The workers will no longer have the obligation to be the ones who deliver the medical leave to their company, since from this Saturday, April 1, this procedure will be done directly by the Administration itself. The measure, which was approved by the Council of Ministers at the end of December by means of a royal decree, will affect all temporary disability processes that are in progress as long as they have not exceeded 365 days in duration.

As Europa Press recalls, the rule establishes that, with regard to the medical records of registrations and withdrawals, only one copy will be delivered to the worker, eliminating both the second copy and the obligation of the worker to deliver this copy to the company , management entity or mutual.

It will be the Administration that, by telematic means, communicates to the companies the issuance of the medical reports of their workers, thus avoiding procedures that can be “burdensome” for people who are in a situation of temporary disability.

With the modus operandi Traditionally, the doctor gave the worker, in addition to the medical report, a paper copy of the medical reports of sick leave, confirmation, and medical discharge so that they present it, within a specified period, to the company, which, in turn, has to complete certain information required in them and send them to the managing entity.

In this way, starting tomorrow, the doctor who issues the medical certificate of discharge, confirmation or discharge will deliver a copy to the worker, but it will be the public health service or, where appropriate, the mutual or collaborating company that Send the data contained in the medical reports of withdrawal, confirmation and discharge to the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) by electronic means. You will have to do it immediately, and, in any case, on the first business day after it is issued.

In turn, the INSS will communicate to the companies the identifying data of a purely administrative nature related to the medical certificates of discharge, confirmation and discharge issued by the physicians of the public health service or the mutual, referring to their workers, “at most on the first business day following its receipt at said Institute”.

For their part, companies will have the obligation to transmit to the INSS, through the Electronic Data Submission system (RED), immediately and, in any case, within a maximum period of three business days from the receipt of the communication of medical leave, the data determined by ministerial order. Failure to comply with the aforementioned obligation may constitute, where appropriate, a minor infraction of those contemplated in the Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order (LISOS), sanctioned, in this case, with a fine of 70 to 750 euros.

Doubts from the experts

The measure has raised some suspicions about the design of the new procedure. Thus, in statements to Servimedia, the president of the Spanish Association of Human Resources Directors (AEDRH), Jesús Torres, expressed his desire for the change to work properly, but expressed his doubts, since Social Security has a deficit of some 10,000 people on its staff.

In addition, he explained that there are many SMEs in Spain that have outsourced the management of dismissals and other similar issues to consultancies and agencies. “I don’t know if Social Security is going to be able to identify these external advisors when sending the termination reports. It is a reasonable doubt, ”Torres deepened.

He also pointed out that he is “detecting” “a legislative activity that impacts the management of absenteeism in companies.” In this regard, he criticized the fact that a section was included in the pension reform by which the mutuals can only make the proposal for the discharge of the employee on medical leave once. “This will affect control in cases of absenteeism,” warned the head of the AEDRH.

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