Sick Leave in 2021

Every employee has had to apply for a sick leave certificate or sick leave in short, at least once. The sick leave is granted not only for illnesses or injuries, but also for other reasons: pregnancy and childbirth, quarantine, treatment at health resorts, in-hospital prosthetic dentistry or even adoption of a child under 3 months of age. The sick leave may be issued by a doctor, paramedic or dentist of a health-care center licensed to certify temporary occupational incapacity. In 2021, the leave may be either a physical or electronic document.

How Long Will Sick Leave Last

Federal Law On Obligatory Social Insurance for Temporary Disability or Maternity No. 255-FZ covers the sick leave duration. The number of days will depend on the grounds and on the person who is ill: the employee, his/her child or another family member who needs to be taken care of.

Minimum Sick Leave

The minimum sick leave period is not specified anywhere. It is up to the doctor to decide how long the treatment will last, depending on the case and the illness severity. In rare cases, the sick leave will be issued for one day, but for the most part you will have at least three days to recover.

Maximum Sick Leave

Unlike the minimum, the maximum term of paid sick leave is clearly stated in the legal regulations. For ordinary illnesses, the longest sick leave is 15 days if issued by a doctor, and 10 days if issued by a paramedic or dentist. If the employee does not get better within this period, a special medical board will be called to extend the sick leave. The law states that the commission may extend the sick leave to 10 months or to one year for some serious illnesses. However, if the sick leave is extended, the holder will have to come in every 15 days for a health check-up, as the sick leave will not be issued for that long at once.

If we talk about other grounds, the longest sick leave of 140 days and 156 days will be granted for pregnancy/childbirth and for birth in the 22-30th week of pregnancy, respectively.

Parents may take sick leave if their child falls ill; in this case the maximum term will be different for children of different ages. For instance, when caring for a child under 7 years of age, the employee will be granted paid sick leave of 60 calendar days per year maximum, but for a child between 7 and 15 years of age, sick leave will cover only 15 consecutive days and 45 days per year. When taking care of a child of 15-18 years of age or another relative, the employee will receive allowance for just 7 consecutive days and 30 days per year. If longer time is required, the employee will have to take time off work or apply for unpaid sick leave.

How the Sick Leave Allowance is Computed

Two factors affect the sick leave allowance: the years of employment in a particular company and the average salary for the past two years. For employees who have worked for several companies within the last two years, their previous salaries are still taken into account for calculation. To this end, the employee has to submit a certificate of earnings issued at the time of dismissal to the new manager. The longer the employment and the higher the average salary, the higher the allowance. All calendar days are paid for, including weekends and public holidays.

At first, the average salary for the past two years is calculated. This number is then divided by 730 days to arrive at the average daily earnings. A percentage is calculated and then multiplied by the number of days off work. If the employee has been with the company for 6 months to 5 years, he/she will get 60% of their average earnings only and if they have worked for 5 to 8 years, they will get 80%. Employees who have been employed for more than 8 years can expect 100% of their average earnings to be covered.

Some allowances do not depend on the years of service, such as maternity allowance and, starting from September 2021, sick leave to care for children under 7 years of age. In these cases, 100% of the average earnings will be paid.

The employee is to submit the sick leave to the employer and the employer will forward the details to the Social Insurance Fund (SIF). The SIF covers most, if not all, of the allowance out of the money that companies pay every month for the insurance of each employee. If the employee misses work because of an injury or illness, the allowance for the first three days will be included in the next pay cheque, and the SIF will pay their portion within 10 days of submitting the documents.

Minimum Allowance

Sometimes, an employee may fall ill within the first six months of starting a new job or be unable to prove earnings for the previous two years because there were none. Sometimes the earnings may be below the minimum wage (MW). In these cases, the allowance will be calculated on the basis of the MW. The average daily earnings in 2021 is 420.56 roubles. This figure is multiplied by the relevant number of days. If there are any additional regional wage multipliers, these are also taken into account.

It is important to know that if you are on sick leave, you should not disregard your doctor’s orders without a valid reason, as this may reduce your allowance. If a patient disregards the orders, for example, by leaving hospital without approval or failing to show up for a health check-up, then starting from the day of the violation, allowance will be calculated based on the MW. The allowance will not always be reduced: generally, the doctor will record the violation in the sick leave, but only the management will decide what counts as a valid reason and what does not.

Maximum Allowance

Each year, the SIF determines the threshold for calculating the sick pay. For example, in 2021, the threshold is 1,777,000 roubles. This is the sum of the thresholds for 2019 and 2020. The average daily earnings cap of 2,434.24 roubles has been calculated based on this threshold. Even if an employee has earned more than the threshold in 2019 and 2020 and has 8 or more years of service, the calculation will still be based on the set thresholds, so the employee will not receive more than 2,434.24 roubles for each day of sick leave.

