up treatment at the place of residence;
when undergoing primary treatment in an inpatient facility of one profile and changing to another as a result of a clinical examination.

The sick leave was issued by one organization, and closed by another, possibly when the patient’s treating institution sent it to another territorial region to continue therapy. But, if, while in the territory of another populated district, the patient opened a ballot not at his place of residence, then closing the sick leave in another clinic, even at the place of his own registration, is not allowed.

Procedure for providing BC

To reimburse the manager for sick leave payments, he must submit a certain package of documents. There are several ways to do this.

How to send through the Social Security Fund portal?

Expert opinion

Novikov Oleg Tarasovich

Legal consultant with 7 years of experience. Specializes in criminal law. Member of the Bar Association.

Document flow with the Social Insurance Fund is not properly established. How can I transfer a document? You have to submit documents in person. To receive reimbursement for sick leave payments, you must provide the following documents:

Application from the policyholder. It must indicate the name of the enterprise, registration number, legal and actual addresses, as well as the amount to be reimbursed.
For sick leave paid from the beginning of 2021, a certificate is provided with a calculation of accrued and paid insurance premiums. The certificate must contain all the data required in accordance with Order of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation dated October 28, 2016 No. 585n. Additionally, a breakdown of insurance costs is provided.
A document evidencing the occurrence of an insured event - a certificate of temporary incapacity for work.

Note. In the regions that participate in the Pilot Project, there is a Social Insurance Fund gateway for sending sick leave. Over time, it is possible to increase users through the introduction of electronic sick leave certificates.

Is it possible through State Services?

Through the State Services website, it is possible to submit an application for the appointment and payment of temporary disability benefits in cases where it is not possible to receive payments from the employer. The provision period is 10 days

This is important to know: Is sick leave considered income?

and is provided free of charge.

To receive services electronically you need:

Log in to the State Services website by logging in or registering as a new user. Services are provided only for verified accounts. Service page - https://www.gosuslugi.ru/26223.
Fill out the electronic form. To fill it out you will need:

application for payment of benefits;
sick leave;
certificate of the amount of salary and other remuneration or payments;
application for sending a request to the pension fund;
document confirming insurance experience;
documents confirming the impossibility of establishing the location of the policyholder or his property;
documents that confirm the insured’s inability to pay compensation;
documents confirming the liquidation of the enterprise or a similar procedure;
information on entering the claims of the insured person in the register of claims.

Wait for registration and verification of the application. A notification will be sent to the user’s Personal Account as confirmation.
Waiting for the results of the review. When the application is reviewed, a notification will be sent to the applicant’s Personal Account.
Pick up a document confirming the assignment of benefits and another one confirming the transfer of funds from the Social Insurance Fund.

other methods

You can submit documents to the FSS:

Through a legal representative.
Via mail. When sending by mail, an inventory of the attachment is made, on which the post office employees put a stamp with a mark on the date of dispatch; it must be compiled in two copies (the second is placed in an envelope for the Social Insurance Fund).

Submitting a ballot after the deadline - consequences

Late submission of sick leave to the Social Insurance Fund is fraught with consequences for both the employer and the employee.

If an employee is late in providing

The employer does not have the right to assign and pay benefits for a certificate of incapacity for work submitted after 6 months. According to the law, the decision to assign a payment or refuse is made only by the Social Insurance Fund.

You can receive compensation for an overdue sick leave certificate only by proving a good reason why the document was not submitted on time. To do this, the employee must contact the territorial body of the Social Insurance Fund directly with an application, which must indicate the reason for the untimely submission of sick leave.

Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development No. 74 dated January 31, 2007 defines a list of reasons that can be considered valid:

illness that lasted more than 6 months;
extraordinary circumstances of an objective nature that the employee could not influence (for example, natural disasters);
moving to another locality;
forced removal from work or absenteeism, which was declared invalid;
other reasons recognized by the court as valid.

If the employer is late

If the employer does not submit a report on insurance payments within the established period, penalties are imposed on him (Article 26.30 of Federal Law No. 125-FZ): 5% of the amount of insurance premiums accrued for three months of the billing/reporting period for one full or partial month of delay, but not more than 30% and not less than 1000 rubles.

Article 26.30. Failure to submit calculations for accrued and paid insurance premiums of Federal Law No. 125-FZ

Failure by the insured to submit the prescribed calculation of accrued and paid insurance premiums to the territorial body of the insurer at the place of its registration within the period established by this Federal Law shall entail the collection of a fine in the amount of 5 percent of the amount of insurance premiums accrued for payment for the last three months of the reporting (calculation) period, for each full or partial month from the day established for its submission, but not more than 30 percent of the specified amount and not less than 1000 rubles.
Failure by the policyholder to comply with the procedure for submitting calculations of accrued and paid insurance premiums to the territorial body of the insurer in the form of electronic documents in cases provided for by this Federal Law shall entail a fine of 200 rubles.

The deadline for submitting documents that are necessary for compensation payments under a certificate of incapacity for work is of great importance. It is very important for employers and employees to know the deadlines for submitting documents to the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation. Timely submission will allow you to receive compensation as soon as possible.

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About the license

A certificate of incapacity for work can be paid for with funds from the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia. However, this rule applies only if the medical institution that issued it has a license granting it the right to conduct an examination of temporary disability (clauses 2 and 9 of the Procedure approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated June 29, 2011 No. 624 n).

However, there is no need to check each time the availability of such a license from the institution that issued the sick leave. If the sick leave was issued by a branch of a medical institution, then the employer is also not obliged to check whether the name of this branch is on the license. The fact is that forms of certificates of incapacity for work are issued by the FSS. And it issues them only to those who have a license (clause 1 of the Instructions, approved by order of the Ministry of Health of Russia No. 18 of January 29, 2004 and the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia No. 29).

Punishments for non-compliance with licensing legislation are imposed directly on institutions that do not comply with it; the Insured Organization is not responsible for this. The employer does not have the right to control the correctness of execution and compliance with the procedure for issuing certificates of incapacity for work by medical institutions. This follows from the Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated December 11, 2012 No. 10605/12.

If a sick leave certificate is issued by a private practitioner, then he must indicate his license number on it (clause 60 of the Methodological Instructions approved by Resolution of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia dated April 7, 2008 No. 81).