No more paper, e-sick notes are here!

The amendment introduces the obligatory electronic communication between all parties involved, reducing the number of parts of the decision on the temporary incapacity to work (“sick note”) from five to three, of which only one remains in paper form. Other paper sick notes may only be used by physicians and employers on an exceptional basis, solely in the event of an objective technical failure of electronic communication, such as an internet connection failure, power outage, etc. The precise reasons for using the paper forms instead of electronic communication must always be stated on the form.

All notifications by attending physicians regarding sick notes must be made solely in electronic form. The only part of the sicknote to be still issued in paper form shall be the card of the insured person unfit to work (the second part of the sick note), used by employees to prove their illness. The employer shall not be given any part of the sick note, but employees remain obliged to inform their employer of their incapacity to work, for instance by phone or email.

The amendment brings new duties for employers: after 14 days of an employee’s incapacity to work, employers shall send to the district social security administration underlying materials for the calculation of sickness insurance benefits, as well as the employee’s payment information. Upon the conclusion of the incapacity to work, employers shall notify the district social security administration and provide data necessary for the last payment of insurance benefits.

Employers will also have new remote-access possibilities of obtaining information about their employees’ incapacity to work. The first option, offering detailed information about a specific employee’s sickness as well as an overview of all incapacitated employees, is to log on the Czech Social Security Administration’s ePortal. The portal may be accessed by all employers, even those also using one of the below described other options for obtaining information. Employers may authorise their employees or another individual or legal entity (for instance an external payroll services provider) to use the ePortal services. Employers may also request to be sent automated notifications of their employees’ incapacity to work, in a form of data box messages or emails. For notifications via a data box, employers will receive basic information about the employee and their incapacity to work; for email notifications, employers will only receive a message that new information is available to them on the ePortal. The third option is a service offering data on temporary incapacities to work for employers, allowing for the continuous automated download of information about employees’ incapacity to work onto payroll or HR software.

For the sake of completeness, please note that all sick notes issued before 31 December 2019 using the old printed forms shall continue in the old regime until concluded. Electronic sick notes will also not concern employees who have fallen sick abroad, as foreign physicians will, understandably, issue documents on their temporary incapacity to work following the rules of their country. The legal regulation of e-sick notes will not concern other benefits paid from sickness insurance, such as maternity or paternity allowances, care-giver’s allowances, etc.

The e-sick note project has come a long way since its original proposal. While the first draft was highly criticised, the final version looks much better. In practice, however, it will not be so much about the quality of the legal regulation, rather than about the technical readiness of all parties involved. Only time will show how e-sick notes will do.