Workers on sick leave will not have to go to their company to deliver the corresponding medical report starting today. Nor ask other people to take care of the process, something very frequent in this type of situation. Communications relating to temporary disability -registration, cancellation or renewal- will be made directly and electronically between Social Security -or the mutual- and the worker’s company.
It is one of the great innovations included in the royal decree that modifies the current regulations for the management and control of sick leave in the first 365 days of duration.
What will be the obligation of the company?
As explained in the BOE text, published in January, the amended royal decree -dating from 2014- “maintained the traditional ‘modus operandi'” consisting of the physician giving the worker a medical report, in addition to a paper copy of the cancellation, confirmation and registration parts to present it to your company within a certain period. The company, in turn, had to fill in certain information required in the parts and send them to the managing entity (Social Security or a mutual).
However, “the current degree of development of computer systems” makes it possible to dispense with the delivery to the worker of the paper copy of the medical report intended for the company and its presentation in it.
In this way, the worker is saved from “bureaucratic obligations” which, due to his situation of temporary disability, “may be burdensome.” The Covid pandemic has provided one more reason for this change, by evidencing the limitations of the old communication scheme between worker, company and administration.
What will the worker do?
The new regulatory framework establishes that the doctor in charge of issuing the sick leave, confirmation or discharge medical report will deliver a copy to the worker. The public health service or, where appropriate, the mutual or the collaborating company will send the data contained in these parts “by electronic means, immediately and, in any case, on the first business day following its issuance.”
The National Social Security Institute (INSS), in turn, will notify companies of the merely administrative identification data relating to medical reports no later than the first business day following receipt at the institute.
How often is the medical leave reviewed?
The leaves of absence and confirmation will be extended “depending on the period of duration” estimated by the doctor who issues them. This – and here lies another of the novelties of the royal decree – may establish the corresponding medical examination in a period shorter than that indicated in each case, depending on the evolution of the process, and in order to “avoid possible interpretative doubts” caused by the previous drafting of the rule.
The royal decree establishes a deadline for all parties to adapt to the new regulatory framework: it will enter into force “on the first day of the third month following its publication in the BOE”. That is, next April 1. It will be applied to temporary disabilities that are currently in progress and have not exceeded 365 days in duration.