Sickness benefit (sickness and maternity social insurance)

Individuals are entitled to receive the sickness benefit if:

• they are covered with the sickness social insurance;
• they become temporarily incapacitated for work and due to this lose their income from work;
• they had the sickness social insurance record of not less than 3 months during the last 12 months or not less than 6 months during the last 24 months before the day of establishment of temporary incapacity for work, except in the cases provided in the Law on Sickness and Maternity Social Insurance.

Sickness benefits shall be granted to the persons entitled to this type of the benefits in the following cases:

• to insured persons who have become temporarily unable to work due to illness or injury and have therefore lost employment income, with the exception of the cases for allocating and paying sickness benefits provided for by the Law on Social Insurance for Accidents at Work and Occupational Diseases;
• for nursing sick family members. This benefit shall be granted if a sick family member of the insured person requires nursing;
• to insured persons who have been suspended from work due to an infectious disease outbreak or epidemic;
• to insured persons who are undergoing treatment at a health care facility providing orthopaedic and/or prosthetic services. This benefit shall be allocated to insured persons for the entire duration of treatment at said facility, including travel to and from;
• for the care of children if a regimen to contain the spread of infection has been established at the educational institution;
• for childcare if a person who has been granted pregnancy and childbirth leave or childcare leave is unable to take care of this child due to his or her own illness or that of another child for whose care he or she has been granted childcare leave;
• to insured persons who have become temporarily unable to work due to the removal of tissues, cells or organs for the purpose of living-donor transplantation.

The sickness social insurance record includes the periods during which state social insurance contributions for sickness social insurance are paid or had to be paid as required by law, as well as the periods during which the insured person received sickness benefit (including the benefits payable by the employer during the first two days of sickness), vocational rehabilitation, maternity, paternity and childcare benefits, sickness due to accidents at work or occupational disease benefits, unemployment social benefits and partial work benefits.

In case an individual does not have the required sickness social insurance record as she/he has been on a childcare leave, the sickness social insurance record shall be calculated throughout the preceding 24 month period until the child attained the age of 2.

Duration of sickness benefit payment

• In case of sickness or injury – until the incapacity for work has been restored, or the level of participation has been defined, or until the first day of the participation in the appropriate vocational rehabilitation program (for the insured persons, who receives the social insurance disability pension or social insurance work incapacity (invalidity) pension, sickness benefit shall be paid for no longer than 90 calendar days over a calendar year; after dismissal from work, the sickness benefit shall be paid not longer than 5 calendar days of sickness).
• In case of voluntary treatment of pathological gambling, psychoactive substance abuse sindrome – no more than 2 times per calendar year, and the total duration of the sickness benefit may not exceed 40 calendar days per calendar year.
• In case of incapacity for work based on taking of the tissues, cells or organs for transplantation with the purpose of donation – until the incapacity for work has been restored, or the level of participation has been defined, or until the first day of the participation in the appropriate vocational rehabilitation program.
• In case of nursing sick family members or looking after a child:
  • in case of nursing a sick family member – not longer than for 14 calendar days;
  • in case of nursing a child under 14 years old – not longer than for 21 calendar days;
  • in case of nursing a sick child under 7 years of age undergoing in-patient and/or medical rehabilitation and sanatorium facility – for the entire nursing period, but not exceeding 120 days per calendar year;
  • in case of nursing a child under 18 years of age undergoing in-patient, outpatient and/or medical rehabilitation and sanatorium facility, who is sick with diseases leading to severe disability has been established – for the entire nursing period, but not exceeding 120 days per calendar year;
  • in case of nursing a child under 18 years of age undergoing in-patient, outpatient and/or medical rehabilitation and sanatorium facility, who is sick with  serious diseases - for entire nursing period, but not exceeding 180 days. At the end of this period, sickness benefit for the same child may be paid for a maximum of 120 days per calendar year;
  • in case of nursing a child under 18 years of age undergoing in-pateint, outpatient and/or medical rehabilitation and sanatorium facility, who is sick with very serious diseases - for entire nursing period, but not exceeding 364 days. At the end of this period, sickness benefit for the same child may be paid for a maximum of 120 days per calendar year;
  • in cases of looking after a child if a person who has been granted pregnancy and childbirth leave or childcare leave is unable to take care of this child due to his or her own illness or that of another child for whose care he or she has been granted pregnancy and childbirth leave or childcare leave – not longer than for 14 calendar days;
  • in case of looking after a child if the regime for containing the spread of infection has been introduced in childcare institutions – not longer than for 14 calendar days;
• In case of undergoing treatment at the health care institutions providing orthopaedic and/or prosthetic services – for the whole treatment period (including the days of arrival to/ departure from the appropriate medical institution).
• In case of outbreaks and epidemics of infectious diseases:
  • when a quarantine regime is established – for the entire period of suspension from work until the quarantine is lifted (for the insured persons, who receives the social insurance disability pension or social insurance work incapacity (invalidity) pension, sickness benefit shall be paid for no longer than 90 calendar days over a calendar year);
  • when the quarantine regime is established to the sources of such diseases or the person concerned has been suspended from job as a carrier of infection (if there is no possibility of transference to another job) – within the whole period of suspension from job up to cancelling the quarantine regime (for the insured persons, who receives the social insurance disability pension or social insurance work incapacity (invalidity) pension, sickness benefit shall be paid for no longer than 90 calendar days over a calendar year).

