ZUS not to be able to perform sick leave inspections

The draft amendment to the Allowance Act includes provisions giving Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) unlimited powers when it comes to conducting explanatory proceedings regarding the determination of the right to benefits. In the light of the new law, ZUS will be able to obtain data and information from insured persons, contribution payers, social organizations, and other entities and persons who have this data and information, and the above-mentioned persons and entities are obliged to provide them at the request of ZUS. What does the change of permissions mean in practice?

"Our many years of experience in the field of sick leave control indicate that the change in the act on the rights of ZUS when conducting inspections will be a dead letter. It will not have a significant impact on the activities of ZUS in practice. This will happen for two reasons. firstly, because the ZUS carries out a negligible number of field dismissal inspections. Of the 25.3 million exemptions granted in 2020 in the first half of last year, ZUS conducted only 143,200 inspections. Secondly, in practice, when considering this type of lawsuit, the courts are not inclined to recognize the testimony of bystanders, whose statements during the interview may not be objective in relation to the person controlled on sick leave," Mikołaj Zając, president of Conperio – the largest consulting company dealing with sickness absenteeism in Poland, commented.

In his opinion, however, a step in the right direction is the possibility for ZUS to obtain information from contribution payers. So far, the information provided to ZUS from employers has not been taken into account.

"When introducing changes to the act, however, it should also be specified whether a similar set of powers to verify the correctness of sickness use would also apply to employers who have the right to control employees on sick leave and, unlike the ZUS, to a large extent actively use this right," Mikołaj Zając added.

(WBJ)