Electronic sick leave notes to help fight dishonest practices

The change will help the authorities to check whether people calling in sick really are ill and cut unwarranted paid sick leave, said Professor Gertruda Uścińska, head of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS).

Under Polish law, employees have seven days to notify their employer that they are sick, and a physician has a week to send a copy of a sick leave certificate to a patient's employer.

This makes it difficult to check whether patients are really ill -- an employee may be back at work by the time their sick leave paperwork reaches the authorities. Electronic certificates are faster.

Uścińska said that the reform will predominantly help employers, who cover sick pay in the first 33 days of an employee’s absence from work.

As of 1 July, medical practitioners will be able to issue sick leave certificates in electronic form only. These were first introduced two years ago. At present, some 10 percent of all physicians issue electronic versions of sick leave paperwork.

Eight million sick leave certificates covering a period of less than seven days are issued in Poland each year.

(aba/pk)

Source: PAP