The amount of a sickness benefit

When the insured persons become temporarily incapacitated for work due to illness or trauma or in the cases of outbreaks and epidemics of infectious diseases or in the cases of undergoing treatment at the health care institutions providing orthopaedic and/or prosthetic services, a sickness benefit for the first 2 calendar days of incapacity for work shall be paid by the employer with the exception of the insured persons who do not have an employment or service relationship for whom sickness benefit shall not be paid for the first two days of temporary sickness. The amount of a sickness benefit for the first 2 calendar days that is paid by the employer shall not be less than 62,06 per cent and not more than 100 per cent of the average salary of the beneficiary, calculated in accordance with procedure established by the Government. From the third day of incapacity for work the sickness benefit shall be paid from the State Social Insurance Fund. The amount of a sickness benefit paid with the State Social Insurance Fund resources shall make up 62,06 per cent of the compensatory wage of the beneficiary.

When nursing a sick family member or looking after a child the sickness benefit shall be paid with the State Social Insurance Fund resources from the first day of temporary incapacity for work and the amount of a sickness benefit shall make up 65,94 per cent of the compensatory wage of the beneficiary.

When a person becomes temporarily incapable for work because of taking of the tissues, cells or organs for transplantation with the purpose of donation, the sickness benefit shall be paid with the State Social Insurance Fund resources from the first day of temporary incapacity for work and the amount of a sickness benefit shall make up 77,58 per cent of the compensatory wage of the beneficiary.

The compensatory wage on the basis of which the amount of sickness benefit is determined shall be calculated on the basis of the insured person’s insured income during three consecutive calendar months before the calendar month preceding the month in which the temporary incapacity for work was established. For example, for individuals who qualify for the sickness benefit on 01.05.2023, the compensatory wage shall be calculated on the basis of insured income received during the period from 01.01.2023 to 31.03.2023.

Insured income of the insured person includes all income and other amounts of a person on which state social insurance contributions for sickness social insurance were paid or had to be paid as well as sickness benefits (including the first 2 days of sickness for which the employer pays), vocational rehabilitation, maternity, paternity, childcare benefits, sickness due to accidents at work or occupational disease benefits, and also unemployment social insurance benefits and partial work benefits.

The maximum compensatory wage for calculation of sickness benefits cannot exceed the size of two national average monthly wages for the quarter two quarters preceding the month of the onset of incapacity for work

Sickness benefits paid by the State Social Insurance Fund cannot be less than 11,64 per cent of the national average monthly wage for the quarter two quarters preceding the month the temporary incapacity for work was established.