You get the request to grant quarantine medical leave, which occurs after the rest leave. How do you proceed as an employer in this case?
What is the correct way to grant medical leave and what are your duties as an employer?
During the webinar on Medical Leave – Legislative News, our colleagues, Silvia Manolache – Outsourcing Manager, Cornel Anghel – Outsourcing Manager, and Ioana Dobre – Consultancy Manager presented the legislative news on medical leave. Find out under the conditions that allow you to grant medical leave, what are the legal provisions regarding the leave and the quarantine allowance, but also what is the procedure for recovering the value of the medical leave from.
CONDITIONS FOR GRANTING MEDICAL LEAVE
Emergency Ordinance no. 74 published in the Official Gazette no. 645 of 30.06.2021 Part I regarding the amendment and completion of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 158/2005 regarding the leaves and the indemnities of social health insurances, for the modification of art. 299 para. (4) of Law no. 95/2006 has the following specifications:
In order to benefit from leave and social health insurance benefits, the persons provided in art. 1 of GEO 158/2005 must cumulatively meet the following conditions:
a) to fulfill the minimum insurance period necessary for the opening of the rights provided in art. 2;
b) to present a certificate issued by the payer of indemnities showing the number of days of temporary incapacity for work in the last 12/24 months, as the case may be.
In case of medical-surgical emergencies or group A infectious diseases, infectious diseases for which isolation is established, it is not necessary to present the certificate.
The news aspect mentioned in GEO 74 / 30.06.2021 is the obligation of the employer to issue the certificate in case of maternity leave, for the care of the sick child, as well as in case of maternal risk.
QUARANTINE ALLOWANCE – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW LEGALLY
The quarantine allowance is paid for a period of 5 days (as opposed to 14 days until now) from the FNUASS budget if a quarantine measure is instituted on return to Romania, for a person who traveled in personal interest in a destination where at the time of travel there was an epidemic, epidemiological or biological risk, with a highly pathogenic agent, under the conditions established by the rules of application of this emergency ordinance, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Health and the President of CNAS no. 15/2018 / 1.311 / 2017, with subsequent amendments and completions.
What do I do for employees who go on quarantine leave after traveling abroad in personal interest?
The gross amount of the quarantine allowance is paid from the FNUASS budget, unless a quarantine measure is imposed on return to Romania for a person who traveled in his personal interest in a destination where there was an epidemic at the time of travel, epidemiological risk or biologically, with a highly pathogenic agent. In this case, only the allowance related to the first 5 days of quarantine is paid, which is settled by the employer from the FNUASS budget.
HOW MANY DAYS OF MEDICAL LEAVE DO EMPLOYEES GET LEGALLY?
The cumulative duration of medical leave granted by the family doctor for an insured person for temporary incapacity for work may not exceed 28 calendar days in the last year (30 calendar days previously) counted from the first day of illness, regardless of its cause.
After the totalization of 28 calendar days granted by the family doctor, the issuance of medical leave certificates is made only by the attending physician from the specialized outpatient clinic or hospital, in case of hospitalization, within the maximum durations provided by law, respectively 90 days /year.
EMPLOYEES GET MEDICAL LEAVE IN TWO STAGES
According to the provisions of Order no. 1398/729/2021, the periods of medical leave for each episode of illness will be granted from now on in at least two stages.
In the first stage, the duration of the medical leave can be a maximum of 4 calendar days for the medical leave granted by the family doctor and of a maximum of 15 calendar days for the medical leave granted by the outpatient specialists.
In case of temporary incapacity for work, the family doctor or, as the case may be, the outpatient specialist who monitors the condition may issue the medical leave certificate further up to a maximum duration of 7 days (for the family doctor), and a maximum of 30/31 days (for the outpatient specialist).
WHAT ARE YOUR DUTIES AS AN EMPLOYER IN THE SITUATION OF EMPLOYEES ‘MEDICAL LEAVE
Order no. 1398/729/2021 reiterates most of the provisions of GEO 74/2021, but also provides a series of news about the employer’s duties regarding medical leave:
The model insurance framework contract for holidays and social health insurance benefits is provided in the case of private persons, other than those mentioned in Art. 1, par. (1) of GEO 158/2005.
In order to manage the number of days of medical leave, the certificate with the number of days of medical leave is issued by the income payer in case of medical leave for maternity, for the care of the sick child, as well as in case of maternal risk.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE DATE OF ISSUE OF MEDICAL CERTIFICATES. EXCEPTIONAL SITUATIONS
As an employer, it is important to know information about the data on the medical certificates, so that they are valid and you can recover the amounts from FNUASS.
Article 9, para. (3) of GEO 158/2005 stipulates that for medical certificates, the date of granting may not be longer than the date on which the validity of the medical leave certificates previously granted for the same condition ends.
Order no. 1398/729/2021 introduces a new paragraph, in case the first stage of the sick leave for temporary incapacity for work ends on a non-working day, the medical leave certificate may still be issued on the first following working day, with the classification within the maximum limits regarding the duration of medical leave certificates.
According to Art. 9, para. (4) of the Norms for the application of GEO 158/2005, medical leave certificates may be issued at a later date, only for the current month or the previous month, for the following situations: maternity leave, hospitalization, immobilization of the musculoskeletal system, quarantine, oncological diseases, in the situation where the opinion of the expert doctor is necessary, in the case of infectious diseases for which the isolation measure is required, according to the law.
Order no. 1398/729/2021 comes with an exception: the certificates can be issued at a later date, but no later than 5 working days from the date of the event, in case of medical-surgical emergencies for which the severity of the disease does not require hospitalization and for which medical leave certificates have not been issued by doctors who assisted the emergency. In these situations, the medical leave certificates are issued by the family doctor based on the recommendation issued by the doctor who assisted the emergency, respecting the duration of the medical leave – 5 calendar days, in one stage, without drawing up the plan to monitor the evolution of the disease.
CONDITIONS FOR THE RECOVERY OF THE VALUE OF ALLOWANCES FOR MEDICAL LEAVE
According to the Emergency Ordinance no. 74 published in the Official Gazette no. 645 of 30.06.2021, for the amounts representing the indemnities to be recovered from the FNUASS budget rejected for payment by the health insurance houses (for which they drafted and sent the communication of rejection of the payment) and for which the employers did not submit until the date on which the provisions of the respective ordinance are applied, a new request for refund accompanied by documents proving the remediation of the reasons for rejection of payment, the deadline for submission is December 31, 2021.
Starting with January 1, 2022, the deadline for remedying the reasons for rejection and submission of refund applications accompanied by supporting documents is a maximum of 90 days from the date of communication receipt.
The amounts entered in the refund applications registered at the health insurance houses, outside the terms provided previously, are definitively rejected for payment and are not reimbursed from the budget of FNUASS.
The provisions on the granting of sick leave, as well as the duties of employers to recover the related amounts, change frequently. The BIA team is close to you and can take over the management of your team’s medical leaves so that you can dedicate time to other human resources activities. Request a personalized offer here.
Discover other information provided by the Payroll team:
The benefits of outsourcing payroll and personnel management activities