FAQ

Zulfiya Yupashevskaya, Deputy Head of the HR Services Department, BDO Unicon Outsourcing, answers your questions:

Who pays out sick leave in 2021?

- In 2021, the rules for covering sick leave allowance have changed. Now, not only the employer but also the local body of the Social Insurance Fund is responsible for paying sickness allowances to employees through a direct-payment system. If an employee goes on sick leave due to an illness or injury, except for work-related accidents and illnesses, the employer will cover the first three calendar days and the Russian SIF will pay for all subsequent days of the sick leave. Otherwise, the SIF will cover the full allowance from the day the sick leave is opened. For example, the SIF will pay maternity allowance, allowances for caring for a sick family member, work-related accidents or illnesses and other types of allowances listed in Law No. 255-FZ

How many sick leave days per year will be covered?

- The allowance period covered by the employer or the Social Insurance Fund will depend on the grounds for the sick leave.

If the employee is granted sick leave because of an illness or injury, then there are no limits to the allowance period. The employer and the SIF will cover all days of sick leave regardless of the duration of the sick leave or the total number of days the employee is off sick during the year.

If an employee is granted sick leave to care for a child, the maximum number of days paid will be calculated based on the age and illness of the child.

The law does not limit the term covered by the allowance if the child’s illness is caused by a post-vaccination condition or a malignant tumor (Sick Leave Reason Code 14). The employee will be paid for the entire period of the child’s care at home or in hospital. If the employee takes sick leave to care for an HIV-positive child (Code 15), he/she will be paid for the period spent with the child in hospital.

For child care, the allowance will cover:

• 90 (Code 12) or 60 (Code 09) calendar days of sick leave per year for children under 7 years of age,

• First 15 calendar days for each approved sick leave, but no more than 45 days per year for children between 7 and 15 years of age,

• Up to 7 calendar days for each case, but no more than 30 days per year for children above 15 years of age,

• Total duration of the sick leave, but no more than 120 days per year for children with disabilities.

Paid sick leave for employees with disabilities will not exceed four months per illness. This period does not depend on the number of sick leave certificates issued and expires in four months from the issue of the first leave. The total days of paid sick leave may not exceed five months in one calendar year.

For employees on fixed-term agreements of less than six months, the allowance will not cover more than 75 calendar days and will commence on the day the employee was expected to start work. For TB, the allowance will be paid until the ability to work has been restored/ disability confirmed.

How long does an employee have to be employed for sick leave?

- The sick leave allowance depends on the insured term, i.e. the amount of the allowance depends on the number of years the employee has worked:

• The allowance will be limited to the minimum wage for those employed for less than 6 months,

• The allowance will be limited to 60% of average earnings for those employed for less than 5 years,

• The allowance will be limited to 80% of average earnings for those employed for 5-8 years,

• The allowance will be 100% of average earnings for those employed for more than 8 years.

The insured term includes all periods when the person was employed by the company, even when off work sick, on leave (including maternity and parental leave) or taking time off work for other reasons. This is to be evidenced by the Work Record Book or STD-R Work Record Statement.

Military service qualifies as the insured term if proved by the military service record. The employment term may also include employment in another country, if there is an agreement with that country.

In some cases, the percentage of average earnings to be paid for sick leave will be fixed and will not depend on the insured term, for example, in case:

• You care for a sick child under the age of 7, it will constitute 100% of your average earnings,

• You care for a sick child above the age of 7 who is treated as an outpatient, it will constitute 50% of your average earnings starting from the 11th calendar day,

• Of illness or injury, if the insured event occurs within 30 calendar days of your termination of employment, it will constitute 60% of your average earnings.

May an employee on sick leave be dismissed?

- This depends on the grounds for terminating the employment. The employer is not allowed to dismiss the employee while he/she is sick: in this case, the employee has to wait until the illness ends and terminate the employment on the first day the employee returns to work. A winding up of a company is an exception to this rule.

If the employee has previously submitted a letter of resignation, but he/she is on sick leave on the day the resignation notice period expires, the employer has no reason to postpone. In this scenario, the employment will be terminated on the date specified by the employee in the letter of resignation. The employer may also terminate the employment by mutual agreement of the parties if the term of the employment agreement has expired or if the employee refuses to continue employment due to a change in the company ownership or in the terms of the agreement.

Sources:

Source: Putevoditel. KP