The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus epidemic has made its own adjustments to the work activities of Russians, in particular, it has raised the issue of obtaining sick leave - certificates of temporary incapacity for work due to illness or asymptomatic disease.
How long does sick leave last for coronavirus? What should you do if your close relative or neighbor gets sick, and you are a contact person? Is it possible to obtain a certificate of temporary disability remotely? In this article we will talk about the procedure for obtaining sick leave during coronavirus.
Who and when can take sick leave during coronavirus?
Only officially employed citizens can apply for payments for temporary disability from the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, from whose wages tax was withheld on a monthly basis.
Individual entrepreneurs (IP) and the self-employed, as well as people working without official employment, are not entitled to payments.
- A patient with confirmed coronavirus or viral pneumonia caused by CODID-19 may qualify for paid sick leave.
- Sick leave can be taken by contact persons, relatives, people who care for the patient and have systematic contact with him.
- In particular, a parent whose child is sick can take sick leave.
- Patients with chronic diseases who are at risk for developing complications
can take sick leave for the duration of the pandemic The list of such diseases has been approved by the Health Committee of the Russian Federation and allows an employee to take sick leave ( important! but only for the entire quarantine period - the period established by the region), having first registered with the clinic at the place of residence. - Citizens of the Russian Federation who have returned from epidemiologically disadvantaged countries and are forced to spend two weeks in self-isolation due to quarantine can take sick leave at work.
- citizens over 65 years of age are taking sick leave due to a special order from local authorities and the Chief Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation, since older people are at highest risk from coronavirus.
It is important to understand that monetary compensation for illness or in case of contact with a sick person will be less than wages. Therefore, if the coronavirus is mild, the employee can agree with the employer on remote employment.
Only the attending physician - a public or private clinic (if he has the appropriate license and the ability to conduct a medical examination) can send a patient on sick leave. The doctor will clarify the complaints and assess the patient’s health condition. Emergency doctors are not authorized to issue sick leave.
With coronavirus, symptoms such as elevated body temperature, general weakness and fatigue, loss of smell and other disturbances in the functioning of internal organs are observed.
If coronavirus provokes pneumonia, the patient, as a rule, begins to be bothered by symptoms of a respiratory disease: shortness of breath, cough, chest discomfort.
But visual examination, auscultation and pulse oximetry are not enough to make a diagnosis and issue a sick leave certificate. Coronavirus is considered confirmed based on the results of a laboratory PCR test. If the doctor suspects that the patient may have pneumonia caused by COVID-19, the patient is recommended to have a CT scan of the lungs. Pneumonia is a common complication of the new coronavirus infection. The patient will need more time to recover, and more intensive therapy will be prescribed.
To receive sick leave, patients with chronic diseases must register with the clinic. Elderly people over 65 years of age and people returning from abroad are forced to comply with the self-isolation regime, so they can apply for sick leave remotely through the State Services portal. This procedure was established by a special order of the Government of the Russian Federation, but it is not final and can be changed.
If you have been in contact with an infected person, you can take sick leave for quarantine or check with the head of the company about the possibility of working remotely for two weeks.
A sick leave certificate can be issued electronically or in writing. This data is entered into the Social Insurance Fund database, which is available to the employer after authorization in his personal account.
Each temporary disability certificate contains a code for payment of benefits, which will be different for patients with confirmed coronavirus (code 01) and a contact person forced to go into quarantine without obvious signs of illness (code 03).
In what order is the document drawn up (classic scheme)
Sick leave may be required even if you are working remotely. Not to mention those employees who continue to go to work as usual. Anyone can get sick, especially in such turbulent times. And not necessarily coronavirus. But you will have to get sick leave, in particular, in order to take care of your well-being in a calm environment, and not worry about getting absenteeism and loss of earnings. But under quarantine conditions, every penny counts.
To receive health insurance, an employee must follow the following algorithm:
- A sick employee goes to the doctor. This procedure maintains the usual routine of contacting a healthcare professional to make a diagnosis and develop a plan for further treatment. But just make sure that the medical institution is included in the Social Insurance Fund database, otherwise serious problems may arise with obtaining an electronic sick leave.
- The doctor conducts an examination and, at the patient’s request, offers him the opportunity to issue a sick leave certificate (if necessary) in electronic format. But provided that both the employer and the clinic where the employee is being examined are connected to the Social Insurance Fund.
