Sick pay
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Sickness benefit (ligos išmoka) is awarded if the entitlement arose during the period of employment and if the insured person had a sickness and maternity 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.
The purpose of sickness and (temporary) incapacity for work benefits is to compensate for the loss of personal income from work as a sick person cannot be available at his workplace. For this reason, the person claiming a benefit must be employed in Lithuania.
If you do not have the required social insurance record but during the last 24 months you have worked abroad (in another EU or EEA country, Switzerland or a country with which Lithuania has an international agreement for social security), you can request ‘Sodra’ to take the period when you were insured abroad into account. For example, you can submit document E104 or file a request to ‘Sodra’ to mediate to get this document. Only your earnings in Lithuania must be taken into account when calculating the sick pay.
In what situation can I claim it?
Sickness benefit is awarded in the following instances:
- to those insured who have become temporarily incapacitated through illness or injury and, as a result, suffer a loss of income;
- to those caring for family members who are sick (children, step-children, spouses, parents and step-parents);
- to those whose work is suspended because of an outbreak of a communicable disease or epidemic;
- to those insured undergoing treatment in a healthcare facility that provides orthopaedic and/or prosthetic services;
- to those supervising pre-school or primary school education programmes where a system has been set up to limit the spread of infection;
- to those on maternity or childcare leave who fall ill;
- to those insured temporarily incapacitated as a result of having tissue, cells or organs removed for donor transplant purposes.
What am I entitled to?
- The employer is paying a benefit of 62,06 - 100 per cent of the recipient’s average wages for the first 2 days of illness (the employer has to pay at least 62,02 per cent, but it is at his discretion to pay more than that).
- 62,06 per cent of the recipient’s compensated wages shall be paid by the National Social Insurance Fund (Sodra) from the 3rd day of illness.
The sick pay is paid only for the working days.
The sick pay cannot be smaller or bigger than the set limits. The monthly sick pay paid by Sodra cannot be smaller than 15 per cent of the domestic average monthly wages valid for the last quarter before the temporary working inability was determined. The sick pay cannot be smaller than 11,64 per cent of domestic average monthly wages valid for the last quarter before the temporary working inability was determined.
The maximal compensated wages used for the calculation of sick pay cannot exceed the amount of two domestic average monthly wages valid for the last quarter before the temporary working inability was determined.
Sickness benefits paid for caring for a sick family member or for caring for a child are paid from Sodra funds from the first day at 65,94% of earnings. Read more.
What to do if I got sick?
- Contact your doctor. After diagnosing the disease, he will prescribe the treatment and, if you are recognized as having a temporary incapacity for work, the doctor will issue you an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (a “medical certificate of absence”). It will indicate the period of temporary incapacity, i.e. the amount of time the treatment will take and you will not be able to go to work due to the illness.
- Inform your employer (all employers, if you work at more than one workplace) that you are ill and cannot come to work. The employer must do the following after you have contacted him:
- Calculate the sickness benefit from his own funds for the first 2 days of the sick leave, which coincide with your work schedule.
- Provide a filled NP-SD notification to Sodra.
- If you would like to receive sickness benefits from Sodra, please submit an application to Sodra. You need to submit a new application only in case your personal data, such as your account number, has changed. Every time you get sick, the sickness benefit will be granted automatically. You can submit an application on the internet or upon arrival to a Sodra department.
- Comply with the rules of established conduct for your type of incapacity for work.
- In case the doctor issued you with a medical certificate (form No. 094/a), it should be presented to the employer.
- Upon your recovery (after the period of temporary incapacity for work) – go to work. If the doctor determines that your treatment should be continued – he will issue a new certificate of incapacity for work.
More information can be found on the Sodra website.
Source: Sodra