You have fallen ill or had an accident and have to stay at home for a few days. Do you know what rules you need to follow during your sick leave?
Compliance with the treatment regimen
The basic rule – if you are PN, you must follow the treatment regimen prescribed by the attending physician. You can then carry out normal activities only to the extent specified by your treatment regimen.
You must not work while on sick leave. You must comply with the allowed walks, with certain diagnoses you need to lie down. Your doctor may also forbid you from smoking and drinking alcohol. You are also obliged to attend a check-up appointment with your doctor on a certain date. The attending physician may allow the patient to walk at certain times. Most often it is 4 hours a day – e.g. from ten to twelve o’clock and from two to four o’clock. Outings are listed on the sick leave certificate.
Control during sick leave
During sick leave, you can be checked by both your employer and the insurance company – 7 days a week, including weekends and public holidays. This check may be carried out on the basis of a complaint from the treating or assessing doctor, the employer, or any other legal or natural person. A review shall take place whenever the President of the Court or the Chief Prosecutor so requests. The check is carried out by an employee of the insurance company at the address that appears on the sickness certificate.
If the insured person cannot be reached at the notified address during the check, they will leave a Notice of Check in their mailbox. On the basis of this notification, the patient must contact the medical assessment unit at the relevant branch of the Social Insurance Institution, where he or she must prove the reason for his or her absence.
The Social Insurance Institution may impose a fine on the insured person if he/she fails to notify the relevant branch of the change of address where he/she will be staying during the sick leave. Other grounds for imposing a fine are if the insured person fails to remove obstacles that make it impossible to implement the fine – e.g. broken bell, dog and other obstacles. The fine is usually up to €100, or up to €170 in the case of repeated infringements.
Violation of the treatment regimen
If the violation is confirmed, the insured person shall lose the right to sickness benefit payments from the date of the violation of the medical treatment regime until the end of the temporary incapacity for work, but not more than 30 days from the date of the violation of the medical treatment regime determined by the doctor.
What if a person lives alone and needs to leave the place of treatment?
If a person lives alone and does not have designated outings, he or she can go shopping for food or medicine. In this case, you should put down your cash register. He can present it in the event of an inspection.
