New procedure for issuing and processing sick leave: what should be taken into account?

• What are electronic sick notes
• Step-by-step instructions for working with electronic sick leave in 2021
• Which is better: electronic or paper sick leave?
• Actions of a personnel officer upon receipt of an electronic certificate of incapacity for work

The country is switching to electronic document management. This simplifies most processes. Additionally, remote collaboration is a great way to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The digitalization procedure has also reached certificates of incapacity for work. The transition to electronic sick leave is not yet mandatory. But the situation may change by 2022. The State Duma is considering the option of completely canceling the outdated version of the document. Therefore, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the features of working with such documents, even if your company does not yet use them.

Step-by-step instructions for working with electronic sick leave in 2021

To fully use paperless technology, the medical institution and employer must be registered in the system. There is nothing complicated about the procedure. It is enough to register a policyholder account on the State Services website. You can also issue electronic sick leave through a special application installed on your computer. It can be found on the FSS website under the title “Preparation of calculations for the FSS.” There are also detailed instructions for use and adaptation to programs used by the enterprise.

Reference! There is no need to register separately on the FSS website. Authorization takes place according to the data available in the personal account of the State Services.

As soon as the personnel officer finds out the sick leave number, he needs to enter the received data and the employee’s SNILS in the Social Insurance Fund account. Next, an electronic document will open. There is no need to print it. In digital format, it is stored in the system and has the same legal force as a traditional paper copy.

To be able to use electronic sick leave, the employer will need to obtain an electronic digital signature, which will be used to certify documents, and enter into an agreement with the Social Insurance Fund on the transition to a new format of interaction.

How to fill out an electronic sick leave

It is important for the personnel officer to understand that the law requires obtaining the employee’s consent to switch to electronic sick leave. That is, it is necessary to draw up an information letter and familiarize the employee with it against signature.

Externally, the electronic document does not differ from the usual paper version. Therefore, there should not be any difficulties filling it out. It is enough to do the following:

• enter the name and registration number of the enterprise into the Social Insurance Fund;
• fill in information about the employee (experience, SNILS, Taxpayer Identification Number, period of illness);
• calculate the amount of payments;
• sign the document using an electronic signature.

At the last stage, the “save” button is activated. From this moment on, all data will be stored in the system.

Amount of sick leave benefit during quarantine

The mechanism for issuing electronic certificates of incapacity for work by the Social Insurance Fund has been streamlined in almost all regions. This format was in effect previously, so there should be no problems with payments.

The benefit amount will be calculated as before; the rules for calculating sick leave for the majority remain the same. The only change concerns those whose income on sick leave may be extremely low due to short work experience or low salary. So, if the temporary disability benefit, calculated according to the general rules (based on the average daily earnings and work experience), calculated for a full calendar month is lower than the minimum wage (the minimum wage is now 12,130 rubles), then sick leave will be paid in the amount of the minimum wage calculated for a full calendar month.

The new rate of payments for sick leave is being introduced temporarily and will be in effect from April to December 2021.

Which is better: electronic or paper sick leave?

Objectively, a digital document has no disadvantages. Difficulties can arise only in regions where there are problems with the Internet. At the same time, there are a huge number of advantages in comparison with the paper version. The main ones include the following:

• reducing the number of errors and misinterpretations due to illegible handwriting;
• no cases of fraud;
• the procedure for storing and providing documents during inspections is simpler;
• no need to equip an archive for storage;
• easy access to documents of any date;
• there is no risk of damage or loss of sick leave.

Rules for issuing sick leave

A certificate of temporary incapacity for work is issued when a sick patient visits a medical institution. If his condition does not allow him to visit a doctor (fever, feeling unwell), then a sick leave certificate is issued by a doctor at home. Depending on the state of health, sick leave can either be extended and additional examinations ordered, or closed. The sick leave certificate is closed upon the patient’s final visit to the doctor after recovery. The employee must provide the employer with sick leave within the time limits established by law.

The rules for filling out sick leave are the same for all medical institutions.

Actions of a personnel officer upon receipt of an electronic certificate of incapacity for work

Since a complete transition to digital documents has not yet been carried out, the personnel department often faces minor problems. For example, an employee brings in a sick leave number, but the company does not work with electronic documents.