- The patient writes about his consent to receive the electronic document format. This consent must be filed with the person’s medical record and also scanned so that a virtual copy can be sent to the FSS website.
- The patient's sick leave will be registered in the virtual system. After this, it will be sent to the employer (this will only take a few minutes). He will process it and enter it into his accounting and payment system (if employee sick leave is paid). The patient does not need to be personally present for all this.
- When sick leave is closed, the employer records this at home, since the data is quickly received thanks to the online format.
Thus, the employee’s inability to work brings him much fewer problems than in the case when he independently had to run to the hospital several times and not only to close the sheet. Now opening or closing a sheet has become much easier and faster. Moreover, positive aspects were noted not only by patients, but by doctors and employers.
How many days does sick leave last for coronavirus?
Sick leave for coronavirus lasts as long as necessary for the patient’s body to completely defeat the virus and restore it.
For a patient with coronavirus confirmed by laboratory diagnostics, but without pneumonia, the first sick leave is issued, as a rule, for 14 days. All this time, the patient is treated according to the doctor’s recommendations and monitors the dynamics of therapy. After two weeks, the patient does a PCR test, and the doctor decides on the length of the sick leave.
It is important that the virus does not provoke the development of complications - pneumonia, vascular thrombosis, kidney failure. If there are severe signs of a respiratory disease: cough, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, lack of air, a CT scan of the lungs should be done.
The patient should remain on sick leave until a negative test result - PCR or immunoglobulin - comes back. However, it is important to understand that antibodies (responses to the virus) can remain in the blood for another 2-3 months, even when the patient is already healthy. Taking into account the rather high percentage of error, sometimes it is preferable to do not one, but two tests. After the first negative result, the attending physician can discharge the recovered patient or extend the sick leave, but under quarantine.
If coronavirus provokes pneumonia, then the disease is more severe and the sick leave will last longer. Before discharging the patient, the doctor must make sure not only that there is no viral or viral-bacterial infection, but also that there are no unresolved inflammatory foci in the lungs (infiltrates, “ground glass”, “cobblestone” symptoms).
It can take a month or more to treat viral pneumonia. At the same time, residual effects of coronavirus, such as cough, sore throat, difficulty breathing, may persist for another 1-2 months after pneumonia has already been defeated.
Elderly people over 65 years of age and patients at risk with chronic diseases or “in conditions requiring self-isolation” work remotely or are on sick leave until special orders from the government and the Chief Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation, that is, as long as there is a threat for their life and health.
What temporary changes have been made due to quarantine?
It is also possible to apply for sick leave during quarantine remotely, but given the observance of the self-isolation regime and stricter travel rules, changes have also affected the registration of sick leave. This also applies to the virtual format of sheets. Thus, people who are forced to stay at home can receive sick leave via the Internet using the special FSS website.
The following people can take advantage of the new rules:
- people who have recently arrived from other countries where cases of coronavirus infection have been recorded (and since this list includes almost all foreign countries, you should accept that all avid travelers will have to work with the virtual form);
- people who live in the same house with people coming from abroad (as there is a high risk that they may also be infected);
- people who are over 65 years old (since people of this age are the most vulnerable to coronavirus - the disease has a high chance of being fatal).
It is necessary for these citizens to remain in quarantine, even if they do not have any signs of illness. Because there is a huge risk that they can also be carriers. In addition, the disease can usually manifest itself within 14 days after infection.
How is sick leave paid for coronavirus?
The procedure for payments for sick leave during coronavirus is no different from other situations, for example, from sick leave for ARVI or for caring for a sick child. The amount of payments is not affected by whether the patient suffers from viral pneumonia caused by COVID-19, or whether he is forced to quarantine due to contact with the patient, chronic diseases or old age.
The amount of payments is affected by:
- Seniority;
- The employee's actual earnings for the last two years;
- Established minimum wage level.
Where to go for the procedure
For those who find themselves in another district or city for various reasons, it will be important to find out whether it is possible to close a sick leave in another clinic? Order of the Ministry of Social Development of Russia No. 624n dated July 2
records only a general list of institutions and officials who have the right to provide the document.
At the same time, the legal act does not stipulate
a specific organization to which a citizen is obliged to contact.
