From 1 January next year, the Federal Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on Compulsory Social Insurance” will come into force and the basis for the payment of benefits for temporary disability and childbirth will be an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (ELN).
The opportunity to issue such sick leave in Russia has existed since July 1, 2017. Over the past time, citizens have issued more than 96 million ELN. This innovation made life much easier for both companies and employees, and the service became especially in demand during the coronavirus pandemic.
The most widespread ELN received in Moscow, where during this time more than 9 million of such sick leave were issued. In second place is the Moscow region, where more than 5 million electronic sick leave have been issued since the launch of this opportunity. The third place is taken by the Republic of Tatarstan, where employees have issued about 4 million ELN.
Note to employees
To date, more than 11 thousand medical institutions in Russia issue electronic sick leave, that is, 92% of all existing healthcare organizations in the country. Until the end of the year, according to the current legislation, employers have the right to accept both electronic and traditional, paper sick leave certificates, now they are still equivalent, that is, they have the same legal force. But already from January 1, 2022, only ELNs will be issued and accepted for payment. And today every insured person working on the TC can use the electronic sick leave.
Citizens have already appreciated the convenience of using electronic sick leave. Their popularity among the population is increasing every month, as evidenced by the figures: for incomplete 2021, medical institutions generated 78% of certificates of incapacity for work in electronic form. This is quite understandable, because it is very convenient for working Russians to use electronic sick leave and register it, and no special or additional knowledge is required. It is enough to inform the doctor at the doctor’s office that you want to receive an electronic sick leave, and then sign a special consent form for its opening. Simplicity in design is far from the only reason for an employee to choose ELN. There are many more.
8 good reasons to apply for electronic sick leave
1. Reliability. Such a document cannot be lost, torn, forgotten, crumpled beyond recognition or lost in any other way.
2. Availability. Information about sick leave is always available in your personal account on the website of the Social Insurance Fund (FSS).
3. Speed. The insurance indemnity reaches the recipient faster thanks to the automated system for calculating and assigning benefits.
4. Lightness. The employer no longer needs to transfer data from paper to their system. Information is sent to the FSS in just a couple of clicks.
5. Authenticity. The electronic certificate of incapacity for work cannot be forged or confused.
6. Relevance. All automated users receive information about the opening, prolongation and closure of an electronic hospital alert directly from the “Gosuslugi” portal.
7. Sufficiency. The ELN number is sufficient for its renewal in another clinic, hospital or other medical institution.
8. Comfort. During the period of self-isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, it is especially convenient to use electronic sick leave.
Employees do not need to print ELN or coupons from clinics, hospitals and other types of medical institutions for the personnel department or accounting department. In principle, it is not required to bring any documents on paper. In order for ELN to be accepted for payment, it is enough to inform the personnel department or accounting department of its number. This can be done in three ways: by phone, by email or in person.
Employees who have a confirmed account in public services will be able to receive notifications about the status of their electronic sick leave.
According to data for the first half of 2021, the total number of accounts on the portal has already reached 135 million, of which 78.8 million have the status of confirmed. At the same time, the total number of able-bodied citizens in our country is 81.5 million people, so we can confidently say that every Russian can use this service today. In addition, citizens can find out all the necessary information about ELN and its payment in the personal account of the recipient of FSS services. It will be possible to enter it at https://lk.fss.ru/recipient/ using the login and password from the “Gosuslugi” portal to enter.
ELN makes life easier for companies
By the end of this year, employers need to ensure the acceptance and payment of ELN in their companies, as well as inform their employees about the correct receipt of electronic sick leave. Using ELN is convenient for every enterprise, because, for example, an employee cannot lose an electronic sick leave, there is no need to worry that your employee will somehow spoil it, for example, tear, remember, pour coffee. If the employee has lost and does not remember his ELN number, he just needs to go to his personal account and see all the necessary information.
An additional convenience of ELN is that its use completely eliminates the provision of fake sick leave by employees. The Fund verifies the authenticity of the ELN, and the policyholder, requesting it from the FSS for payment, can be sure of the accuracy of the information.
Employers do not need to ensure the safety of information from the moment the electronic sick leave is opened. All of it is stored in the Fund’s system and can be requested by employers as many times as they need.
With the new system, it is very convenient to pass checks and prepare reports. When the Fund conducts inspections of policyholders, it is not required to submit electronic disability certificates to the Fund’s employees.
Currently, the main Russian developers of accounting software, such as the companies “1C”, “Tenzor” (VLSI), “SKB” Kontur “,” Taxcom “and the corporation” PARUS “, ensured the interaction of employers with the FSS on the formation of electronic certificates of incapacity for work directly from software products, which greatly facilitates the labor costs of employers using this software.
You can go in a different way and download a free program on the FSS website at the link https://lk.fss.ru/eln.html and work only in it. The electronic signature in this program can be used the same that is used for filing reports.
Especially for the convenience of employers, a new service for electronic interaction with the FSS of the Russian Federation has been developed – social electronic document management (SEDO). HR departments and accounting departments of all Russian companies should pay special attention to it, since it allows interaction with the Fund in electronic form, both to obtain information about ELN and to work within the Direct Payments mechanism.
How to track an employee’s ELN
So, if your employee in a polyclinic, hospital or other medical institution has already issued an electronic sick leave, then you can see it as follows. First, as already mentioned, the function of obtaining ELN has already been implemented in “1C”, “Kontur”, “Tensor” (VLSI). And if you send registries of certificates of incapacity for work (LN) for payment to the FSS in the framework of the pilot project “Direct payments” through these programs, then using the same software you can get ELN.
Secondly, you can view the information through the program of the Social Insurance Fund “Workstation for preparing calculations”, which can be downloaded from the website www.fss.ru in the section “Download programs” or on the website https://lk.fss.ru/ in the section ” ELN “. For those policyholders who are preparing registries of incapacity for work sheets for payment to the FSS in the framework of the pilot project “Direct payments” in this program, it has already been established. There is no need to download it.
Thirdly, you can see the information in the personal account of the insured on the website https://lk.fss.ru/, but for this the insured must be registered with public services as a legal entity. More detailed information can be obtained on the official website and by calling the hot lines of the regional office where the employer is registered as an insured.
Hotline telephone (toll-free within Russia): 8 800 302 7549
More detailed information, answers to all pressing questions are presented in the FSS_info Telegram channel (invitation link – t.me/FSSinfo in Telegram).
