New Procedure for Temporary Disability and Maternity Benefits

A new procedure is being introduced for the appointment of temporary disability and maternity benefits. The benefits will be assigned, calculated, and paid by the Unified Social Service. Starting from September, beneficiaries will no longer need to submit any applications or documents to receive benefits.

The National Assembly has fully adopted, in the second reading, the drafts of amendments to the law on "Temporary Disability and Maternity Benefits" and the law on "State Benefits" proposed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Under the previous regulations, for the appointment, calculation, and payment of temporary disability or maternity benefits, the employee was required to submit a temporary disability sheet to the employer, based on which the employer would calculate, appoint, and pay the benefits from its own funds. Meanwhile, the employer's expenses from the state budget were reimbursed—completely for the maternity benefit amount and for the amount paid for temporary disability benefits after the 6th day of absence.

Thus, the state benefits were appointed and paid based on the calculations made by the employer, which was considerably risky. Furthermore, there was a separate procedure for reimbursing the employer's expenses.

Individual entrepreneurs submitted both the temporary disability sheet and information about their income to the Unified Social Service to appoint, calculate, and pay benefits. In other words, the previous system was based on paperwork, despite the fact that the data provided by those documents existed in the information databases maintained by state bodies.

With the new system, starting in September, the Unified Social Service will assign and calculate benefits automatically based on data obtained from the electronic health system regarding disability and the information system maintained by the tax authority regarding income. From September, temporary disability sheets will no longer be used; they will only be provided to citizens in exceptional cases (for example, for submission to the competent authority of a foreign state).