The absence of a ban
allows you to close your sick leave in another clinic.
The procedure is performed in the medical institution where the discharge
. If the document was opened in the inpatient department of the hospital, but the patient was sent to receive further treatment at home, the document will be closed by the local doctor.
The procedure can be performed in another city if the sick leave was opened at the place of residence, but later the citizen was sent for treatment to another locality. In Order of the Ministry of Social Development of Russia 624n dated June 29, 2011
there is no prohibition on carrying out an action. If the treatment was carried out by one specialist, he closes the document. However, another doctor can perform the procedure.
How to calculate how much money I am entitled to for sick leave due to coronavirus?
Step 1 - calculate the total income for the last two years. For example, 2021 - 360,000 rubles, 2021 - 420,000 rubles.
Step 2 - calculate the average earnings for 1 day, that is, divide the amount of earnings for 2 years by 731. In this case, it turns out:
(360,000 + 420,000) / 731 = 1,067 rubles.
Step 3 - we calculate the daily sick leave payment based on the current work experience:
a) Less than six months - the amount of daily payment corresponds to the minimum wage (currently - 404.33 rubles (if there are 30 days in a month) or 391.29 rubles (31 days).
b) Less than 5 years - 60% of the average daily earnings are due, in our example it is 640 rubles.
c) From 5 to 8 years - 80% of the average daily earnings, in our example it is 854.6 rubles.
d) More than 8 years - 100% of the average daily earnings, in this case it is 1067 rubles.
Each working day missed by the employee due to health reasons is paid. The maximum period of sick leave can be extended to 10 months by decision of the medical commission.
If the specifics of the job and the enterprise do not allow switching to a remote work format, the employer can arrange downtime for reasons beyond his control and, with the consent of the employee, provide him with annual paid leave or leave at his own expense.
The employer pays the employee himself for the first three days of sick leave. Next, the funds are accrued from the Social Insurance Fund, in favor of which tax was withheld from the employee’s wages. In accordance with the Federal Law “On the National Payment System” (161-FZ), funds from the Social Insurance Fund can only be credited to the MIR card.
What happens if you don’t close your sick leave?
Those who, for a variety of reasons, did not manage to complete all the required procedures on time, are worried about what will happen if they do not close their sick leave.
during? In such cases, according to the law, the prospects are not bright:
- Disability benefits will not be provided. According to Federal Law No. 255 of December 29, 2006
, it is the closed sick leave that is the basis for the accrual of funds. The absence of a document or its untimely submission allows the insurer to refuse to provide payment. - The employer will refuse to accept
an unclosed document to mark the employee’s absence report due to illness. This paper does not contain all the necessary details. - The medical worker has the right to mark the violation of the regime. According to the provisions of Order of the Ministry of Social Development of Russia 624n dated June 29, 2011
, while the document is not closed, changes can be made to it.
However, there is also a human factor, and it is customary for us to meet people halfway. However, there are no guarantees that the issue will be resolved positively, so everyone strongly recommends closing sick leave on time.
How to apply for sick leave during coronavirus?
Sick leave is issued in the usual manner. Depending on how they feel, the sick person consults a doctor (infectious disease specialist, therapist, pulmonologist) directly at a medical institution or calls an ambulance at home.
The certificate of incapacity for work is issued electronically (in some regions in writing). They have the same strength. Electronic sick leave for coronavirus will be stored in the all-Russian FSS database - accessible only to the employee, his employer and the attending physician in a medical institution connected to a single database.
During quarantine, you should adhere to self-isolation - a potential carrier of the new virus should not leave home, even to the clinic, as this may contribute to the spread of the infection.
If you live with a person who has been diagnosed with coronavirus, or have recently returned from an epidemiologically unfavorable country, you can apply for quarantine sick leave using the State Services website.
To do this you need:
1. Submit an application and fill out a form on the website.
2. Attach a photo of the passport page and documents confirming the fact of crossing the border or living together with the patient. A sample and a complete list of such documents is available on the State Services website.
3. Provide your electronic sick leave number to your employer.
Temporary disability benefits due to quarantine are paid in two parts: for the first 7 days missed and for the remaining period.
How is the system for remote issuance and registration of electronic certificates of incapacity organized?
Each region determines a list of authorized medical organizations that centrally provide remote issuance and registration of electronic certificates of incapacity for work. These organizations gain access to the FSS information system, which processes applications for the issuance of electronic sick leave.