This situation is not particularly difficult. According to the letter of the Social Insurance Fund dated August 11, 2017 No. 02-09-11/22-05-13462, the medical institution is obliged to issue a certificate of incapacity for work in the form in which the employee requires it. Accordingly, it is enough for the HR officer to send the employee to get a paper version of the document.

Gradually, all enterprises will switch to electronic sick leave registration. There is no point in delaying this process. After all, this interaction system is more convenient and practical. You should not wait for the corresponding order from the Government and then carry it out in a hurry.

Apply and receive

As we can see, the law does not require much from an employee for whom sick leave is issued electronically. He must clarify the possibility of processing the document by the company’s personnel service, give written consent to this, obtain a number from the clinic or hospital and report it to the place of work.

In the future, the employee can track the passage of the document and the accrual of amounts according to it as a recipient of services at https://lk.fss.ru/recipient/. You need to log into your personal account on the government services website.

The use of electronic sick leave is beneficial not only to the company, but also to the employee. It is no secret that this important document is often lost or damaged if it is issued on paper. In this case, even the very term “receiving an electronic sick leave” can be considered conditional for the employee, since he does not receive it in person, but the benefit is guaranteed to be accrued to him.

At the same time, since this form of document has not yet received widespread distribution, the insured have questions related to the electronic BL. Let's pay attention to the most typical of them:

1. The employee is offered to issue a BC electronically, but the company employee is not sure that the special accounting software that the company uses meets the legal requirements. Answer: all leading developers of accounting and personnel software are finalizing their products in accordance with the requirements of Federal Law-255 and the Social Insurance Fund. As mentioned above, you can use free software from the FSS.
2. If the primary document was written on paper, can its continuation be in electronic form? Answer: the law does not contain any obstacles to such registration, since both forms of the document are legally equivalent.
3. When working part-time, can sick leave be issued in two forms, for example, at the main place of work electronically, and for part-time work - on paper? Answer: yes, they can.
4. In what form is the medical institution obliged to inform the employee about the sheet number? In what form should I submit information to work? Answer: the law does not provide for a special form, certificates, or documents. This can be verbal, or a message sent by phone or email.
5. When checking in his personal account, a patient of a medical institution discovered an error in the name of the company where he works. Will benefits be awarded? Answer: in case of minor errors or clerical errors, the company is identified by the Fund by reg. number, the document is not reissued. A serious mistake or a complete change of name usually requires re-issuing the sheet, and a duplicate is entered into the system.
6. The administration said that they would accept the sick leave in electronic form, but the doctor refused to issue it and wrote out the usual paper equivalent. Answer: it is necessary to contact the management of the medical institution if it is obvious that the refusal was unfounded.

Accounting and tax accounting of amounts paid

Payment for sick leave is recognized as an expense for ordinary activities in the period of its accrual, as provided for by the norms of PBU 10/99, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 6, 1999 No. 33n. But since relatives are not employees of the organization, the employer makes entries not to account 70 “Settlements with personnel for wages”, but to account 76 “Settlements with various debtors and creditors” (instructions for using the chart of accounts for accounting the financial and economic activities of organizations , approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated October 31, 2000 No. 94n).

IMPORTANT!

Personal income tax on the amount of sick leave benefits for a deceased employee is not withheld and not taken into account, since, according to the provisions of Article 44 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the obligation to pay tax ceases with the death of an individual.

Postings for payment of sick leave benefits to relatives of the deceased look like this:

Who pays the benefits of a deceased employee?

In 2021, direct payments of benefits from the Russian Social Insurance Fund have been introduced in all Russian regions. The employer pays only the first 3 days of incapacity for work, and transfers information for calculating payments for the remaining days to the Social Insurance Fund. To do this, the employer submits, within five days, a written application from a relative regarding the payment of amounts due to the deceased employee to the Social Insurance Fund and the required documents for it.

Sick leave is paid as usual:

• for the first 3 days of sick leave, the employer pays along with the salary of the deceased employee within 10 calendar days after submitting the application and documents;
• for the rest of the time it is paid by the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation within 10 days from the date of receipt of the documents.

Payments are made in the manner specified in the application by the recipient.

Current

How can an employee start using ELN?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results

You can calculate benefits for a new employee without a certificate of earnings from the previous employer using available information about the salary in the organization or the minimum wage.
After the certificate appears, you need to recalculate. And it is better to immediately warn all newly employed people that if they do not bring a certificate, they will receive benefits in the minimum amount. You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.