Transmission of the data of certificates of incapacity for work
Adding data on certificates of incapacity for work
Estonia uses an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (E-TVL). The E-TVL service is located on the state portal.
The employer will only see the certificates of incapacity for work of employees insured through their company.
We recommend that you establish internal rules on how employees inform their employer of illness and of their return to work (by phone, verbally, via email, etc.).
The employer must add data on the certificate of incapacity for work within seven calendar days of being notified of the closure of the certificate of incapacity for work to enable the Health Insurance Fund to pay the benefit for incapacity for work within a reasonable period. The Health Insurance Fund will not pay compensation if the employer supplements the certificate of incapacity for work more than 90 calendar days after the end date of the leave indicated on the certificate. If the employee does not receive compensation due to the fault of the employer, the employee has the right to claim compensation from the employer under the Law of Obligations Act.
Requesting notifications of open certificates of incapacity for work and closed certificates of incapacity for work which require data from the employer.
The notification service is available to companies registered in the business register and to national and local authorities. To receive notifications from the state (including notifications regarding certificates of incapacity for work), the representative of the institution must forward the letters from the state to the preferred email address in the mailbox settings page of the entrepreneur’s self-service menu.
Companies with special rules regarding the right of representation in the commercial register (e.g. two members of the management board have a joint right of representation on the B-card; a member of the management board of the company is a foreigner who does not have an Estonian personal identification code) cannot subscribe to the notification service and forward notifications to an official email.
Notification of open certificates of incapacity for work
The notification is sent to the employer the day after the certificate of incapacity for work is opened.
Notification of closed certificates of incapacity for work
The first notification will be sent to the employer the day after the data on the certificate of incapacity for work is received by the database of the Health Insurance Fund. If the employer does not add any data, the second notification is sent on the 30th day and the third notification on the 76th day after the data on the certificate of incapacity for work is received by the database of the Health Insurance Fund.
If the employer adds their own data to the certificate of incapacity for work on the same day as the data from the doctor is received by the database of the Health Insurance Fund, no notification is sent.
If a person has more than one employer and one employer adds data to the certificate of incapacity for work on the same day as the data from the doctor is received by the Health Insurance Fund database, the notification is not sent to the other employers.
Subscribing to the service as an institution listed in the commercial register
Legal persons and self-employed persons can transmit the data of certificates of incapacity for work electronically via the state portal. An ID card, Smart-ID, or Mobile-ID can be used for accessing the state portal. Select the role of the representative after logging in to transfer data.
A person entered on the registry card of the company (member of the board of directors, sole representative) will automatically be granted the right of authorised representative of the company when entering the state portal, which will allow them to immediately use all services. If an authorised representative wishes to delegate the right to use the service to another employee, this can be done via the state portal.
If a joint right of representation or special rules regarding the right of representation have been entered on the B-card of a company/organisation, an application (docx) must be submitted to use the services of the state portal. The application must be signed by the persons having joint right of representation and sent to help [at] ria.ee (help[at]ria[dot]ee) or on paper by post to the Information System Authority, Pärnu mnt 139a, Tallinn, 15169.
An individual can supplement their employee's sick leave data on the state portal as a private individual using the section E-services/Individual as an employer.
If you encounter any problems with your rights to use the service on the state portal, please contact the state portal helpdesk at help [at] ria.ee (help[at]ria[dot]ee).
If you have any questions about using the transmission of the data service for employers, please contact the Health Insurance Fund by phone at 669 6630 or by email at info [at] tervisekassa.ee (info[at]tervisekassa[dot]ee).
A non-resident employer who is not registered in the e-Business Register will not be able to use the E-TVL service in the state portal.
The Health Insurance Fund forwards the data of certificates of incapacity for work to the non-resident employer together with the form of the employer’s certificate. The document forwarded is the basis for granting and paying benefits to the employer.
In order for the Health Insurance Fund to be able to grant and pay benefits for incapacity for work to the employee, please return the completed employer’s certificate:
- via email to info [at] tervisekassa.ee (info[at]tervisekassa[dot]ee);
- by post.
If the worker has a fixed monthly wage, the agreed wages must be entered in the ‘Agreed wages per calendar month’ field on the certificate of incapacity for work.
If an hourly rate has been agreed in the employment contract, then the working time has also been agreed for a certain period (number of working hours in a certain period (day, week, month, etc.)). On the basis of this data, the amount of the monthly wage of the employee must be calculated and entered on the certificate of incapacity for work.
The agreed wages per calendar month must be shown as at the date before the day on which the leave starts.
The agreed wages must be indicated on the certificate of incapacity for work in accordance with section 29 of the Employment Contracts Act – Amount of wages (gross).
Explanation: pursuant to clause 5 (1) 5) of the Employment Contracts Act, wage is the agreed remuneration payable for the work. Wages do not include holiday pay, employer sickness benefit, employer-paid allowances such as childbirth, jubilee, or funeral allowances, as in these cases, they are not wages paid to the employee for work. This means that you must indicate the agreed monthly wages payable for the work.
The Health Insurance Fund will only use wage data in the following cases:
if the insured person did not receive any income in the calendar year preceding the day on which the leave starts;
the earnings of the insured person divided by 30 is higher than their average earnings for one calendar day in the previous calendar year, but does not exceed the minimum monthly earnings set by the government divided by 30.