The FSS transfers all received applications and documents to authorized medical organizations.
No later than the next working day after receiving information from the Social Insurance Fund, such organization makes a decision to issue (generate) an electronic certificate of incapacity for work.
In the case of in-person registration of sick leave by a paramedic or doctor, information about the issuance (generation) of an electronic sick leave certificate must be transferred to the Social Insurance Fund by the medical organization no later than the next working day after its registration.
Coronavirus code on sick leave
The main thing you should pay attention to is that code 01 is assigned to sick leave for patients with confirmed coronavirus. Code 03 corresponds to a hospital patient who was forced to go into quarantine without the ability to continue working remotely. If, after 14 days of quarantine, the disease makes itself known, the patient will receive a certificate of temporary incapacity for work 01 from the doctor.
Patients with viral pneumonia should be prepared for the fact that it will take at best 1 month to fight the disease. The condition of the respiratory organ can be assessed on a control CT scan. It is important to exclude pneumonia, incomplete inflammatory processes in the lungs and complications of pneumonia, such as fibrosis. If there are signs of fibrotic changes on CT and characteristic symptoms, the patient should contact a pulmonologist and have a control CT scan done in a year.
Who has the right to close sick leave
Only doctors who have received a medical license have the right to provide and close sick leave. The rule is enshrined in Order of the Ministry of Social Development of Russia 624n dated June 29, 2011
. The list of specialists with this right includes:
- attending physicians;
- paramedics;
- dentists.
The law also establishes a list of specialists who cannot issue a document. In Order of the Ministry of Social Development of Russia 624n dated June 29, 2011
year it is said that the following do not have the right to provide and close out sick leave:
- emergency medical care organizations;
- organizing blood transfusions;
- reception departments of hospital institutions;
- balneological clinics and mud baths;
- medical organizations of a special type (centers for medical prevention, disaster medicine, forensic medical examination bureaus);
- healthcare institutions for supervision in the field of consumer rights protection and human well-being.
Unextended sick leave: consequences at work
At school or in universities, non-system truants are generally treated with loyalty, and the absence of a pupil or student from classes not confirmed by a doctor’s certificate can entail, at most, only a reprimand with the need to make up the hours missed without a good reason. It’s another matter when a person works under an employment contract. What happens if you don’t extend your sick leave
?
You can calm down: in practice, an employee who neglects his duties to visit a doctor is deprived of only part of the benefit
due to violation of the regimen prescribed by the doctor.
The benefit on the day of missing a visit to a medical institution and after it will be calculated according to the minimum wage, and not based on the employee’s salary. Doctors usually extend the certificate of incapacity for work retroactively
.
However, there are exceptions
, and this must be remembered.
No one will renew a ballot if they suspect that an absolutely healthy person is deliberately shirking work. Therefore, in order to avoid various disputes with the doctor and the accounting department of the company in which the patient works, it is recommended not to violate the deadlines for visiting
the doctor.
There is a category of patients who are late to see the doctor and who are concerned about whether their sick leave can be extended by 1 day. They don’t have to worry about this - there is such a possibility. Medical staff for good reasons
can meet halfway. At the same time, there is no need to pester doctors too intrusively so that they put an extra day on the sick leave list due to the negligent behavior of the patient who missed an appointment.
Features of extending sick leave for pregnancy and childbirth
The traditional duration of sick leave under the BIR is 140 days. It is implied
that the first half of this period falls on the period from the 30th week of maternity leave to the day of birth, and the second 70 days - the so-called the postpartum period necessary to restore the health of the mother in labor. After the 140-day period, the sick leave is closed if there are no grounds for its extension. These grounds are considered:
- the birth of twins or triplets;
- complicated childbirth (this includes caesarean section);
- premature birth (from 22 to 30 weeks).
A woman who becomes the mother of twins or triplets can count on an additional 54 days of sick leave (192 in total). Moreover, she can go on sick leave not 70, but 84 days before the expected date of birth. The recovery period in this case is 110 days. For complicated and premature births, 16 days are added to the sick leave.
It is also possible to issue a ballot in connection with the need to terminate a pregnancy for medical reasons. Sick leave is issued for the entire period of treatment in a hospital + rehabilitation period.
