In this article, qualified specialists will give complete answers to questions regarding filling out sick leave. Every employer needs to know this, because a correctly filled out sick leave certificate will help reimburse the worker for all the money spent on treatment during the period of incapacity.
What functions does a document such as a sick leave perform?
Experts say that the certificate of incapacity for work was invented and developed for a reason. It performs two important functions:
- A financial document (this was discussed earlier in this article), which is the basis for the assignment of disability benefits and its payment.
- A reporting document that confirms and certifies the fact of release from work of an employee due to his disability.
It should be remembered that a sick citizen can take several such documents at once to confirm the fact of incapacity for work in several organizations in which he works (for example, on the basis of a main employment contract and a part-time contract).
VS: sick leave can be filled out with a ballpoint pen
The use of a ballpoint pen is not allowed.
Entries on the certificate of incapacity for work should not go beyond the boundaries of the cells provided for making the corresponding entries.
As a last resort, the sick leave certificate can simply be replaced by requesting a duplicate, duly filled out, from the medical institution that issued it.
This is what the employer did in the situation considered by the Supreme Court. Previously, a similar position was expressed by arbitration courts in three instances.
A sick leave certificate filled out with a ballpoint pen can be accepted for payment until the Social Insurance Fund introduces automatic processing of sick leave certificates.
You can also fill out sick leave using printing devices.
At the same time, the authors of the commented letter consider it possible to temporarily accept for payment sick leave with technical errors (probably officials include ballots filled out with a ballpoint pen as such). But only on condition that these errors do not affect the amount of the benefit paid and, before the start of automated processing of certificates of incapacity for work, do not interfere with their processing manually. * approved by order
By whom and in what cases is a certificate of incapacity issued?
A sick leave certificate is usually issued by the medical institution where the employee was treated. This happens in the following cases:
- Outpatient treatment of employee illnesses (injuries, poisonings, other painful conditions):
- up to 15 calendar days issued by the responsible medical officer;
- beyond this period - by a medical commission.
- Maternity leave is received by an employee during the thirty-week period of pregnancy - the duration is 140 calendar days (70 before childbirth and 70 after it), given:
- obstetrician-gynecologist;
- family doctor or general practitioner;
- paramedic
- Caring for a sick family member - sick leave is issued by the sick person’s attending physician:
- for a period of up to 3 days – under outpatient treatment conditions;
- for a period of up to 7 days - according to the decision of the VKK, depending on the severity of the disease.
Since this document is issued mainly by a medical institution or its employee, the first part of it is filled out there, and the remaining parts of the form are already filled out either by the employer himself or by the person responsible for issuing sick leave.
Is it possible to create a combined sick leave certificate, by hand and on a computer?
The reverse side of the form provides background information on filling out sick leave.
The new sick leave will indicate: the patient’s medical card number, the employee’s TIN and the insurance number of his individual personal account in the compulsory pension insurance system. For automated patient registration, many codes have been introduced to indicate special data (for example, the cause of the disease).
The sick leave certificate is now signed not only by the chief accountant, but also by the head of the organization. Entrepreneurs, who often combine these two positions, will sign the form twice.
Doctors have no right to make mistakes when filling out sick leave, since the sick leave is immediately invalidated and will have to be rewritten until it is filled out correctly. The employer can correct his mistakes when filling out the blinker. It is not stated anywhere how many times an employer is allowed to make a mistake.
Neither doctors nor employers are allowed to use ballpoint pens when filling out sick leave. It is allowed to fill out the sick leave form with gel, capillary or fountain pens. Ink color is black only.
In addition, the employer must attach a benefit calculation to the sick leave certificate.
Having received a sick leave certificate from the employee, you need to check the part of the form that the doctor fills out. Issues that should be paid attention to are given in Table 1. If errors are detected, the sick leave certificate is returned to the employee to be replaced by the medical organization with a new one. Otherwise, you will have problems getting your benefits reimbursed. After making sure there are no errors, we accept the sick leave and fill out the employer section.
Is it possible to fill out a sick leave form using a computer?
Indeed, it will not be recognized as an error if the form of this document is filled out using a computer - letter No. 17-03-09/06-3841P FSS (dated October 23, 2014). It is also not a violation of the general rules for filling out a sick leave form and combining handwritten text with computer typing. For example, if the initial part of the form is filled out by hand by an employee of a medical institution using a capillary pen with black ink, and the subsequent columns are filled out by the employer using a computer.
Error correction
If the doctor made a mistake when filling out the form, the document must be replaced. There are different rules for employers. If they make a mistake, they have the right to correct it on the same form. An entry reflected incorrectly should be crossed out lengthwise. This should be done carefully. Correct information is reflected on the back, certified with a seal, the signature of the manager and the inscription “Believe the corrected one.” If the filling regime is violated, difficulties with payments may arise.
Read on the topic: Is it possible to correct an error on a sick leave certificate?
Is it necessary to indicate the patient’s specific diagnosis on the form?
In the current 2020, the diagnosis does not fit into the sick leave form. For this purpose there is a special column “Cause of disability”. It is filled out using a specially designed two-digit digital code. These digital codes must necessarily correspond to the basis on which this document is issued to the sick employee:
- “01” – disease;
- “02” – injury;
- “03” – quarantine.
Such precautions and coding of the employee’s diagnosis are associated with guaranteed compliance with medical confidentiality.
Document form
On July 1, 2011, Russia introduced an old document in content and a completely new document in form. The updated form of sick leave was approved by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development No. 347n dated April 26, 2011 and is mandatory for use throughout the legal territory of the country.
The document has a multi-stage security level, a bar code in the upper corner on the right side, under which is a 12-digit sick leave number.
Unlike its predecessor, the new sick leave does not contain a series. In the upper left corner there is a binary code that completely eliminates the possibility of counterfeiting.
What does a sick leave certificate look like? Visually represents the alternation of yellow cells on a blue field. The cells are intended for making entries.
The document contains:
- a medical section intended for recording by the prescribing organization;
- section provided for completion by the employer who accepts the document and ensures the accrual and payment of funds due;
- a tear-off spine that remains after filling in a medical institution;
- a kind of section on the “wrong” side, providing complete information about the codes and serving as a field for correcting errors.
Is the form always stamped?
The fact is that not all employing organizations have stamps in their use, so this point is insignificant, which is confirmed by Federal legislation:
- Federal Law, Law No. 208, Article No. 2, paragraph 7.
- Federal Law, Law No. 14, Article No. 2, paragraph 5.
As for the seals and stamps of a medical organization, they are mandatory. But due to the observance of medical confidentiality, there are seals that do not indicate the profile of the medical institution:
- psychiatric;
- drug treatment;
- Center for Prevention and Control of AIDS.
But this absence of a medical institution’s profile on the seal, as indicated in the relevant documentation, is an exception to the generally accepted rules.
Filling rules
In order for the scanner to record the necessary information, there must be no corrections in the document. Provided that the information is entered correctly, the patient is guaranteed payments. The following rules apply in 2020:
- symbols must be inside the cell;
- To enter data, a printing device or a written method is used;
- When filled in manually, black ink is required.
If the sheet is lost before it is handed over to the employer, you can get a duplicate. This rule applies to doctors; the employer has the right to correct errors without changing the form. In this case, the correct information is reflected on the reverse side of the sheet and certified.
Read on the topic: How are sick leave calculated?
Are there separate rules for an employer when filling out a sick leave form?
The employer has its own rules that must be followed when filling out a sick leave certificate. The main and most important of them is checking the correctness of entering all data by a specialist from a medical institution. If any erroneous entries or inconsistencies with the standard procedure for filling out the form of this document are identified, you will have to request a duplicate of it from the same medical institution where the employee was treated (most often, he himself applies for a duplicate).
Now in more detail about other rules that specifically relate to entering information from the employer into the form of a certificate of incapacity for work:
- The name of the employing organization can be written in two versions (exactly twenty-nine cells are allocated for this), but you cannot go beyond the section:
- complete;
- abbreviated
- In no case should punctuation marks such as quotation marks, commas, exclamation marks, dashes and colons be excluded from the name.
- The employer enters data in the “Date of start of work” column, and the employee of the medical institution enters the data in the “Start work” column.
- You cannot correct clerical errors and mistakes with the help of a proofreader - Procedure, paragraph 65 (Order No. 624n of the Ministry of Health and Social Development dated June 29, 2011).
If a mistake is made or incorrect information is entered, the employer must carefully cross out the erroneous entry, after which the correct data is written on the back of the form.
The procedure for filling out a sick leave sheet line by line
In the line “Place of work - name of organization” the full or abbreviated name of the organization (separate division) is indicated in accordance with the constituent documents or the last name, first name, patronymic of the employer - an individual (with spaces in one cell). If the abbreviated name is missing in the constituent documents or it, like the full one, does not fit into the allotted number of cells, you can arbitrarily shorten the name within the cells of the line (if you go beyond the information field, the recording stops). Number signs, quotation marks, periods, commas, dashes and other punctuation marks are not used, but their presence is not a significant design flaw. In any case, identification of the employer can be carried out by his registration number indicated in the corresponding line of the certificate of incapacity for work (letter from the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia dated October 28, 2011 No. 14-03-18/15-12956, dated September 14, 2011 No. 14-03-11/15 -8605, dated 08/05/2011 No. 14-03-11/05-8545).
